SS2
Tour Rookie
Course is very wet. Player 1 hits approach shot to green and it disappears in the area of a moat surrounding the green. No provisional ball is played. Players look for ball: not found after a few mins. Players agree that they all think the ball has gone in the water. Player one drops new ball back from water under penalty of one stroke.
Before player 1 can play his fourth shot he finds his original ball plugged in the fairway beside where he has dropped his new ball.
As player 1 in this situation, my interpretation was: The original ball is out of play as soon as the replacement ball is dropped into play and must be picked up and pocketed. Playing partners were saying that I could play the original ball but I'm pretty sure that's not the case.
Secondary point: all three players agreed that they thought the ball had gone in the water. This turned out to be false. Is this a problem in any way? Any other comments on this situation ?
Before player 1 can play his fourth shot he finds his original ball plugged in the fairway beside where he has dropped his new ball.
As player 1 in this situation, my interpretation was: The original ball is out of play as soon as the replacement ball is dropped into play and must be picked up and pocketed. Playing partners were saying that I could play the original ball but I'm pretty sure that's not the case.
Secondary point: all three players agreed that they thought the ball had gone in the water. This turned out to be false. Is this a problem in any way? Any other comments on this situation ?