Yet another rules Q ( would love a sticky on rules )

curly from cork

Player tees off. goes forward. cant find ball. searches for 3 mins. says I ll go back and play a provisional. heads back to tee and allows partners to continue search , which they do and find the ball within the allowed 5 mins but just as the player has teed off the provo. player arrives up the fairway to be told " We ve found the original ball " . Player says ok great picks up provo and continues with the original ball .
Is this correct ? the player was pulled up by another player in a 3 ball behind them after the round and told that continuing on with the original ball was incorrect.

Myksyk

I'm afraid the guy in the 3ball was right. You cannot go back and play a provisional ball at the stage you describe. The rules state you must play your provisional before going forward to search for your first ball. The second ball you played became the ball in play and effectively rendered the original ball 'lost'.

curly from cork

Thanks for reply . Could you go back to play the same scenario going 3 off the tee then finding the original and playing it ?

Holy Diver

curly from cork wrote: »

Thanks for reply . Could you go back to play the same scenario going 3 off the tee then finding the original and playing it ?

No. Once you go back and play the other ball it automatically becomes the ball in play. Afaik...

Myksyk

Sorry, don't understand the question!??

golfnut1

curly from cork wrote: »

Thanks for reply . Could you go back to play the same scenario going 3 off the tee then finding the original and playing it ?

No. Afraid not. You have to play the provo before you go forward.

curly from cork

Sorry I ll try to be clearer, I was wondering would the decision have been ok if the player had declared himself to be going 3 off the tee, ( not a provo ) so went back hit 3 and then original ball found within the 5 mins.

Myksyk

No, once you hit the second ball it was the ball in play.

thewobbler

If you call a provisional you can keep playing it until you cross the line where your first ball got into trouble. At that point, if you find your first ball, you (should) play it. Otherwise you're playing the provisional for the hole.

If you don't call a provisional, then the next ball you hit is your ball for the hole, with penalties applied accordingly.

Corkblowin

thewobbler wrote: »

If you call a provisional you can keep playing it until you cross the line where your first ball got into trouble. At that point, if you find your first ball, you (should) play it. Otherwise you're playing the provisional for the hole.

If you don't call a provisional, then the next ball you hit is your ball for the hole, with penalties applied accordingly.

Just to clarify this - you must play the provisional from the tee before going forward to look. If you walk out and look for any period of time you cannot then go back and play a provisional, it then becomes the ball in play and doesn't matter if the original is found within 5 mins or if it takes you 20 shots to get back to the point where it was lost.

curly from cork

I was wondering would the decision have been ok if the player had declared himself to be going 3 off the tee, ( not a provo ) so went back hit 3 and then original ball found within the 5 mins.

Corkblowin

curly from cork wrote: »

I was wondering would the decision have been ok if the player had declared himself to be going 3 off the tee, ( not a provo ) so went back hit 3 and then original ball found within the 5 mins.

Afraid not, once the ball is put in play you must continue with that ball. The FAQ for the rule says;

A player plays his second shot, searches for his ball briefly and then goes back and drops another ball under Rule 27-1. Before he plays the dropped ball, and within the five-minute search period, the original ball is found. Is the player required to continue with the dropped ball?

When the player put the substituted ball into play at the spot of the previous stroke with the intent to play a ball under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 27-1), the original ball was lost (see Definition of “Lost Ball”). Therefore, Rule 20-6 does not apply, and he must continue with the substituted ball.

mikeunt

So you are declaring the ball lost by going back and playing 3 off the tee?

charlieIRL

ohh jeasuz!!:p:D

AldilaMan

mikeunt wrote: »

So you are declaring the ball lost by going back and playing 3 off the tee?

Who said that !!

Miley Byrne

Here we go again!!!!

mikeunt

charlieIRL wrote: »

ohh jeasuz!!:p:D

Did I miss something here?

Almaviva

You have several options in that situation :

a) go back and play your third shot from the tee (note: if someone finds your original shot before you have finished out the hole, then you have the option of forgetting the second ball and going back and playing the original)
b) drop another ball within two club lengths of a where you deem the ball should be, and play that. You must add a penalty stroke though.
c) go back to the tee and play a provisional. When you get down the fairway, you can choose between playing the provisional or the original if someone has found it for you within 20 minutes.
d) declare it 'unplayable' (which clearly it is since you cant find it) and then drop back as far as you wish keeping the point where you lost sight of it in line with the flag
e) declare it 'lost' and go back to the tee and play your second. Note that in this case (and this is the bit many get wrong), you cannot play you ball from the fairway even if someone finds it after you have teed up your second ball on the tee.

Hope this clarifies it once and for all.

golfnut1

Sorry Almaviva. Your wrong you cant do any of the above.
Read Myksyk post of this. this is the correct ruling

Opics

Almaviva wrote: »

You have several options in that situation :

a) go back and play your third shot from the tee (note: if someone finds your original shot before you have finished out the hole, then you have the option of forgetting the second ball and going back and playing the original)
b) drop another ball within two club lengths of a where you deem the ball should be, and play that. You must add a penalty stroke though.
c) go back to the tee and play a provisional. When you get down the fairway, you can choose between playing the provisional or the original if someone has found it for you within 20 minutes.
d) declare it 'unplayable' (which clearly it is since you cant find it) and then drop back as far as you wish keeping the point where you lost sight of it in line with the flag
e) declare it 'lost' and go back to the tee and play your second. Note that in this case (and this is the bit many get wrong), you cannot play you ball from the fairway even if someone finds it after you have teed up your second ball on the tee.

Hope this clarifies it once and for all.

I would like to point out to anybody new to the game that the above post is a pisstake. You actually cannot do any of the above. :pac:

golfnut1

God dame it i knew it!!!!
I just didnt want to be rude!!

Mizuno Man

Ha ha! That was a great windup Almaviva! It must have taken you a while to think that one up!

Mikeunt, techinically you can not "declare" your ball lost. However, all the strange comments are because a handful of people on here get their knickers in a twist when someone says what you suggested and jump on here to bleat a bit. Don't worry about it!

Whether you think you can declare it lost or not, the effect is basically the same at the end of the day. You give up on your first ball and you put another ball in play by going back to the tee and giving it a whack.

The problem is that if someone finds your first ball before you hit that other one, and it's still within the 5 minute limit, then you must go back to your original ball and play it, even if you "declared it lost" as this declaration holds no weight at all under the rules of golf.

If you get to hit your second ball though, then under the rules, you are deemed to have put another ball in play "under penalty of stroke and distance" and your original ball no longer matters even if it is later found.