Golf Unplayable Ball Rules

This post I would like to dedicate to the golf unplayable ball rules. What are your options if your ball goes into a water hazard? Or gets stuck in a tree? There have been some pretty interesting unplayable ball scenarios in golf. I've seen golfers literally get into a pond to hit their ball out of a water hazard. That is something pretty interesting to me. Maybe it's not always better to take the penalty. Sometimes that unplayable ball really is playable. So what are the Unplayable Ball Rules of golf?

Let's start with the requirements of an unplayable ball:
First of all, to declare a ball unplayable you must be able to prove that it is your ball. This could mean shaking it out of the tree to prove that it really is your ball. Before you do this, make sure that you declare your intentions or there will be further penalties. You can only declare a ball unplayable if you can identify it. This means you can't declare a ball you hit into the middle of a pond unplayable unless you go and get it. Usually if you declare a ball unplayable, and are able to prove that it is your ball and get it, you are allowed to place the ball within two club lengths from the spot the ball was. These are the golf unplayable ball rules, but there are also rules for if you lose your golf ball.

Golf Lost Ball Rules:
The rules are the same for a golf ball that is lost or out of bounds. For a ball to be considered lost, it must be hit in a place where you cannot/ will not retrieve it, such as in a water hazard. This is different from a unplayable ball, because a lost ball is not retrievable while an unplayable ball is. In the instance of a lost ball, you must take a one stroke penalty and hit the ball from the place you hit it previously. This is much worse than an unplayable ball in most cases. Lost balls almost always have one result- the penalty stroke and placement of the ball from the spot of the previous shot. Unplayable balls could be played, but usually are not because it would be difficult to do so. For example, you technically climb up a tree in order to hit a golf ball.