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Melissa watched as a ball landed on the fairway visible through a gap in the trees. The ball bounced forwards, landed on the edge of the green, and then rolled down the incline towards the water she could see only because of the sun that was bouncing off it.
“Is there a penalty if your ball goes in the water?” she asked of John Knight, whose office it was.
The head grounds-keeper offered an amused smile. “That depends on how good a golfer you are,” he said, “and how deep the water is. If the water’s shallow, and you’re a good golfer, you can get the ball out, you might even be able to get it somewhere useful. Most people, though, will take a penalty and drop a replacement ball near the edge of the water; in the long run, it saves a lot of time, effort and aggravation. I take it someo
