provisional ball

Hi team

During a round last week, I pulled my second shot into a 12 foot hedge running lateraly towards the green, so I hit a provisional ball which landed on the green. After searching for 2 minutes my opponent found my ball which I now had to play which I dropped and hit back into the hedge , and ended up with a no return.
My question is this. At what point could I have claimed a lost ball and played my provisional.
If you think a ball may be lost and then hit a good provisional are you allowed to claim a lost ball straight away without looking for your first ball although this does not seem very sporting.

__________________
STAN THE MAN

The Decisions on the Rules of Golf have several senerios that cover this situation. The rule is that the provisional ball becomes the ball in play when it is played from a spot closer to the hole that the original ball is believed to be. You do not have to look for your original ball. You could have walked up to your provisional ball and played a stroke with it and then your original ball would be deemed lost even if your opponent found it after that. Now if you had holed your provisional ball you would need to actually retrieve it from the hole before your opponent finds your original ball. Now by playing your provisional ball quickly you may be playing out of turn and your opponent could recall your stroke and ask you to replay the shot. But hey you did it once you can do it again.

yo

Does this rule "roll up" if you play multiple provisional balls?

A scenario at the weekend was: -

My partners first drive went into a hedge, provisional played - same result, then a second and third provisional played all into the same wood (the chap was getting a trifle agitated at this point) <grin>.

He play a V. Short ball and we went to search the hedge.....and found at 3 of the 4 missing balls.

He claimed (and I have no reason to doubt him) that he had found his orignal first ball, so dopped out (2) and played the next shot onto the green (3).

I assume he was correct - after all the provisional balls were just that ...provisional - wern't they ? Or did playing a second provisional ball make the original "lost" ?

Nic

the answer to this question is covered somewhat under decision 27-2a/4 which says yes. you can play a second provisional ball and it bears to the first provisional ball the same relationship as the first provisional ball bears to the original ball.

Although i believe that after two provisionals it might become a little questionable as to keeping track of all the balls. Hopefully he had each marked and noted in what order played.

hope this helps....sounds like that hedge is a problem

yohead

Here in Florida, we always play a provisional ball when there is any doubt because when you go into the rough you might come back out with an alligator on your ass!
Too bad the rules don't allow best 2 out of 3