1st ball after taking a provisional ball

[scubascuba3]

First drive goes in the trees and looks potentially lost so take a provisional ball, this ball on the par 3 lands very close to the hole so i gimme 4, can the 1st ball now be declared lost without looking or do you and/or partner need to look for the 1st ball?

 

[lukeysafc100]

Hi, you cannot declare a ball lost. However you are not obliged to look for it, but your playing partners can if they wish and if they find it your provisional will have to be abandoned.

So in summary - you don't have to look for the ball and play your provisional - but I would always tell your playing partners/competitors that you are not going to look for the ball.

 

[Colin L]

The original ball cannot be "declared lost." You do not, however, need to look for it. Go directly to your provisional ball and play it. That renders your original ball lost provided your provisional was at or nearer the hole than where your original was likely to be.

 

[scubascuba3]

So your opponent could look for it if they want? And if they find it you need to play it?

 

[Fish]

The original ball cannot be "declared lost." You do not, however, need to look for it. Go directly to your provisional ball and play it. That renders your original ball lost provided your provisional was at or nearer the hole than where your original was likely to be.

Always amazes me how many people I see wading through knee high thick grass and looking under bushes for a ball that if they find, they would have almost zero chance of playing or getting out anywhere near where your provisional ball now is.

If it's not ideally where you'd like it to be due to a lucky bounce off a tree etc, then jog on to your provisional and abandon it, unless your SILH of course as he will time 5 minutes looking for your ball so he can win the hole

:smirk:

 

[Fish]

So your opponent could look for it if they want? And if they find it you need to play it?

Yes

 

[doublebogey7]

So your opponent could look for it if they want? And if they find it you need to play it?

Yes unless you run up and play your second shot with the provisional before the first ball is found

 

[Fish]

Yes unless you run up and play your second shot with the provisional before the first ball is found

:rofl: 2 inches from the hole with my provisional and I'd be galloping up to the green with my putter in hand to tap it in whilst waving 2 fingers at the knob looking for my ball :rofl:

 

[Foxholer]

The original ball cannot be "declared lost." You do not, however, need to look for it. Go directly to your provisional ball and play it. That renders your original ball lost provided your provisional was at or nearer the hole than where your original was likely to be.

Colin. If you don't mind, a touch of pedantry....

Of course a ball can be 'declared lost'!

However the fact that there is no such concept in the Rules of Golf, means that if it happens to be found before it is "DEEMED 'lost'" - a concept that definitely IS in RofG, then it continues to be the ball in play!

As for the question in the OP...

In a match, I'd suggest walking quickly to the 'provisional', removing the flag and putting it. Even if the opponent (correctly) states that you have played out of turn, then the 'worst that can happen is that you are required to replay the putt.

In Stroke play, there is no penalty for playing out of turn.

In both cases that action has made the provisional the ball in play!

If I was an opponent or fellow competitor, I certainly wouldn't be looking for the original!

 

[scubascuba3]

:rofl: 2 inches from the hole with my provisional and I'd be galloping up to the green with my putter in hand to tap it in whilst waving 2 fingers at the knob looking for my ball :rofl:

Ah but then you are playing out of turn and will lose the hole in matchplay?

 

[guest100718]

Ah but then you are playing out of turn and will lose the hole in matchplay?

No, he can just ask for the shot to be replayed.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Always amazes me how many people I see wading through knee high thick grass and looking under bushes for a ball that if they find, they would have almost zero chance of playing or getting out anywhere near where your provisional ball now is.

If it's not ideally where you'd like it to be due to a lucky bounce off a tree etc, then jog on to your provisional and abandon it, unless your SILH of course as he will time 5 minutes looking for your ball so he can win the hole

:smirk:

I had me inflicted on me last weekend in a medal. On a par 3 I s****ed my tee shot towards somewhere deep and dark and woody - I never saw it finish. But my PPs said they had seen it hit a branch and drop down into the rough before the trees - the rough was generally waist high in the area they saw it drop. Anyway - I hit a provisional to 3ft. I said that maybe I'll not bother looking but they said - it's OK - we know where it is.

Sure enough they found my ball. It was sitting not very well but not as bad as it might have been. So with my ball in pretty horrid rough and 75yds to the flag - and with my provisional sitting 3ft from flag but now out of play - I sighed and got on with it. Managed to hack my ball onto front of green and damn well nearly hold a 40footer for a par - leaving me a 6" tap in for me 4.

All's well that ends well.

