Ruling please.

I sort of assumed that even if you didn't spot the provisional, then at some point between hitting the ball, and picking it out of the hole, you'd have realised. But thought that the nearer the hole it was, the more difficult it would be to convince your oppo or FP.;)
It was a comp and I'd announced the ID of each ball on the tee but that's no guarantee anyone's listening including me when you call.
In a recent roll-up three ball all three of us searched.
One of the guys calls "Titleist 2 with three black dots" and me and the third guy replied "That's me".
His dots were around the number, mine were on the white area.:o
 
Fair point.
As it happens they were two different brands with different markings because.....
This was me some time back:
"What was your first ball?"
"Titelist with a black arrow marked on both sides"
"What was your provisional?"
"Er, a Titleist with a black arrow on both sides"
"What are the other two on your cart?"
"Errr... a Titelist with a black arrow on both sides"
Apart from difficulty in ID'ing the correct ball I hadn't realised the potential for cheating.

You might like to read decision 27/11 Provisional Ball Not Distinguishable from Original Ball:

A player entitled to play a provisional ball from the tee plays it into the same area as his original ball. The balls have identical markings and the player cannot distinguish between them. Following are various situations and the solutions, which are based on equity (Rule 1-4), when the above circumstances exist and one or both of the balls are found within a search of five minutes:

Situation 1: One ball is found in a water hazard and the other ball is not found.
Solution 1: The ball that was found must be presumed to be the provisional ball.

Situation 2: Both balls are found in a water hazard.
Solution 2: As the player’s original ball is lost in the water hazard due to his inability to identify it (see analogous Decision 27/10), the player must proceed under Rule 26-1 with respect to the original ball (estimating the spot where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard, if necessary – see Decision 26-1/17); his next stroke would be his third.

Situation 3: One ball is found in bounds and the other ball is lost or is found out of bounds.
Solution 3: The ball in bounds must be presumed to be the provisional ball.

Situation 4: Both balls are found in bounds, whether in a playable or an unplayable lie, and (1) one ball is in a water hazard and the other is not or (2) both balls lie through the green or in a bunker.
Solution 4: One could argue that both balls are lost. However, it would be inequitable to require the player to return to the tee, playing 5, when the player has found both balls but does not know which is the original and which the provisional. Accordingly, the player must select one of the balls, treat it as his provisional ball and abandon the other.

This seems to be the only case where you can choose which ball to play, but it must always be presumed to be the provisional. :)
 
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This reminds me of a weird set of circumstances that led me to play the wrong ball a few weeks back.

I mark my balls with four red dots. We were a four playing in a medal. FC hits his tee shot OOB, and asks if anyone can lend him another. I lent him my spare (I'm one of those pessimistic types who always takes two balls to the tee). He whacks it down the fairway. The four of us walk down and see four balls on the fairway. My FC walks up to one of them, I walk to another, see the four red dots and play it. FC then announces that he ball he's standing by isn't his after all. It was just some random ball that a previous group had left lying on the fairway :angry: And of course I had hit the ball I lent to FC. We found my ball nestled down in a dip about 5 yards away.
 
You might like to read decision 27/11 Provisional Ball Not Distinguishable from Original Ball:

...................

This seems to be the only case where you can choose which ball to play, but it must always be presumed to be the provisional,

YOU might like to spend more time reading it than posting here - if both balls are found in a water hazard (situation 2) then this is not the case.
 
This isn't aimed particularly at you, Clive, just at the multitude of golfers you are one of.

What is it with marking balls with dots? It is so common that it can only be a recipe for confusion. My initials aren't unique, but I hazard a guess that the chances against coming across a wrong ball with the same initials, written in the same way and in the same places on the ball are just a wee bit higher than if I used a complex pattern of two dots.
 
This isn't aimed particularly at you, Clive, just at the multitude of golfers you are one of.

What is it with marking balls with dots? It is so common that it can only be a recipe for confusion. My initials aren't unique, but I hazard a guess that the chances against coming across a wrong ball with the same initials, written in the same way and in the same places on the ball are just a wee bit higher than if I used a complex pattern of two dots.
I used to use my initials but got fed up with mates announcing "I'm playing one of yours".
:(
 
This isn't aimed particularly at you, Clive, just at the multitude of golfers you are one of.

What is it with marking balls with dots? It is so common that it can only be a recipe for confusion. My initials aren't unique, but I hazard a guess that the chances against coming across a wrong ball with the same initials, written in the same way and in the same places on the ball are just a wee bit higher than if I used a complex pattern of two dots.

There's still a vast multitude of combinations of colours and positions to mark - above, below, on/over particular letters etc - and with varying numbers that the likelihood of having an identically marked ball in the group is really incredibly small - especially if you announce and the others can change! If you are that concerned, you should probably also use a date, so that you don't mistakenly recycle one lost on a previous day!

It does, however make sense to use a ball with some sort of different mark as a Provisional! I knew one guy who used to have a happy smiling face for his first ball and a sad scowling one for his provo! Only change was the orientation of the smile!
 
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This isn't aimed particularly at you, Clive, just at the multitude of golfers you are one of.

What is it with marking balls with dots? It is so common that it can only be a recipe for confusion. My initials aren't unique, but I hazard a guess that the chances against coming across a wrong ball with the same initials, written in the same way and in the same places on the ball are just a wee bit higher than if I used a complex pattern of two dots.
Fair comment, although I've never come across anyone else using my particular style (two sets of four dots in a line on opposite sides of the ball so I almost never have to touch it to identify it). Mind you, it wouldn't have helped in this particular circumstance - the wrong ball I played was one of my own, so however it had been marked I could have made the same mistake.
 
WOW....I still can`t believe people are still using dots and combinations of dots to help identify their balls, when there are far better alternatives out there.
I use these to mark my balls........www.stampyourballs.com.
Brilliant little product.
 
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