Lost ball or not
If I hit a ball into the middle of the fairway but cant find it. I drop a ball in roughly the location I lost the ball. After playing it I walk forward about 20 yards and then find my original ball.
Can I count the second ball null and void and rehit my first?

If the provisional ball rule is not applied, the 2nd ball put into play becomes the ball in play.

so if I say I cannot find it (but its in the middle of the fairway - theiving animals had nicked my ball!). Can I say Provisional - hit it (still adding the penalty shot). If I then walk forward and see my original ball can I retake that

sorry if this isnt clear - me and a friend had a MAJOR bust up over this. I say that if you do find your golf ball, even though you say well I cant find it - provisonally, you dont have a penalty shot

Kev,
I don't know about Royal and Ancient, but read USGA rule 27/9.

I've played some courses that have had a local rule (sometimes late in the year when the leaves are starting to fall) that if your ball is lost in the leaves and all partners agree with the general spot it was lost, then you can drop without penalty and play from the spot nearest where the ball is thought to be lost. Not sure if that's legal or not but that was the local rule.

Now you could also have this happen when the conditions are wet and the ball could be plugged or embedded in the soft turf. Not sure which rule applies there.

Local rules can be whatever the greens committee, or pro shop deem them to be. Foursome rules are whatever the foursome agrees their rules to be, so long as they are not competing with any other players, or in any other competition.

If you hit your ball into the middle of the fairway, and can't find it, you need to have your eyes checked out. Of paint your ball international orange, so you can find it in the dark. Leaves can be a royal pain this time of year, and I've had my share of balls being hidden under them. Not much fun and it slows down the play when you have to look for the darn ball. Kevboy,it sounds to me like your playing partners need to lighten up a bit on the rule thing. Golf is supposed to be fun, and it sounds like they're ruining all your fun by being a bit rough on you over the rules. This reminds me of one hole where Scott and I hit our balls to withing 10 feet of each other. When we got up the the balls, we found Scotts ball right where it should have been, and we couldn't find mine anywhere. We all searched the area, both forward and behind where we found Scotts ball, and off the either side, but not ball. Weird, and not fair either. Sometimes you have to remember that the pros would lose a lot more golf balls if it wasn't for the fans and crews lining the courses when they play. You and I don't have that advantage, and maybe the USGA should look into not allowing the crowds and crew to help find the ball. Would force the pros to hit a lot more fairways if this became a rule. More lost balls would force a change in the way the bombers play the game.

I knew it. Wade told me he wasn't sure you knew where yours were.

Ok, yep...that's our Bill! He's Back

I have lost more than my fair share of balls on the fairway! Its amazing how the vanish. I've had me and 3 people see that I have hit the ball sweet as a nut into the middle of the fair in a dip about 250 yards plus, walk up and nothing to be seen.....
As you say - not fair
Thing is what can you do? - Normally we drop the ball 'roughly' where it should be not count the penalty and play on (have done this in a comp with the people around as they were as confused as I were)

That's what I did when we couldn't find the ball, I dropped a ball close to where we found Scotts ball, and played on. If we had the pleasure of Bill's company that day, we could have done the legal thing according to the rules, but since Bill wasn't available, we had to make due with what worked best for me. And Bill, It's not nice to pick on me all the time. It must be someone elses' turn by now, pick on them if you would.
And YES, there's not doubt that our Bill is back, and in fine form.

This last weekend, during our club championship, one person in our group had a nice drive, which we all believed was easily in the fairway; never even thought twice about it. (However, I was urged to hit a provisional on my shot... which I did, but easily spotted and played my first ball.) The other player's nice tee shot could not be found!?? He looked, we looked, then he kept looking. Now there's a group behind us, and his only choice was to climb back up the fairway/hill and hit another tee-shot...

Well, he already wasn't scoring too well in the tournament, was in no way in contention to place anyway; so another player suggested that he just drop in the area where he'd supposedly landed the first shot, which he did, and finished the hole with that ball. Though he "should" have went back for another tee shot, he elected to take this route in order to speed up play, because too much time had been spent trying to find the original ball, and the following group was impatiently waiting.

