What should have happened?

[Green Bay Hacker]

Our second hole has a line of gorse bushes running up the left hand side of it for the first one hundred yards with an OOB farmers field on the other side of if. After the gorse the course opens up as the farmers field bares to the left and the practice ground then runs parallel to the second hole. There is an OOB line that protects the practice ground and runs down to a tree that is next to the fence on the farmers field. The last OOB post is painted on the right hand side of the tree. (sorry for the long winded description)

On Saturday a tee shot was pulled into the tree at the end of the gorse and a provisional was played. We walked up and the original was seen on the left hand side of the tree almost against the farmers fence. That ball was picked up and the provisional was played. At that point one of the group then said that he didn't think the player should have picked up the original as the OOB line didn't start until the other side of the tree and was on the correct side of the fence.

The player who picked his ball up genuinely thought that his first ball was OOB as it is very rare to find a ball in that area that is in play. My view was that as he found his first ball the provisional was no longer in play and he should have gone back to the tee. However, as he had already played his next shot with the provisional before anyone said anything should he still have gone back to the tee?

As it was a stableford comp it didn't matter as he blobbed the hole but if it was a medal would it be a DQ? Also, if he did go back to the tee after playing his second shot with his provisional would it still be 3 off the tee as the provisional was never the ball in play or are there other penalties to be added?

 

[Colin L]

I’m not sure whether you are saying the ball was out of bounds or wasn’t. I guess, however, you are saying it was on the course.
If your ball is on the course, it is in play and you must proceed with it: any provisional ball is no longer in play. By playing what had been the provisional, you play a wrong ball which incurs a 2 stroke penalty and requires you to go back and play the correct ball. If you don't correct the wrong ball, you are disqualified (just from that hole in Stableford).

To correct the wrong ball error, you must replace the original ball where you picked it up, incurring a 1 stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 18-2. You will now be playing your 5th shot: 1 tee shot, 2PS for a wrong ball and 1 PS for having moved your ball in play. If, as is quite likely, you aren’t exactly sure where to replace the ball, you must drop it as near as possible to where you think it was.

 

[Green Bay Hacker]

I’m not sure whether you are saying the ball was out of bounds or wasn’t. I guess, however, you are saying it was on the course.
If your ball is on the course, it is in play and you must proceed with it: any provisional ball is no longer in play. By playing what had been the provisional, you play a wrong ball which incurs a 2 stroke penalty and requires you to go back and play the correct ball. If you don't correct the wrong ball, you are disqualified (just from that hole in Stableford).

To correct the wrong ball error, you must replace the original ball where you picked it up, incurring a 1 stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 18-2. You will now be playing your 5th shot: 1 tee shot, 2PS for a wrong ball and 1 PS for having moved your ball in play. If, as is quite likely, you aren’t exactly sure where to replace the ball, you must drop it as near as possible to where you think it was.

The original ball was in play. What would probably have happened (if the ball had not been mistakenly picked up) was that it would have been deemed unplayable and the player returning to the tee, thus ignoring the provisional.