Can I get a rules official over here?

[anonymous golfaholic]

Okay, so I'm on the 1st tee box, on a course I have never played before. It's a par 5, blind tee shot, up hill then down hill for the 2nd half of the hole. I hook my tee shot left...I think it is in the trees, so I declare that I'm going to take a provisional. Then, I blocked my second shot right. It didn't look too bad so I went hunting. I get there and realize that both balls are gone...but my first shot went into a red staked hazard. So I forget the provisional and take a drop, one club length from where I thought my 1st ball entered the hazard. The green is only 210 yds down hill and I have a good lie. I hit a 5i stiff. Then I two putted. What should my score be?

I'm curious because at the end of the day I carded a very low number. I started thinking about it and started thinking my score might not be legit.

 

[warbirdlover]

Five. (????)

 

[thekid65]

Sounds like a solid par (5) to me.

 

[nututhugame]

Being as we don't have huge crowds to watch exactly where our balls go this can get tricky. I've done what you did because it was not o.b. It was in a hazard. If you carded a 5 playing your first ball out I think that was correct because if you knew the course and knew it was a lateral hazard and there was an official to help determine where it last crossed the line into said hazard you may never have hit a provisional. If that were the case and it all played out the way it did with that first ball then you got a 5.

 

[Fourputt]

Definitely a 5. You played the provisional ball in the honest possibility that your first ball might be lost outside of a hazard. That is all that is required to play a provisional ball. Once it was found that the original ball could only be in the hazard, then the provisional ball was abandoned and you appeared to proceed correctly under Rule 26-1c.

 

[Augster]

The only part you shorted yourself on was that you could have dropped within TWO clublengths of the point last crossed. Dropping within 1 clublength is usually reserved for free drops. The Rules usually give you two club lengths when you are taking a penalty. Easy rule of thumb.

Also, if you are playing with others, someone in the group will drop the genius nugget, "You can't hit a provisional if it might be in a hazard." Bullshit. By hitting a provisional, you are acknowledging that your ball may be lost outside the hazard. If you get up to where you think it may have gone in, and don't find it, you aren't allowed to claim it went in. Your provisional ball is now the ball in play.

But after actually finding it in the hazard, you are allowed to proceed under Rule 26.

I had some dildo in my match Sunday try to tell me that nugget, AGAIN, that I can't hit a provisional when I think it might be in a hazard. I said, "It "might" be in the hazard, but I don't KNOW if it is nor am I VERY CERTAIN that it is. I'm going to hit my provisional. Then, if I find my first ball outside the hazard, I'll play it lying 1. If I find my ball in the hazard, I'll proceed under Rule 26, and either play it as it lies, or take relief from the hazard. Finally, if I don't find my ball at all, I will play my provisional ball the rest of the hole, lying 3."

His retort, "You can't hit a provisional ball when you think it went in a hazard."

Ugh.

Nice hole. Well played.

 

[Fourputt]

Also, if you are playing with others, someone in the group will drop the genius nugget, "You can't hit a provisional if it might be in a hazard." Bullshit. By hitting a provisional, you are acknowledging that your ball may be lost outside the hazard. If you get up to where you think it may have gone in, and don't find it, you aren't allowed to claim it went in. Your provisional ball is now the ball in play.

But after actually finding it in the hazard, you are allowed to proceed under Rule 26.

I had some dildo in my match Sunday try to tell me that nugget, AGAIN, that I can't hit a provisional when I think it might be in a hazard. I said, "It "might" be in the hazard, but I don't KNOW if it is nor am I VERY CERTAIN that it is. I'm going to hit my provisional. Then, if I find my first ball outside the hazard, I'll play it lying 1. If I find my ball in the hazard, I'll proceed under Rule 26, and either play it as it lies, or take relief from the hazard. Finally, if I don't find my ball at all, I will play my provisional ball the rest of the hole, lying 3."

You may also make the assumption that the ball is lost in the hazard if it is virtually certain that there is no other place for it to be lost. It is not absolutely necessary that you find the ball. But that virtual certainty must be determined on a case by case basis. If there is any possibility that the ball might be lost other than in the hazard, then the provisional ball becomes the ball in play.

 

[anonymous golfaholic]

Thanks guys. I was 99% sure that I played it correctly. I was playing with my brother and he just couldn't understand the fact that I lost 2 balls and still made par. He was ribbing me pretty hard...like a brother should. So much, that it got me wondering. He is young and doesn't play very much golf though.

 

[295yards]

Thanks guys. I was 99% sure that I played it correctly. I was playing with my brother and he just couldn't understand the fact that I lost 2 balls and still made par. He was ribbing me pretty hard...like a brother should. So much, that it got me wondering. He is young and doesn't play very much golf though.

Damn brothers!

It's not hard to understand. You didn't loose your first ball so you couldn't play the provisional even if you wanted too ( including if it hit the cart path 10 times and came to rest on the green )

Hopefully, had you smoked your second drive up the pipe, you would've still at least gave a half ass effort to find your first ball.

Guys I play with will haul ass to the second ball claiming there is no way they'll ever find their fiirst ball.

I love it when someone finds it..." No. It's right here under this tree "