A little one to work the mind on rules.

[MadAdey]

My dad use to play with PGA rules official. He asked me to answer this question that he had on his final exam when he qualified.

Player A is playing strokeplay.
Player A hits his tee shot. Not sure on where it has landed elects to play a provisional ball.
Player A finds his ball in the woods and plays his next shot as it lied.
Player A picks up his provisional ball up as he has played his original ball and continues towards the green to play his next shot.
When he gets to his ball he realises that he has not played the correct ball from the trees.
Unable to find his original ball in the trees he goes back to the tee to play the hole again.
He has now played his tee shot and proceeds down the fairway how many shots has this player now played and why?

Just thought I would throw a little puzzler to get the old grey matter working.

 

[USER1999]

4.

The tee shot.
The second shot out (any subsequent strokes at the wrong ball don't count).
The penalty.
The reload from the tee.

 

[jdchelsea]

Is it 4? I.e. first tee shot, 1 shot penalty for lost ball, 1 shot penalty for playing wrong ball and then 2nd tee shot! Provisional ball irrelevant because it was never declared to be in play. More of a guess than anything

 

[Ethan]

First shot.

2 shot penalty for wrong ball.

1 shot for lifting provisional.

2 more for failing to replace it and playing another tee shot (effectively declaring provo unplayable).

Playing 7 off the tee.

 

[Region3]

Complete and utter guess....

When he hit the wrong ball that is 2 shot penalty. Picking up his provisional wrongly as it should have been the ball in play is another 1 penalty shot. Hitting the third ball from the tee is another wrong ball but is it another penalty as I think you only get penalised once for wrong ball, but is that if you hit the same wrong ball again?
If it's another wrong ball then surely he has to replace his provisional ball as close to where it was as he could, then be playing his 7th shot next?

Or....

Hitting the third ball from the tee is effectively taking an unplayable for the provisional and he's now playing his 6th shot next?

I don't know.

 

[rosecott]

I would have said 5 - 2-shot penalty for playing a wrong ball, then 3 off the tee.

Waiting to be shot down in flames.

 

[Monty_Brown]

I'd sooner No Return rather than work this one out

 

[JustOne]

Player A is playing strokeplay.
Player A hits his tee shot. Not sure on where it has landed elects to play a provisional ball.
Player A finds his ball in the woods and plays his next shot as it lied.
Player A picks up his provisional ball up as he has played his original ball and continues towards the green to play his next shot.
When he gets to his ball he realises that he has not played the correct ball from the trees.
Unable to find his original ball in the trees he goes back to the tee to play the hole again.
He has now played his tee shot and proceeds down the fairway....

#Sigh#.....playing with Smiffy can be such a drag........

 

[bladeplayer]

Id call it as a 5 , t shot , 2 shot pen for playing wrong ball , then the pen for reloading , then the t shot again
.. looking forward to this answer , must be an sneaky rule in there if ur asking

Ethans reply is a good one tho , would not have thought of that , as the ball was in the woods i was seeing it as a lost ball/ find rather than another ball in play ..

 

[JustOne]

Tee shot, 2nd shot, 2 shot penalty (wrong ball), another one to go back to the tee, playing 6

 

[MadAdey]

A lot of good answers so far. Ethan is on the right lines. This is not a trick question either, it is a straight up one and you will be shocked when you hear the answer and hope this does not happen to you (That is a little clue for you)
I will answer this in a an hour. I do hope I have remembered how to work this out correctly. I am not a master of the rules by no stretch just understand the basics like most of us.

 

[bluewolf]

im going to see Ethan's 7 and raise it to 9 off the tee. Im not going to show my working out as this would reveal the fact that its a guess, but I don't think he should have gone back to the tee.......

 

[bladeplayer]

Just a thought would it be a DQ as he technicaly hadnt realy found his origional , his provo was the ball in play & as he picked it up he is DQ'n himself ??

 

[MadAdey]

Yes he must go back to the tee as he does not have a ball in play.

 

[MadAdey]

Just a thought would it be a DQ as he technicaly hadnt realy found his origional , his provo was the ball in play & as he picked it up he is DQ'n himself ??

No he is not DQ'n as he is still playing the hole even though he picked up his provo. I love the way this is getting peoples minds ticking though.

 

[CMAC]

tee shot, stroke 1
2nd shot from trees- stroke 2
played wrong ball- 2 shot penalty
other strokes with wrong ball constituted as practice on the course 1 shot penalty.
back to Tee playing 7 off the tee.

Probably totally wrong and showing my ignorance of the rules

 

[MadAdey]

tee shot, stroke 1
2nd shot from trees- stroke 2
played wrong ball- 2 shot penalty
other strokes with wrong ball constituted as practice on the course 1 shot penalty.
back to Tee playing 7 off the tee.

Probably totally wrong and showing my ignorance of the rules

No ignorance there Darth. You are on the correct lines, but not quite there....

 

[MadAdey]

Ok then I will tell you what has happened you tell me how many shots he has taken.

We all know this part don't we:

1 off the tee, then plays his second shot. Finds out he has played the wrong ball 2 stroke penalty. I think everyone gets that bit.

Now he must go back and play his original ball. He does not know where it is so now he must play his provisional ball that he played, but he picked that up already removing it from play...............

 

[bladeplayer]

Ok then I will tell you what has happened you tell me how many shots he has taken.

We all know this part don't we:

1 off the tee, then plays his second shot. Finds out he has played the wrong ball 2 stroke penalty. I think everyone gets that bit.

Now he must go back and play his original ball. He does not know where it is so now he must play his provisional ball that he played, but he picked that up already removing it from play...............

take a penalty drop from the aproximate area his provisional had been ? (same as he had hit his provo oob )played 5 ?? about to play 6 ? I DONT KNOW !!!!!!!!!! TELL ME !!! i wasnt shouting i was screaming , this is shouting

 

[MadAdey]

take a penalty drop from the aproximate area his provisional had been ? (same as he had hit his provo oob )played 5 ?? about to play 6 ? I DONT KNOW !!!!!!!!!! TELL ME !!! i wasnt shouting i was screaming , this is shouting

I would love to tell you blade. Just waiting to see if anyone can get close to it.