Nigel,

What a great question.........


I don't have a rule book handy but he goes my guess.........

Firstly, you played two ball from the tee, this should give a great indication of where you "thought" the balls had gone...........Therefore it was a fair assumption that the balls had entered the hazard.

The provisional ball is exactly what it says so that ball is never in play until you decare it.

You then agree that it is a fair assumption that the ball went into the hazard.......You take your drop and penalty and then "PLAY" your next stroke adding the penalty stroke of course.

Now you walk up and find your origional ball, this is whats know as Tuff S**T in the UK, you should have walked up in the five minutes you had to look for your ball before "DECLARING" it in the hazard/lost/OB etc.......

You should play the ball you dropped unfortunatley..............However I could be wrong, but this is what I would suggest to the player and argue it with the big wigs after.



Ian.

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Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................