playable water?
 

I'm throwing at a hole on a crest, with a lake behind it. There's a pretty strong headwind. I throw a floating disc (a Merc as it were) over the hill out of sight. By the time I get over the hill, my disc is floating right at the edge of the lake. What probably happened was the disc landed in the water, and floated ashore. But no one saw that. The current lie at edge of the shore is certainly playable (I don't mind getting my boots wet). There was no sign indicating the lake is OB. Do I get a penalty or not?

Large bodies of water like lakes are always OB to the best of my knowledge, at least I've never seen them marked any other way. So unless the disc is touching something in bounds I would think you'd get a penalty.

as long as the disc is touching something that is in bounds, i think you're good to go

Well, if it was floating, I'd argue that the disc was not 'at rest' and you can play it from the shore.

So, if a disc is stuck in a tree, but you don't see it, then it falls 30 seconds later when a gust of wind comes, it's also playable. I'm pretty sure it's the same idea, right?

I haven't read the official rules yet though, so there's a ton of people more qualified to answer this than me.

Well, there weren't actual hole signs, just posts with hole numbers on them next to the tee. It's a pretty new course.

If it's touching inbounds it doesn't matter how it got there (even if it floated there). Who's to say it didn't roll down the hill to the edge of the water and stop?

Well one side of the disc was resting atop some grass on the shore, the other side was still bobbing up and down in the current.

it would be if the 2m rule is not in effect. if 2m is in effect, i think not. if the disc had come to rest in the tree, then it would automatically give you a stroke. i guess it would come down to if anyone saw it fall from the tree, and how high the branches were. on most trees with branches large enough to hold a disc, they are over 2m from the ground. the main exception i can think of are some kinds of bushy evergreens where the branches basically start at the ground.

If the disc is no longer moving under its own power, it is considered "at rest". If you throw 20 feet out into a pond or river and the disc floats to shore on the power of the water current, then sorry, but your lie is still 20 feet out in the water.

Of course, the kicker here is that your group has to be in agreement that the disc was no longer under its own power by the time it reached the shoreline.

Unless there was some sort of very strong current, it's very hard for a floating disc to climb back onto land. So if one side was on land, it's pretty safe to say that it came to rest there. You can then mark one-meter in from the OB line (shore) and throw from there. Assuming the lake itself is actually OB, you cannot wade in and throw from there, all of your supporting points must be in bounds.