As the other group came down the fairway, they found a stray ball... and it was his original tee shot! It had slid and hid down in a sprinkler head hole. None of us had seen it, after diligently looking. Well, the bad news is, the poor guy was disqualified. He would have needed to go back and tee up again, which he may have done if he was still in contention. However, once he finished the hole with a dropped ball, it's apparently too late to tee again even if you elected to? That seemed to be the ruling, and he got disqualified. (There's more to this scenario, which almost resulted in a group penalty, but I'll save that for a separate topic.) However, it all started with this lost tee shot ball, which had been a really nice drive, but mysteriously couldn't be found, UNTIL it was too late...

Don,
According to the rules, it was a lost ball and you should have gone back to where you played the original shot, taken a penalty, hit another shot and you would have been lying 3.
If I had been with you, I would have said to do exactly what you did. I sound like I'm rigid on following rules, but only to a point. Usually it's not the U.S. Open and golf should always be casual and fun.

Don, you're right, I have been razzing you too much. Although I try not to "hit" you any more than anyone else, it's just that, well, golly, zam, oh man, the truth of it is, Don, you make it so easy.

Playing in a competition, there is no other ruling, other than DQ, that could have been rendered.

Yes, tournament play is different than casual play. I usually ask the group for guidance on the RULES OF GOLF when in tournament play and error on the side of caution. No one wants to go back to the group behind you and hit again, but it happens. And it's usually less embarrassing than being DQ'd....

Some times it just doesn't make sense to play by the rules of golf. As in the case of my ball being lost when it should have been right next to Scotts'. Going back to the tee box some 275 or more yards would have held up play and not a good idea. If it was a tournament, that would have been different. For a friendly game of golf, it's not worth it and not the proper thing to do. And I have Bills post to back me up if it happens again.

Though I agree in a friendly game going all the way back to the tee would be ugh! Don reading your post makes me thing of this:

o-

It's the smallest record player in the world, playing the saddest tune in the world.

Hey, Kev, good news, at least by American rules. Go here
http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/rules_of_golf.html
Click on the rules link and read 27-2b/3.

I think I have found what you have located



so it looks like I was right - major novelty!
but as long as it is within the 5 mins of losing it (Which is normal for the speed I play at!)
Laney - thank you - very useful site that might see if you can print out the decisions as those seem to be the ones we have trouble with

Is it too late to say "I told you so" to the guy you was giving you grief? And, since we're on the topic, how is the new baby (full report, please)?

still not here, only 5 days late - wife is fed up (and thats me being very very polite!)
expecting it here tomorrow as first was 6 days late, second was 6 days..... (thinking of calling this one Damien, but wife tried to beat me up for that one )
The main thing I noticed from the discussion part was the next point which is if the ball was found elsewhere ie it had bounced further than thought then it doesnt count - can anybody here explain that?

for those that are interested

Dominic Matthew Berwick
born 2:05pm
Mother and baby fine - took no painkillers at all!!
Home birth
Dad extremely happy that he now has to share his birthday!!

http://www.tinyurl.com/2mczmp

Congratulation to all three of you on a job well done.

Now I just hope you can get a decent nights sleep.

Very Cool....indeed

Congrats!

Congrats!! now, about those Nike Golf Kids clubs on sale...

Here! Here! Congratulations on the special delivery. Glad everyone is doing well. No you really won't be playing much golf...

No, makes my brain hurt thinking about it.



Kev, thanks for sharing the photos of your handsome family! He's a beautiful baby. Very cool.

OK. Along these same lines. What is supposed to be done when you hit a long tee shot just off the fairway and into a tree line. Green is not in sight but you know where it is located. Hit the second shot over all the trees and when you walk towards the green you cannot find the ball and agree to a drop location. After you get onto the green and go to pull the pin, theres the first ball in the cup. Is it a 5 stroke hole or the 2?

So I'm a chump I took the 2

Chief, I'm relieved to find that you are not a chump! Here's a quote from the USGA rules webpage:

"Q. A player, unable to find his ball, puts another ball into play. He then discovers that his original ball is in the hole. What is the ruling?

A. The score with the original ball counts. The play of the hole was completed when the player holed that ball."

Sorry to take so long, posts on the rules forum don't get emailed to me, so I have to remember to look here. Nor are line breaks, is seems.