Another lateral hazard question

[JARS]

I'm putting a rules section in our newsletter and as our course has LOTS of water.....hence the water hazard questions.
Trying to interpret the water hazard/provisional ball issue.
We have a hole that has a lateral hazard (dry ditch with red stakes on either side) down the right. The other side of the ditch is trees and not nice stuff; therefore tricky to find a ball in.
If one hits a ball into the trees a decision has to be made. Did the ball finish the far side of the hazard or could it have dropped into the ditch?
If it is certain one or the other then the rules are straight forward. But what if you are not sure. You did not see it finish and it could be in either.
As I understand it you can't play a provisional ball. You have to go down and search. If you can't find your ball and you can't definitely say it is in the hazard then it's back to the tee. Is this correct?

 

[Spuddy]

I'm putting a rules section in our newsletter and as our course has LOTS of water.....hence the water hazard questions.
Trying to interpret the water hazard/provisional ball issue.
We have a hole that has a lateral hazard (dry ditch with red stakes on either side) down the right. The other side of the ditch is trees and not nice stuff; therefore tricky to find a ball in.
If one hits a ball into the trees a decision has to be made. Did the ball finish the far side of the hazard or could it have dropped into the ditch?
If it is certain one or the other then the rules are straight forward. But what if you are not sure. You did not see it finish and it could be in either.
As I understand it you can't play a provisional ball. You have to go down and search. If you can't find your ball and you can't definitely say it is in the hazard then it's back to the tee. Is this correct?

If you're not sure where it is then you can play a provisional. If you get up there and can't find it then you play the provisional however if you find it in the hazard or the rough then the provisional must be picked up. Decision 27-2a/2.2 explains it.

 

[Ethan]

If you are virtually certain the ball is in a hazard you cannot play a provo.

It sounds like in this case, you can't be virtually certain, so you can play a provo.

 

[rulefan]

Further, if when you get to the area, you can't see the ball outside the hazard or be certain that the ball is in the hazard then you play your provisional.

From the description of the area, unless you can see the ball in the hazard it isn't.

 

[bladeplayer]

I'm putting a rules section in our newsletter and as our course has LOTS of water.....hence the water hazard questions.
Trying to interpret the water hazard/provisional ball issue.
We have a hole that has a lateral hazard (dry ditch with red stakes on either side) down the right. The other side of the ditch is trees and not nice stuff; therefore tricky to find a ball in.
If one hits a ball into the trees a decision has to be made. Did the ball finish the far side of the hazard or could it have dropped into the ditch?
If it is certain one or the other then the rules are straight forward. But what if you are not sure. You did not see it finish and it could be in either.
As I understand it you can't play a provisional ball. You have to go down and search. If you can't find your ball and you can't definitely say it is in the hazard then it's back to the tee. Is this correct?

What course are you a member of ?

*Not sure if youv'e heard of Barry Rhodes Rules of golf , worth a look on youtube & free subscription to newsletter if you havent ..

 

[rulefan]

*Not sure if youv'e heard of Barry Rhodes Rules of golf , worth a look on youtube & free subscription to newsletter if you havent ..

As Barry often seeks advice from posters here, you'd be just as well off here.

 

[bladeplayer]

As Barry often seeks advice from posters here, you'd be just as well off here.

That's very interesting I didn't know that , ta