Tried to hit a ball from the hazard but ...

So here is the situation. Your ball is in a hazard (water hazard or lateral hazard). You decide you have the skill to hit the ball out of the hazard and proceed to give it the old college try. As expected, you either leave it in the hazard, or your ball clears the hazard and then rolls back in. What are your options.

Option 1 - Try again. No penalty. Just keep counting the strokes.

STYLESHEETSOption 2 - Drop a ball outside the hazard at the spot from where you made your last stroke outside of the hazard – adding one penalty stroke,

Option 3 - Drop a ball outside the hazard keeping the spot where the ball last crossed the margin of either a water hazard or lateral water hazard between you and the flagstick going back as far as you would like – adding one penalty stroke

Option 4 - (if your ball is in a lateral water hazard) Drop a ball outside the hazard, no nearer the hole, within two club-lengths of where the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard or within two club-lengths of a spot equidistant on the opposite margin of where the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral hazard – adding one penalty stroke

The reason this Rule even exists is that a player is not allowed to use the Unplayable Ball Rule (Rule 28) when the ball is in a water hazard.

Essentially, what this means is that if you are in a hazard and hit a shot that does not get out of the hazard, you have all the options available to you that were available before you made the poor decision to try to hit the ball out of the hazard!!!!! You can always use option1 (the keep on trying option) but at any point during that exercise in futility, remember that you can use the options that were available to you when you first went into the hazard.

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