Semi lost ball?

[CMAC]

Going for a different club or to get another ball is specifically sanctioned as is being said. Chances are you will have said what you intend to do, but your actions will clearly show your intention. Going back to your bag , putting your club away and hesitating because you think maybe you should have played a PB and then going back on to the tee to do so would, in my view also be ok. You are, in terms of the rule, saving time and have not headed off "in search of your ball."

Putting your club back in the bag, and setting off forwards expresses a different intention: you are clearly going forward in search of your ball. So how far forward could you be allowed and still meet the criterion of saving time? Not far at all, I reckon. What we need to consider is the point at which the time saved by playing a PB should your original ball be lost, is overtaken by the time lost going forward a bit, then back to play a PB, then forward again should your original ball be found.

The rationale is, I think, that playing a PB immediately takes up an insignificant amount of extra time should you find your original ball and obviously saves a great deal if you don't. Coming back from even as short a distance as, say, 30 yards takes up an appreciable few minutes. Because there is a good chance (finding your original) that this time is wasted, the sole purpose of saving time would not be met. It has to be pretty tight: the wording is not "the sole of purpose of possibly saving time".

Deciding 50 yards up the fairway and going back would be clearly be out of order. That's 50 yards of going forward to search for your ball, with a goodly chance that the time spent on the 100 yard walk to play a PB is wasted because your original is found.

Personally, I wouldn't be happy with more than around 20 yards - in effect clearing the front of the tee or clearly and purposefully walking on with your club back in the bag from a shot through the green.

As you are using your own standard of acceptable yardage here, plus there is no stipulated distance then i'd like to think we would ALL use common sense! As the sole purpose of the rule is to save time then technically you can walk as far as the point of no return!

However, in the real world I can't see anyone falling foul from playing partners over this rule.

 

[Colin L]

Glad you picked up the "in my view" , "I think" and "personally" in my account of this :thup:

I was indeed being careful to signal that this one is a matter of interpretation and is a matter for debate. I would mention, however, that I based the last sentence (about around 20 yards and clearing the front of the tee) on the interpretation of an experienced referee so it has rather more force than just my opinion.

An experience of my own playing in a medal shows, however, that you could not make a specific distance the sole criterion. An FC duffed his ball about 10 yards off the tee into thick grass and we all went to look for it. After a couple of minutes searching he said to another player he would go back and play a provisional. Unfortunately I did not hear that. He duly played another ball and, sod's law, as he walked off the tee we found the original ball. He wasn't convinced when I explained his second ball was in play as it could not be a provisional so I advised him that he could carry on and play both under Rule 3-3 (as Duncan points out, that's a rule everyone should know) and get it sorted out later. The original ball could not have been more than 20 yards from the teeing ground.

 

[CMAC]

Glad you picked up the "in my view" , "I think" and "personally" in my account of this :thup:

I was indeed being careful to signal that this one is a matter of interpretation and is a matter for debate. I would mention, however, that I based the last sentence (about around 20 yards and clearing the front of the tee) on the interpretation of an experienced referee so it has rather more force than just my opinion.

An experience of my own playing in a medal shows, however, that you could not make a specific distance the sole criterion. An FC duffed his ball about 10 yards off the tee into thick grass and we all went to look for it. After a couple of minutes searching he said to another player he would go back and play a provisional. Unfortunately I did not hear that. He duly played another ball and, sod's law, as he walked off the tee we found the original ball. He wasn't convinced when I explained his second ball was in play as it could not be a provisional so I advised him that he could carry on and play both under Rule 3-3 (as Duncan points out, that's a rule everyone should know) and get it sorted out later. The original ball could not have been more than 20 yards from the teeing ground.

however, still just an opinion albeit a referee............

its an interesting point Colin and it's been enjoyable seeing both sides, however, I'd be very dissapointed in any playing partner who called this rule on someone when its not actually playing golf but about the fact he walked X number of yards in the wrong direction!
As Bob has pointed out in the Lounge today there are still some rules around that need changed

 

[MashieNiblick]

I think in the example cited by Colin above where the ball was lost in front of the tee the second ball can't really be a provisional.

First they had already actually started searching for the first ball in the area where it was likely to be (never mind going forward to search) and secondly it wouldn't really save any time. The guy should have just searched for 5 minutes. There was no need to complicate matters by going back to play another ball until the 5 mins were up.

There are 2 aspects to the right to play a provsional. First the purpose of the provisional ball, which Decision 27-2a/1.5 clearly states, is to save time. That has to be at the heart of any consideration as to whether it is reasonable to play a provisional. Second the Rule clearly states you have to hit it before going forward to seach so that has to be adhered to although some leeway is allowed for example to get a club or ball.

The issue was raised in reference to blind holes. I think if you hit a drive on a blind hole and think your ball is Ok and walk off the tee 30 yards and then see that your ball might be lost in some horrible bundu 200 yards away that you couldn't see from the tee I don't think it would be unreasonable to nip back to play a provisional so long as you did so immediately as that would clearly save time if the first ball was lost and you cold argue that until you saw the possibility that the ball was lost you weren't going forward to "search" (tenuous I know). Whether that is strictly within the Rules I wouldn't like to say - possibly not. It's a case where the Rules may not work in the way we'd like but we just have to lump it.

 

[Colin L]

I think if you hit a drive on a blind hole and think your ball is Ok and walk off the tee 30 yards and then see that your ball might be lost in some horrible bundu 200 yards away ....

Nice drive, though:thup:

 

[MashieNiblick]

Nice drive, though:thup:

Only 70 yards shy of the forum average.