Hello Linda,
A, B, and C are playing a game and player C hooks his drive
into some bushes and trees. From past experiences he knows that he will have an
impossible shot if he even finds the ball. Also the option of taking an
unplayable lie would take him further into the trees. He announces that he will
play a provisional ball and proceeds to do so. Then as we are leaving the tee
he says that he does not want to look for his original ball and asks us not to
look for it as well. He says he wants to declare the ball lost and proceeds to
his provisional ball to play it. Player A and B are riding in the same cart while
player C is by himself in his own cart. Player A says to player B that he wants
to go and look for player C's ball. Player C, when he sees player A and B
start to look for the ball, says: “What are you two doing? I have declared the
ball lost.” Is he within his rights to declare the ball lost when leaving the
tee? Your help would be appreciated.
Lou from British Columbia
Dear Lou,
No. There are five ways a ball is deemed lost [see the
Definition of “Lost Ball”], but declaring it lost is not one of them. The
player does not have the right to declare his ball lost.
If a player is familiar with the area into which he has hit
his ball, and knows that the ball will be unplayable, his best bet is to hit a
second ball from the tee and not
call it a provisional. When you hit a second ball from the tee without
declaring it a provisional, it is a ball played under stroke and distance. This
second ball becomes your ball in play and your third shot on the hole; the
original is officially lost.
Since the player declared his second tee shot a provisional
ball, nothing he says will cause the
original to become lost. If the ball is found before he hits the provisional
ball from a spot that is closer to the hole than the original, he must abandon the provisional and
continue with the original. If the original is unplayable, and he chooses the
stroke-and-distance relief option, he must return to the tee to hit another
ball.
The other players in his group are under no obligation to
honor his request to not search for the ball. In stroke play, they might want
to search to protect the field. In match play, the opponent might have a very
good reason to search for the ball.
Let’s look at a possible scenario on a Par-3 hole. The
player hits his tee shot into the woods. He plays a second ball, declaring it a
provisional, and the ball lands three inches from the hole, for an easy four on
the hole. If the player’s original ball is found before the player taps the
original into the hole, the player will have to abandon the provisional and
proceed with the original. He may still score a four with that ball, but the
possibility now exists for him to score five or more.
Linda
Copyright © 2017 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
