Lost ball (or not?).....

[Smiffy]

You are playing a par 3. One of your playing partners hits an awful tee shot, tops it off the tee and it ends up in gorse and other crap about 10 yards away.
He says "That's lost, I'll play another" and tees up a ball and knocks it onto the green.
The word "provisional" is not mentioned at all.
If you then wander over and find his first ball, does he have to play it or can he carry on with his second ball?????

 

[bobmac]

He's not allowed to play his first ball if someone finds it unless he says provisional before he hits a second ball off the tee

 

[Smiffy]

He's not allowed to play his first ball if someone finds it unless he says provisional before he hits a second ball off the tee

He deliberately didn't call his second a provisional because he wanted to deem his first ball lost Bob.
I thought that you couldn't declare your ball lost.
Shows what a numpty I am

 

[MashieNiblick]

It is correct that you cannot verbally "declare your ball lost. See FAQs to Rule 27-1 on the R&A site (for some reason it won't let me cut and paste it)

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateu...mp;subRuleNum=1

In the scenario you mention the first ball becomes "lost" by virtue of the player putting another ball into play.

If he had said the second was a provisional then hit a great shot with it he couldn't then have declared the first one lost. If it was found before he played the provsional from a point nearer the hole than where the first ball was likely to be, then he would have to continue with the first ball.

 

[Smiffy]

It is correct that you cannot verbally "declare your ball lost. See FAQs to Rule 27-1 on the R&A site (for some reason it won't let me cut and paste it)

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateu...mp;subRuleNum=1

In the scenario you mention the first ball becomes "lost" by virtue of the player putting another ball into play.

If he had said the second was a provisional then hit a great shot with it he couldn't then have declared the first one lost. If it was found before he played the provsional from a point nearer the hole than where the first ball was likely to be, then he would have to continue with the first ball.

Hence the confusion.
I was wrong.
Sorry Alan (and Simon)

 

[Bratty]

It is correct that you cannot verbally "declare your ball lost. See FAQs to Rule 27-1 on the R&A site (for some reason it won't let me cut and paste it)

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateu...mp;subRuleNum=1

In the scenario you mention the first ball becomes "lost" by virtue of the player putting another ball into play.

If he had said the second was a provisional then hit a great shot with it he couldn't then have declared the first one lost. If it was found before he played the provsional from a point nearer the hole than where the first ball was likely to be, then he would have to continue with the first ball.

Hence the confusion.
I was wrong.
Sorry Alan (and Simon)

Ah, don't worry about it, Rob. It happens with age!

 

[JustOne]

You don't know the rules about putting a second ball into play after all these years playing!

 

[Wildrover]

It's true you can't declare a ball lost but if you hit a good provisional then equally you don't have to look for the first one either. Once you play a shot with the provisional ball past the point where you think your original ball is, the provisional then becomes the ball in play. For the sadistic among you, you can look for an opponents ball even if he doesn't, if you find it then he has to play that ball (puts little finger to mouth and does a Dr Evil laugh)

 

[Smiffy]

You don't know the rules about putting a second ball into play after all these years playing!

Obviously not

 

[BoadieBroadus]

Interesting what you learn. Never knew you couldn't declare a ball lost verbally.
One match this summer i went looking for a ball but didn't find it, said to my opponent that it was lost and headed towards the tee but found the ball after a few steps.
He said it didn't matter as i had declared it lost, took his word that it sounded right...
Beat him anyway but it was a tetchy moment.

 

[coolhand]

I had a thought on the subject of provisionals.

If I'm interpreting rule 28 correctly whilst you can't declare the ball lost you can (even if someone finds your ball) declare it unplayable and take the provisional as the ball in play.

Am I right?

 

[chris661]

No.

If you find your original ball the provisional becomes irrelevant.

 

[USER1999]

No, if you declare a ball unplayable, you can go back and play the shot again, not play the provisional. The provisional is irrelevant once the original is found.

 

[chrisd]

Interesting what you learn. Never knew you couldn't declare a ball lost verbally.

We had this in a pairs matchplay final and luckily our Secretary was acting as referee and resolved the matter immediately, otherwise it would have been one of those difficult situations


Chris

 

[CMAC]

you used to be able to declare it lost.
Now its either declare provisional before hitting it or not, if not then 1st ball is gone.
If provisional then 5 min rule even if you dont look for it and someone else finds it then its back in play.

 

[Leftie]

You don't know the rules about putting a second ball into play after all these years playing!

Obviously not

You really ought to read some of the many rules threads Smiffy. This particular question has been done to death several times over the last few weeks.