rules question

[mrwoo]

was playing last night and have this rules question.

A ditch with red stakes lies to the edge of a par 3 green.
Played my tee shot and ball ran through green and towards ditch. The ball would either be in the ditch, or just short but cannot see from tee box.

My partner said I would need to take a provisional which would come into play if we cannot find the original.
I played the provisional and found the first ball in the ditch so took a drop.

Question is:
As the ball could only be in the ditch, unless it stopped short. Did I really need to find it before taking a drop?

 

[Ethan]

To use the options available for a ball in a hazard, it has to be virtually certain the ball is in the hazard. That means that it should be demonstrably virtually certain to a reasonable person, not that you yourself are reasonably certain.

So if there is no other reasonable possibility for the ball to be lost outside the hazard, then you can proceed under the assumption it is in the hazard.

However, you cannot play a provisional for a ball in a hazard.

 

[chrisd]

The answer is no, you didn't need to find it. You stated that the ball could only be in the ditch or short of it and if it wasn't short then it was, as Ethan says, reasonably certain it was in the ditch.

There would have been no need to play a provisional as you would have either, found your ball short of the ditch and played it, or found/not found it in the ditch and would have proceeded as you did.



Chris

 

[mrwoo]

thanks for the answers, confirms what I thought.

 

[Tommo21]

was playing last night and have this rules question.

A ditch with red stakes lies to the edge of a par 3 green.
Played my tee shot and ball ran through green and towards ditch. The ball would either be in the ditch, or just short but cannot see from tee box.

My partner said I would need to take a provisional which would come into play if we cannot find the original.
I played the provisional and found the first ball in the ditch so took a drop.

Question is:
As the ball could only be in the ditch, unless it stopped short. Did I really need to find it before taking a drop?

As you knew it would be short or in the ditch then playing a provisional is not an option. If you played another ball then that was your ball in play, not the first one. You can only hit a prov if you think your ball may be lost outside a hazard....that was not the case. Your mate was dead wrong.