Linda, here’s a question for you. You hit your tee shot into the woods or some other nasty place where you may not find it. Then you hit a provisional ball. Are you obligated to look for your original ball? I know if you do look for it & find it you must play it.
Lulu
Dear Lulu,
You are not obligated to look for the original ball, but there’s a caveat. If anyone finds your ball before you hit your provisional from the area where your original is likely to be, or from a point closer to the hole than that area, you must abandon the provisional and play the original.
If you decide not to look for your original ball, then it would be in your best interest to tell everyone in your group not to look for it either. If someone disobeys your order and finds it, your only recourse is to try out that glare you’ve been practicing every night. You can check YouTube to see if there is a video of Phil Mickelson’s glare when an official found his ball after he had told everyone to stop looking for it – that would be a good one to try to imitate.
Linda
Copyright © 2011 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
