lateral hazard

Question
On our course we define many palmetto areas as lateral hazards.  A player
hits a ball that looks like in goes into the palmetto area (lateral hazard) along
the right side of the fairway.  He drops a ball at point of entry, one stroke
penalty, and hits a shot.  As we then progress up the right side of the fairway
we find his original ball in play in the rough.  It must have hit a tree in the
palmetto area and bounced left back into play.  Can he play his original or
must he play the ball he dropped?

Answer
Kevin,

Decision 26-1/3 applies in this situation (sort of).  First, the palmetto areas on your golf course that are defined as lateral hazards may not conform to the definition of a hazard in the first place.  (Which is why I said that Decision 26-1/3 may not apply.)  A water hazard has to be an area that holds water at least during some time of the year.  And I'm not talking about casual (rain) water.  The definition is in the Rules of Golf.

But since you play these areas as lateral hazards (probably to speed up play) I'll ignore the definition of a hazard for the purpose of answering your question.

If you are the player who hit this shot and took lateral water hazard relief...you're not going to like this answer:

In order for a ball to be treated as though it went into a water hazard (or lateral water hazard) the player must be "virtually certain" that it is in the hazard.  The fact that it was found outside the hazard means the player only "thought" it went into the hazard.  Therefore, the ball that was dropped and played from near where the player thought the ball entered the hazard is a "wrong ball".  The penalty is stroke and distance for the original ball (it is deemed lost outside the hazard) plus two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play for playing a wrong ball.

The more simple answer you might have been looking for is that once you play the second ball (assuming the first ball to be lost in the hazard) the original ball may no longer be played.  But the right answer, given the facts provided in your question, is the paragraph above.

If there was a bet on this question and answer...I want my cut!

Best wishes,

Paul Dolman
PGA Golf Professional