 

[williamalex1]

I had me inflicted on me last weekend in a medal. On a par 3 I s****ed my tee shot towards somewhere deep and dark and woody - I never saw it finish. But my PPs said they had seen it hit a branch and drop down into the rough before the trees - the rough was generally waist high in the area they saw it drop. Anyway - I hit a provisional to 3ft. I said that maybe I'll not bother looking but they said - it's OK - we know where it is.

Sure enough they found my ball. It was sitting not very well but not as bad as it might have been. So with my ball in pretty horrid rough and 75yds to the flag - and with my provisional sitting 3ft from flag but now out of play - I sighed and got on with it. Managed to hack my ball onto front of green and damn well nearly hold a 40footer for a par - leaving me a 6" tap in for me 4.

All's well that ends well.

You didn't have to declared that you were playing a provisional.:thup:

 

[drdel]

Under any of these circumstances you need to stop and think about your bets options and what the 'percentage' play might be.

If your first shot looks as if it might be found AND reasonably playable then announce that you intend to play a provisional. That's the declaration that will enable a valid search for your original ball. Then only if the ball is not found or the second ball is struck after passing the region of the lost ball does the provisional become 'in play'.

If, on the other-hand, your first shot is probably lost and/or the lie is unlikely to enable a recovery shot you can simply state you are putting another ball in play under 'shot distance' penalty. That precludes other players from searching because as soon as you make a stroke and strike the second ball it becomes the 'ball-in-play'.

You are simply making use of the stroke and distance penalty a golfer can employ by declaring his/her ball unplayable at 'any' time at his/her discretion.

 

[Colin L]

. So with my ball in pretty horrid rough and 75yds to the flag - and with my provisional sitting 3ft from flag but now out of play - I sighed and got on with it. Managed to hack my ball onto front of green and damn well nearly hold a 40footer for a par - leaving me a 6" tap in for me 4.

All's well that ends well.

Another "rules" story with just a touch of gratuitous boasting. This could become habit forming.
:lol::lol:

 

[Foxholer]

Under any of these circumstances you need to stop and think about your bets options and what the 'percentage' play might be.

If your first shot looks as if it might be found AND reasonably playable then announce that you intend to play a provisional. That's the declaration that will enable a valid search for your original ball. Then only if the ball is not found or the second ball is struck after passing the region of the lost ball does the provisional become 'in play'.

If, on the other-hand, your first shot is probably lost and/or the lie is unlikely to enable a recovery shot you can simply state you are putting another ball in play under 'shot distance' penalty. That precludes other players from searching because as soon as you make a stroke and strike the second ball it becomes the 'ball-in-play'.

You are simply making use of the stroke and distance penalty a golfer can employ by declaring his/her ball unplayable at 'any' time at his/her discretion.

Agreed - well almost!

1. You need to consider how likely you are to hit a 'great shot' - as SILH did - BEFORE you actually make it!

2. Striking the second ball is not essential. You only need to 'make a stroke'! See the definition of 'stroke' in the Rules.

Oh, and betting options aren't really involved either!

 

[rulefan]

First drive goes in the trees and looks potentially lost so take a provisional ball, this ball on the par 3 lands very close to the hole so i gimme 4, can the 1st ball now be declared lost without looking or do you and/or partner need to look for the 1st ball?

Was this a match? Did your opponent give you the gimme? If so you have finished the hole with a four.
If your opponent didn't concede the stroke/hole, then until the second ball is actually played or until 5 minutes have elapsed, the original is still in play. You don't have to search for it but your opponent(s) may if they wish.

As you mention a partner, was this a fourball?

Of course, there is no such thing as gimmes in strokeplay.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

You didn't have to declared that you were playing a provisional.:thup:

I know - but I didn't know my provi was quite so close as you can't see the green from the tee.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Another "rules" story with just a touch of gratuitous boasting. This could become habit forming.
:lol::lol:

oh absolutely - point is that most of these provisional type stories with the original being found when you didn't really want it found are a bit negative. In this case I was able to match the best I could have done with my provisional- indeed I might even have bettered it with a par.

There has to be a little moral in there somewhere. I guess it's along lines of making the best of a bad job - things might just turn out fine - and sometimes even much better than you could really have hoped,

 

[Fish]

oh absolutely - point is that most of these provisional type stories with the original being found when you didn't really want it found are a bit negative. In this case I was able to match the best I could have done with my provisional- indeed I might even have bettered it with a par.

There has to be a little moral in there somewhere. I guess it's along lines of making the best of a bad job - things might just turn out fine - and sometimes even much better than you could really have hoped,

I would say that those percentages would lean greatly towards being negative though, you were simply fortunate, that's all.

No different to people stating there average driving distances or best iron distances into the greens, when 7 out of 10 times most handicap golfers will be short, that's because they only remember or want to remember there best shots with those clubs!