Lost Ball

One of the problems of golf is that the ball doesn't always go where we want it to go and for an inanimate object, they are very good at hiding. Trouble is that there are a lot of hiding places for golf balls at High Elms. So, sooner or later, usually sooner rather than later, we are faced with the problem of what do we do if we can't find the ball or don't think we can find the ball. This is covered in the following R&A web page R&A site : Lost ballClick here

The R&A state that :-

A player may not render a ball lost solely by declaration. It is not what the player says that matters, it is what he does.

A ball can only be considered lost when

1. It is not found or identified as his by the player within 5 minutes after the player's side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it.

   Note that the 5 minutes begins when the player or anyone on his team starts looking for the ball, not when a passerby starts looking and it only refers to looking for the ball. It should be clarified that anyone can look / find the ball. If a ball is found within 5 minutes but takes a few more minutes for the player to come over and identify the ball as his then that is OK.

   If the player continues to play a ball that was found after more than 5 minutes, they will be penalised as if they were playing the wrong ball. In matchplay this means loss of hole. In stroke play, there is a penalty of 2 strokes and you must rectify the error. If you do not play a ball from the correct position before you tee off on the next hole, you will be disqualified.

2. The player has played any stroke with a provisional ball from the place where the original is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place.

   Note that the player is entitled to play such a stroke. There is nothing in the rules of golf that requires a player to look for his ball. There is also no rule that prevents his opponent or any other person from looking for his ball.

   If the player does play a shot with the provisional ball as described above, the original ball is then lost under Rule 27-2b and further search for it would serve no purpose. This means that even if the original ball is found within 5 minutes but is found after the provisional has been played, then the provisional ball has already become the ball in play and the original ball will be deemed lost.

3. The player has put another ball into play under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 27-1a). Ie. he has NOT declared that the ball he has played is a provisional.

   Note that as soon as the second ball is hit the first ball is just a movable obstruction and may be picked up by anyone...including the player of course.

4. The player has put a ball into play, if it is known or virtually certain that the original ball that has not been found is in an obstruction (Rule 24-3) or an abnormal ground condition (Rule 25-1c) such as deep water as a result of torrential rain.

   An "obstruction" is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice, except:

   1. Objects defining out of bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes and railings
   2. Any part of an immovable artificial object that is out of bounds
   3. Any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.

   Another example of abnormal ground condition is a rabbit hole. If you are sure that the ball was lost in the rabbit hole - an abnormal ground condition - you may drop a ball without penalty according to Rule 25-1c, ie Drop within one club length of the 'nearest point of relief', from the the point where it last crossed the outermost limit of the abnormal ground condition, ie the edge of the rabbit hole.

5. The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball. A substituted ball would be one that has been dropped after the ball has gone in a water hazard or in a lateral hazard

So what are your options if you lose your ball. If the ball is not lost in a water hazard, obstruction or abnormal ground condition, your only option is to replay the ball from the spot where you originally hit the ball that is now lost.

In order to save time, if a player thinks his ball might be lost or out of bounds, they may play a back-up or 'provisional ball'. This must be played after the fellow golfers have played their shots and before going to look for the original ball. The player must declare to his fellow players before he takes the shot that he is playing a provisional ball. As mentioned before, if they do not make this declaration then as soon as they hit the replacement ball, it becomes the ball in play.