[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

As I understand the rules, if you can reasonably determine that the ball went into a water hazard, there is no scoring advantage to retrieving the ball, unless you are going to hit the ball from the water. You drop another ball on the path that it entered the hazard (not closer to the hole), and take a one stroke penalty. This is not considered a lost ball or out-of-bounds.

Correct. Depends on whether it is a penalty area demarcated by yellow or red stakes, but in general you can either:

***Drop a ball withing 2 club lengths of where it last crossed the margin of the hazard no closer to the hole.
***Keep the point where it last crossed the margin of the hazard between you and the pin with no restriction on how far back you may go.
***Play from where you last hit the ball

You are right, it is not "lost" or "out of bounds"---that's a different rule