Provisionals and unplayable lies

[SaintHacker]

Following on from the other thread concerning unplayable lies, last weekend I played in a pairs stableford.
On one hole I whacked my tee shot hard left into some thick bushes. Guessed I had lost it so played a provisional, straight up the middle as you do. Anyway the group behind on the previous tee saw my ball and showed me where it was in the bush, totally unplayable so I dropped behind in line with the flag as per the rules, unfortunately I made a balls of that shot and ended up back in the same bush! At that point my partner was on the green in 2 so I just pickerd up and blobbed the hole.
However reading the other thread I would have been allowed to take my tee shot again, I didn't want to do this at the time as we were being caught by the guys behind as it was, so my question is would my provisional been ok to play and count as my 'second' tee shot in that situation?

 

[CliveW]

No. As soon as the original ball was found, the provisional ball was no longer in play, so if you opt to play three off the tee you have to go back and play another ball.

 

[chrisd]

The object of playing a provisional ball isn't to give you a choice of which ball to play, it's to make play more continuous and save that walk back.

 

[brendy]

More importantly, you are under no obligation to go looking for your first ball if you are sure it is in the munchies. You could have walked straight to your provisional and played it.

 

[stevie_r]

But if someone else finds it you are obligated to identify it

 

[Imurg]

But if someone finds a ball and thinks it may be yours, are you not obliged to go and identify it one way or the other?

To the OP - once you found your 1st tee shot you could have deemed it unplayable and gone back to the tee and hit another tee shot if dropping wasn't viable and you couldn't hack out but as soon as the original is found the provisional becomes out of play.

 

[brendy]

If he called that he was playing a provisional before hitting the second teeshot yes, If I hit a really god awful teeshot and know that it is a lost cause, I dont call provisional.

But if someone else finds it you are obligated to identify it

There have been times where the rest of a fourball have been told to just walk on and not bother looking, to save time obviously!

 

[CliveW]

If he called that he was playing a provisional before hitting the second teeshot yes,

Are you saying that if you declare you are playing a provisional, but find the original ball, you can opt to play the provisional rather than the first ball if you deem it unplayable?

 

[brendy]

Are you saying that if you declare you are playing a provisional, but find the original ball, you can opt to play the provisional rather than the first ball if you deem it unplayable?

No, Im saying that I hit the second ball of the tee and walk straight to it without looking for the first one. I am already taking penalty of 3 off the tee so see no problem with it.
It doesnt happen often and I do like to call provisional if I think I have a good chance of finding it, but sometimes you just know as it hurtles sideways into the gorse etc.

 

[Region3]

I played in a 4BBB match at the weekend against one of the longer hitters in the club.

On our 361yd dogleg par 4 14th with a strong wind behind he went for the big one over the corner and hooked it into trees and long rough.
Called a provisional and knocked it onto the green pin high about 15' away.

I was surprised when he even went over to look for his original ball, but like a considerate golfer my partner and I went and helped. We found it

 

[duncan mackie]

I played in a 4BBB match at the weekend against one of the longer hitters in the club.

On our 361yd dogleg par 4 14th with a strong wind behind he went for the big one over the corner and hooked it into trees and long rough.
Called a provisional and knocked it onto the green pin high about 15' away.

I was surprised when he even went over to look for his original ball, but like a considerate golfer my partner and I went and helped. We found it

for some people the actual loss of a golf ball is simply a step to far, and they have to have a quick look just in case they can find it (regardless of whether they can play it!)

 

[bladeplayer]

for some people the actual loss of a golf ball is simply a step to far, and they have to have a quick look just in case they can find it (regardless of whether they can play it!)

OR maybe he is playing the game the way its meant to be played .. honestly :thup:


Would I have looked for it if it was me ....................... ?????????????? that's me being honest ha

 

[Twire]

OR maybe he is playing the game the way its meant to be played .. honestly :thup:


Would I have looked for it if it was me ....................... ?????????????? that's me being honest ha

These comments confuse me. There's nothing in the rule book that say's you have to look for the first ball, so where does honesty come into it?

 

[stevie_r]

If he called that he was playing a provisional before hitting the second teeshot yes, If I hit a really god awful teeshot and know that it is a lost cause, I dont call provisional.


There have been times where the rest of a fourball have been told to just walk on and not bother looking, to save time obviously!

If you have no intention of searching for the original as you believe it to be lost then when you reload don't declare it to be a provisional; it's then three off the tee, it's the ball in play and the original is of no consequence even if subsequently found.

 

[bladeplayer]

These comments confuse me. There's nothing in the rule book that say's you have to look for the first ball, so where does honesty come into it?

sorry to confuse you man , I can assure you it was not intentional

do ya mind if I ask . within golf , what is the purpose of hitting a provisional shot or the reason for the provisional shot being introduced ?

 

[stevie_r]

sorry to confuse you man , I can assure you it was not intentional

do ya mind if I ask . within golf , what is the purpose of hitting a provisional shot or the reason for the provisional shot being introduced ?

As a time saving measure.

 

[Twire]

sorry to confuse you man , I can assure you it was not intentional

do ya mind if I ask . within golf , what is the purpose of hitting a provisional shot or the reason for the provisional shot being introduced ?

It's to speed up play.

If your playing within the rules I can't see why the word honest was used. Does that mean if I don't look for my ball I'm less than honest?

 

[rulefan]

, what is the purpose of hitting a provisional shot or the reason for the provisional shot being introduced ?

So that if you can't or don't want to find it, you don't have to go back to play another.

 

[TerryA]

You play the first tee shot. You see that it has gone into a bush. At that point you can decide to either play a provisional, which means that you have to play the lost ball if it is found or play another from the tee. You cannot decide to use the provisional if you find the lost ball. However, instead of playing a provisional you could have declared the firt ball as lost or unplayable and just played 3 off the tee, i. e. not declared it as a provisional. You could then have walked past the bush and picked up your lost ball if found

 

[bladeplayer]

It's to speed up play.

?

As a time saving measure.

In the event of ?

Oh & im well aware its not a rule to have to ..