provisional ball!

hi all
what is the correct use of the provisional ball ruling.
in my fourball this morning one of our party on more than one occaision played a tee shot that ended up in thick rough but certainly not OB and proceeds to hit a provisional thinking his ball will be lost he crushes that down the middle of the fairway we walk up and find his original ball buried deep in the rough!
he says he is entitled to play the provisional ball being "3 off the tee"
he is right or wrong?

Rules quite clear Slates,

Assuming he announced the provisional to the other players then he's wrong and must do something with the original - even if that is declaring it unplayable (I'd have kept walking and made sure I didn't find ir ).

If he just played another tee shot without clearly saying "this is a provisional",then its not provisional and even if he found the original in the middle of the fairway having bounced off a passing rabbit then he is 3 off the tee.

Rule 27-2 c. When Provisional Ball to Be Abandoned
If the original ball is neither lost nor out of bounds, the player must abandon the provisional ball and continue playing the original ball. If he makes any further strokes at the provisional ball, he is playing a wrong ball and the provisions of Rule 15 apply.

wrong, is he a bit of a bandit a bet he got 4 as well [according to him]
liam,

thanks for clearing it up for me guys
he's playing his 1st comp next week boy is he in for a rude awakening!
his 95's are going to become 105's

Got to ask.

Did your "friend" play in the weekend comp?

Did you enforce the rules?

hi bdbl
we played in the week and he called a 5 when i counted 8!
awkward situation because he is a work colleague!
yes he played in the comp yesterday and was straight on the phone to me afterwards saying some old guy he was playing with was knocking shots off!
BTW he scored 102 instead of his normal high80's/low90's

Hey Slater,

BDBL is correct. Your friend was wrong. If he declares a provisional and finds his first ball (or anyone in the group) he must play it, unless of course it is out of bounds. If he has looked for his first, doesn't find it, declares it lost, plays his provisional and then finds his first ball, his provisional is the ball in play.

No.
He can't look for it first. He has to announce and play the provisional before he goes forward to search for the ball.

He can't declare his ball lost. It becomes lost when one of three conditions is met.
a. It is not found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after the player’s side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it; or
b. The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball; or
c. The player has made a stroke at a provisional ball from the place where the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place.

If he finds the first ball, but declares it unplayable, can he THEN play his provisional ball (as "3 off the tee"), following 28a, or does he have to abandon the provisional and go back and re-hit, or drop according to 28b or 28c?

Technically, the provisional ball is hit under the same stroke and distance penalty as a ball hit under 28a, BUT knowing the lie of the provisional ball BEFORE declaring the original ball unplayable COULD be a massive advantage.

What do you think?

He couldn't play his provisional if he finds his first ball, unless it was out of bounds. ( I think)lol.

I think that we covered this in another thread with a Phil Mickelson ruling.

I believe that he had to return to the tee when he found his original, but declared it unplayable. The ruling was that he played his provisional against his first ball being lost, not being unplayable.

That makes perfect sense to me from a fairness point of view. It is, however, annoying for a player who feels he has already hit a provisional ball to cover his bases, and then is being told he can't play it. Walking those 280yds back to the tee could be fairly destructive to the mental state of the player.

Of course - he could always decide to use 28b or 28c instead.


I guess in short, we can say that the provisional ball can only be played if the original ball "can't be found" and the only option is to re-hit (ball lost or out of bounds). In all other cases where the ball is actually found (in hazard or unplayable) there is a relief procedure in the rules, and the provisional ball must be abandoned.

__________________
//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
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Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

Which makes since, that the rules do not allow a provisional on a unplayable. Because if a player were to chunk such a shot all of a sudden he might just find the original ball playable no matter where it was when he got to it.

Slats. You Friend Are Totally Wrong He Must Play The First Ball Not Ob And Is Not Unplayable. Noe If He Cheat In His Count Do Like Me ...cut Two Of My Partners Because They Always Cut Down Their Strokes Sample I Count In A Par Five Six To The Green And Two Putt They Claim Four To The Green And Two Putts. Is Not Worth It To Play With People Like That!!