Hi Linda,
A player hits a ball off the tee and it is suspected of being out of bounds. The golfer then hits a provisonal ball that is in the middle of the fairway. The golfers approach the first ball and find it resting on the out-of-bound stake on the golf course side of the stake. The golfer said that he wanted to play the first ball. One playing partner agreed with the golfer and two partners said he had to play the provisonal.
Question: Does the golfer play the first ball or does the golfer play the provisonal ball?
This happened at my golf course recently and between the foursome we had considerable discussion as to which ball is in play.
Can you clarify this for us?
Lou
Dear Lou,
A player may hit a provisional ball when he suspects his ball may be lost or out of bounds. If the original ball is found, and it is not out of bounds, the player must abandon the provisional ball and continue play with the original ball [Rule 27-2c]. End of discussion.
If the player in your scenario continued play with the provisional ball, even though his original was found and was not out of bounds, his stroke at the provisional ball would count as a stroke at a wrong ball. In match play, he would lose the hole. In stroke play, he would incur a two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball and would have to complete play of the hole with his original ball [Decision 27-2c/3].
Linda
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