Provisionally lost or actually lost

[Slab]

OK so we all know as a time saver hitting a provisional is the way to go, but on balance are you more or less likely to find your first ball if you've hit a provisional?

So firstly do you you want to find it but also are you able to find it?

Do you look as thoroughly as you'd look if no provisional has been played? Do you even take your 5 minutes to look if you've a provisional sitting in the middle of the fairway?

 

[Imurg]

Depends on where exactly the ball could be.
Is it better playing your 4th from the fairway or find your ball, hack out and be only a little further back playing 3....
If it's not immediately visible then it's likely to be a tough shot, more of a hack out so it's costing a shot anyway but you're still a shot better off.
Having said that I'll make a judgement call because sometimes it can take 2 or 3 or even a penalty drop to get back in play and then you're worse off....

One thing I've found is that if I start finding other balls in the rough I'm less likely to find mine.

 

[CMAC]

OK so we all know as a time saver hitting a provisional is the way to go, but on balance are you more or less likely to find your first ball if you've hit a provisional?

So firstly do you you want to find it but also are you able to find it?

Do you look as thoroughly as you'd look if no provisional has been played? Do you even take your 5 minutes to look if you've a provisional sitting in the middle of the fairway?

Common sense prevails

 

[Slab]

Common sense prevails

But what I'm getting at is what if common sense prevails & tells you to not look very hard or for very long and your ball is 10 seconds and 5yards away from being found (just because of the influencing factor that a provisional has been hit) & that without a provisional there's a high chance you'd have looked another 10 seconds and walked another 5yards

 

[CMAC]

But what I'm getting at is what if common sense prevails & tells you to not look very hard or for very long and your ball is 10 seconds and 5yards away from being found (just because of the influencing factor that a provisional has been hit) & that without a provisional there's a high chance you'd have looked another 10 seconds and walked another 5yards

The 'influencing' factor, for me anyway, is how important it is to find it i.e I'm level par with 2 holes left or I'm 12 over after 9 etc that's what I was inferring to

 

[chrisd]

I hit a good provisional yesterday and told my fellow competitors that I will have a quick glance to see if my original ball was ok. After 30 seconds I realised it wouldn't be good if I found it, my FC's didn't even wander over and I played the prov ball - no drama, no problems, carry on - no rule broken!

 

[Imurg]

The 'influencing' factor, for me anyway, is how important it is to find it i.e I'm level par with 2 holes left or I'm 12 over after 9 etc that's what I was inferring to

So you don't look for it that often then.....?:rofl::rofl::thup:

 

[lyden]

At my place if your having to play a provisional you can pretty much guarantee you wont find it or want to, as darth said if i was playing well id search for the full 5 mins. Sometimes i see people go looking for them in the bushes 20 yards away after ripping their provisional down the middle, If it were allowed within the rules id give them a good shake.

 

[Ethan]

If I nail my provisional ball down the middle and my first ball is somewhere where it is almost certainly going to be impossible to better the provisional (in 3), then I won't bother looking for the first one. No rules say that I need to look, and once I play another shot with the provo, which is gong to be nearer the hole, the first one is out of play anyway.

 

[Slab]

The reason for the thread was me sitting in the office, bit bored, long time till weekend etc & wondering about the ratio of successfully found first balls and is it likely to be higher/lower/same depending on if a provisional has been hit or not

 

[chrisd]

The reason for the thread was me sitting in the office, bit bored, long time till weekend etc & wondering about the ratio of successfully found first balls and is it likely to be higher/lower/same depending on if a provisional has been hit or not

At that point most people ask - Whats the best wet suit - make it simple Slab :lol:

 

[FairwayDodger]

The reason for the thread was me sitting in the office, bit bored, long time till weekend etc & wondering about the ratio of successfully found first balls and is it likely to be higher/lower/same depending on if a provisional has been hit or not

Sometimes a provisional can help finding the first ball if it helps you pin down the rough sort of distance the first one likely went. Other than that it doesn't really help.

If you hit both into the same spot of trouble the rule of thumb is that you tend to find the provisional.

 

[Imurg]

I went through a stage for several years of regularly losing the provisional but finding my first - incredibly annoying.....

 

[Sweep]

I find that your playing partners are less inclined to help you find your original and won't look for as long if you have put a provisional in play.

 

[mykweb]

I see your point, I was playing on Saturday. Was +7 after the first 9. On the 10th hole I hit a terrible drive off the left into the trees. I then played a provisional ball which I ripped straight down the middle and 240 yards.

I guessed my first ball would be lost as the rough on the left is high and full of jaggy nettles. However I went and looked and found my ball in a decentish lie. I played it out onto the fairway and made a 5.

I could have just played my 2nd ball but I was concerned about my score so I went in search. It did cross my mind to just leave it and play the ball on the fairway but I guess it all depends on each person

 

[mcbroon]

I hooked an approach to our 11th recently into some deep boondocks, so dropped another. Did exactly the same thing, so dropped another and did exactly the same again. Dropped another and bunted it up to the front of the green and went to look for at least one of the other three to save my next shot being my 9th.

I found all three and ended up making a 5. (That gives me an idea for a thread on the Rules forum.) One of my FC's hit hit ball to the same place but we didn't find his.

What does this prove? No idea.

 

[bogside84]

If I think there is any doubt about finding my ball I will play a provisional if I have a score going. I would NEVER walk back to the tee personally I think that the 5 min. rule should be changed to 2 mins. or 5 mins. from when you play the shot. This would maybe stop the 4hr plus rounds.

 

[srixon 1]

If I think there is any doubt about finding my ball I will play a provisional if I have a score going. I would NEVER walk back to the tee personally I think that the 5 min. rule should be changed to 2 mins. or 5 mins. from when you play the shot. This would maybe stop the 4hr plus rounds.

How can you have "5 minutes from when you play your shot". What if you have the honour and hit it 260 into the crap and the 2 other players in your group have a mare, duffing and hacking up the fairway until they reach the area that your ball might be. 5 mins already gone, doesn't make sense.

 

[Allanxyz]

OK so we all know as a time saver hitting a provisional is the way to go, but on balance are you more or less likely to find your first ball if you've hit a provisional?

I'd say it depends on the provisional, like most other replies, if I've boomed the provisional down the middle and I see that my original might be in some deep stuff that will involve lots of hacking, then I'm likely only to look in the areas that I'd be happy to find it. This doens't take too long so I then go onto the provisional.

However, it depends on the provisional... I've been in the situation in a comp a couple of times now where I think my original will be hard to find, but not impossible. I then fire off a further 4 provisionals which each leave the course in various directions, before bunting one down the middle. I'm pretty keen on searching for the original for the full five minutes then! Each time I've been luck to find the original... and of course I should have put the driver away for the provisionals!!

I partially agree with Bogside84 though, ok not 5 minutes from taking your shot, but think the time to look for a lost ball should be 1 minute. Would mean people are more likely to hit a provisional, would mean more premium on accuracy and less on length and would cut out the pain of wandering through the thick stuff for 5 minutes looking for an FC's ball that you know will never be found.

 

[duncan mackie]

If I nail my provisional ball down the middle and my first ball is somewhere where it is almost certainly going to be impossible to better the provisional (in 3), then I won't bother looking for the first one. No rules say that I need to look, and once I play another shot with the provo, which is gong to be nearer the hole, the first one is out of play anyway.

exactly

this is the true time saver of the provisional; if it becomes clear that even if I find my first ball I'm probably going to take 2 more and still not make the green I can save everyone time and just get on with it.

the corollary is, of course, that if the provisional might be lost I will take the full 5 on the first - but we all know how well those provisionals go!