So you are 5 yards deep in a patch of bushes...

[ScienceBoy]

Searching in vain for your lost ball.

You know in your heart its not going to be found, your ball is long gone.

Then just as you try to extricate yourself you see a ball. Its shiny, it looks new, it could be yours...

You wriggle further into the dense undergrowth, to reach the ball you need one last ounce of effort. With no ball retriever at hand to use it will take a bit of pain from the poking thorns and branches but it can be retrieved with what you have.

Just before you do it crosses your mind that it could be anything, a rock of a cheap distance ball, a nice shiny Pro-V1 or even your ball!

Is it worth the effort even if you are 100% sure its NOT yours? What do you do?

 

[BTatHome]

It's the ripping sound of your new shirt that means I leave em for someone else.

 

[CMAC]

Reach in, get it, take the penalty, play further back keeping that point in line with the flag, strike a brilliant iron to 5 feet and hole the putt for par.
Isn't that what we all do

 

[moogie]

NO Brainer ( for me )
Leave it , go play the Provisional , Im sure I must have just played
, and carry on

No Golf Ball worth the hassle/Pain

 

[ScienceBoy]

I was in the "no pain, no gain" camp before recently, OK I was playing a public par 3 course so the chances of it being a decent ball was slim.

I thought "Why not" and ended up with a nice pinnacle for my efforts, brand new I might add! I promptly gave it to the next person I saw

I probably won't go through that for a golf ball again... lesson learnt!

 

[duncan mackie]

it's not the ball that would dictate whether I had to at least identify it.....

 

[kid2]

Reach in, get it, take the penalty, play further back keeping that point in line with the flag, strike a brilliant iron to 5 feet and hole the putt for par.
Isn't that what we all do

Have to go with DV here....if my round is going well them im off into the clag.....
Besides its only a few scrapes.....

 

[HawkeyeMS]

It's only a ball, leave it there and stop holding up play

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It's only a ball, leave it there and stop holding up play

Did you leave a few out there today. What the hell happened?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Depends where it is, there are so many places on my course where you can't go back in line as you just go further into trouble and 2 clubs won't get you anywhere playable.

Sometimes it's just best to leave cut your losses.

 

[Minhoca]

Pull your Mick Dundee chopper out the bag and get hacking.. Bonus is you'll find an extra 5 balls for your troubles... Normally PROV's

 

[HickoryShaft]

Unless its going to save me a shot it will stay there for me

In a knock up I would point it out to my regular playing partner - he goes after everything - he often skirts the edge of the rough when walking down a hole as it is to look for peoples lost ProV's.

He never leaves a tee box without finding his peg also so a ball is like gold for him! It's sometimes fun to see him going after them and come out with a half ball that has been chopped up by the mower and left in there

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

So the answer seems to be that you do not need to identify a ball that has been 'spotted' if you don't wish to know whether it is yours or not? And this applies whether the ball 'spotted' is deep in doggy doo doo land or simply sitting in a spot that you just don't fancy - or indeed if you, say, would prefer to play your provisional? The extension of which being that a player can declare a ball lost at any time and wherever it is on the course even if it can be identified by the player or another as definitely being their ball.

 

[CliveW]

NO Brainer ( for me )
Leave it , go play the Provisional , Im sure I must have just played
, and carry on

No Golf Ball worth the hassle/Pain

If the original ball is found, the provisional ball is no longer in play.

 

[CliveW]

Is it worth the effort even if you are 100% sure its NOT yours? What do you do?

If you are 100% sure it isn't your ball, you wouldn't be playing it would you? You must be able to identify your original ball, failing which, if you haven't played a provisional, go back to where the original ball was played from and play your next shot from there under penalty.

 

[ScienceBoy]

If you are 100% sure it isn't your ball, you wouldn't be playing it would you? You must be able to identify your original ball, failing which, if you haven't played a provisional, go back to where the original ball was played from and play your next shot from there under penalty.

So your not the kind of person who goes to extra lengths to pick up additional balls, even if they might be unfit for even the practice bag?

I am starting to fall into that category too, after my last experience

 

[ScienceBoy]

UI would point it out to my regular playing partner - he goes after everything

Ha Ha Ha!

Does he spend a lot of time on the 14th looking for balls?

 

[moogie]

If the original ball is found, the provisional ball is no longer in play.

Yes, I know that
The OPs 1st Post, did NOT indicate ball was Identified, just that it could be yours

My Reply........Wouldnt get cut to ribons to try and retrieve a ball, that may not be mine, especially if the Dropping options werent too good either

Nobody can force u in, to Identify.........

 

[CliveW]

So your not the kind of person who goes to extra lengths to pick up additional balls, even if they might be unfit for even the practice bag?

I am starting to fall into that category too, after my last experience

I won't pick up any ball I find on a course. I used to collect balls I found and give them to the juniors until one of them, who was about 12 or 14, told me he only played Pro-vs, and didn't want the ones I was offering.

 

[CMAC]

I won't pick up any ball I find on a course. I used to collect balls I found and give them to the juniors until one of them, who was about 12 or 14, told me he only played Pro-vs, and didn't want the ones I was offering.

nice gesture Clive, seems a shame all the juniors suffer because 1 oik hasn't any manners!