What happens in this golf scenario?

[CMAC]

happened to a friend at weekend....

1)tee shot down middle
2)second shot over a rise and pulled slightly left so probably in a bunker but cant see it land.
3)arrive at green and a ball is sitting on top of the bunker and great lie-result!
4)line up to play it then realise before doing anything it's a different ball!
5)search for 5 mins, cant find 'other' ball, total mystery as that's where it should be and how could anyone have left that ball there?
6)go back up fairway and play another ball.
7)walk to green and pick up 'found' ball and pop it into bag (its a newish prov-1)
8)play out with second ball and run up an 11 - don't ask- go to next tee
9)at next tee realise switched balls on previous tee and ball on top of bunker was in fact his

whats the process now and score?

 

[anotherdouble]

I would say tough score stays. However the experts may deem the switching of balls on the previous tee is a penalty. Look forward with interest to the replys

 

[Birchy]

I think the 11 would stand as once he has put the second ball in play that is the ball that counts.

Funnily enough same happened to my friend when we played the other week. He swore blind the ball wasnt his even though i saw it land there! We goes looking for 5 mins and i say just drop another where he found this one that apparantley wasnt his. So he drops his new ball and then picks this other up to realise it was actually his! Muppet! Lucky it was a social round and not a comp!

 

[Birchy]

I would say tough score stays. However the experts may deem the switching of balls on the previous tee is a penalty. Look forward with interest to the replys

You are allowed to switch balls in between holes though arent you?

 

[BTatHome]

You are allowed to switch balls in between holes though arent you?

unless your competition had a 'one ball' rule then there is nothing in the rules to stop you doing this. Of course it would be polite to mention to your playing partners, just to help if they need to do searching for it ... And in this case would have helped sort out the situation much quicker.

With regard to the original question, it's just bad luck. Essentially he declared the ball unplayable and when he went back to play again it became the ball in play. Good reason to ensure all the balls you use are marked so you can identify them as yours. He would have clicked if he saw his own markings on the ball.

 

[pbrown7582]

you are allowed to switch balls provided the comp isnt a one ball compif so you would be required to ball the same type of ball all round very unusual in most clubs though, the 11 stands as once you have statrted to go back to play another ball you have in effect declared the ball lost and out of play.
i bet your mate was gutted!!

 

[Val]

Change balls permitted between holes but not during, it is not required to announce a change but most people will do for this very reason (to enable an easy search).

11 stands because technically by sticking another ball "in play" the orignal is deemed lost.

 

[CMAC]

Essentially he declared the ball unplayable and when he went back to play again it became the ball in play.

to play another ball you have in effect declared the ball lost and out of play.

11 stands because technically by sticking another ball "in play" the orignal is deemed lost.

however, you cant declare a ball lost, when he realised his error the 'lost' ball was actually 'found', albeit he had picked it up and bagged it........but it was never lost........

this one had us all scratching our heads

 

[Alex1975]

however, you cant declare a ball lost, when he realised his error the 'lost' ball was actually 'found', albeit he had picked it up and bagged it........but it was never lost........

this one had us all scratching our heads

but you can declare it unplayable so essentially by picking it up thats what he has done?!

 

[pbrown7582]

And wouldn't his 5 mins of been up by the time he's been up and down the fairway as well as looking for his ball.

 

[Monty_Brown]

This is why drawing a knob on every golf ball is the sensible thing to do... I know it's mine.

 

[CMAC]

And wouldn't his 5 mins of been up by the time he's been up and down the fairway as well as looking for his ball.

but as the ball wasn't lost the 5 min rule is moot............see why its doing our heads in.

On reflection I think when he eventually picked up the ball its declaring technically unplayable as alex1975 has stated so the 11 stands and we can all get on with our lives:rofl:

 

[Val]

He played a second ball and it would become the ball in play, as that ball would then have finished the hole it would no longer be a provisional regardless of declairing it provisional or not.

You can play a provisonal ball by as many strokes as it takes to pass the "lost" ball but if you hole it out and move on you effectively are saying the other ball is lost.

 

[johnboywalton]

You can play a provisonal ball by as many strokes as it takes to pass the "lost" ball but if you hole it out and move on you effectively are saying the other ball is lost.

This is how I see it.

 

[Region3]

I agree, score stands.

Although you can't declare a ball 'lost' as such, as soon as you put another one in play from the previous spot the original is now 'not in play' whether you find it or not.

If he'd realised it was the ball he was playing but just didn't fancy the bunker shot, he could have done exactly the same thing under the unplayable rule so there's no crime in playing from the previous spot even if you find your original.

 

[chrisd]

A ball is deemed "lost" if it isn't found or "identified" within 5 minutes by the player!

 

[CliveW]

He played a second ball and it would become the ball in play, as that ball would then have finished the hole it would no longer be a provisional regardless of declairing it provisional or not.

You can play a provisonal ball by as many strokes as it takes to pass the "lost" ball but if you hole it out and move on you effectively are saying the other ball is lost.

You can only declare a ball as provisional if you do not move up the fairway where you hit the original ball from, so by proceeding up the fairway to look for the original there is no option of playing a provisional. In this instance the player did proceed up tthe fairway so when he returned to replay the shot and dropped a ball, it then became the ball in play under penalty, so the 11 stands.

 

[thecraw]

You can only declare a ball as provisional if you do not move up the fairway where you hit the original ball from, so by proceeding up the fairway to look for the original there is no option of playing a provisional. In this instance the player did proceed up tthe fairway so when he returned to replay the shot and dropped a ball, it then became the ball in play under penalty, so the 11 stands.

Please tell us that it was Toad in his challenge to beat 70!!!!!!!!!


:ears:

 

[duncan mackie]

You can only declare a ball as provisional if you do not move up the fairway where you hit the original ball from, so by proceeding up the fairway to look for the original there is no option of playing a provisional. In this instance the player did proceed up tthe fairway so when he returned to replay the shot and dropped a ball, it then became the ball in play under penalty, so the 11 stands.

exactly

and to close off the other references - you can't declare a lost ball unplayable either

failure to identify = lost only option is to proceed under 27-1a and play a ball from where the previous shot was played under penalty of one shot (stroke and distance), as was done here.

as you say this then immeadiatly becomes the ball in play

certainly seems to be becoming common - had a similar case in a comp a couple of weeks ago where the player had picked it up and was heading elsewhere when he suddenly realised it was his ball!

 

[Ian_S]

The rule states "If a ball is lost as a result of not being found or identified as his by the player within five minutes[...]". As was said before, he had not identified the ball he played within five minutes, so you play on under penalty of stroke and distance with the second ball.

I guess the confusion is that 'lost' implies a state of permanency that doesn't exist. Just because you can't find your ball now doesn't mean it's disappeared forever. The ball is still out there, somewhere. You may find it next time you play the course, doesn't mean you get your shots back.