Provisional ball

[stasek]

I was playing in a tournament today and had the following happen to me. Short par 4, dogleg right, water right, trouble (tall fescue/trees) left. I pull out a driver and hit the ball dead straight and see it land in the tall grass/trees left. I reach for a 5-wood, declare provisional ball (assuming I had little chance finding the first one) and proceed to hit it. As the luck goes, I snap hook the 5W right where the first ball wound up. Now, I had both balls marked (one TM black #1 and the provisional was TM red #2). In my infinite wisdom, I did not announce to my group what my provisional ball was (assuming my 5W was not going to wind up anywhere near my original drive). We get to where my ball wound up and after couple minutes, I find one of my balls in the deep grass. I assumed it was my provisional without properly identifying it (the drive looked like it went in quite a bit deeper), announced my finding to the group, and proceeded to hack it out of the hey. Long story short, I get to the green, mark the ball and notice it was my first ball. I ask my playing partners what the ruling in this case is, and they all agree that since I didn't announce what my provisional ball was, the rules state that I was playing the provisional and take the original stroke and distance penalty (even though I'm 100% sure that I finished the hole with the original ball). I wound up carding a 9 and that was pretty much it for the rest of the round (btw, I found out the hard way that the greens rolling 13 on the stimp meter are FAST! :) )

 

 

TIA

[Socrates]

Assuming that they believe you, you might escape without any penalty since you holed out with your original ball. However a case likely could be made for anything from the penalty assessed to a DQ. Too late to sit down and figure it out but you are at least guilty of not declaring to your marker what ball you were playing and what ball you were using as a provisional (I would DQ just out of principle for that alone).

[Sawgrass]

. . . since I didn't announce what my provisional ball was, the rules state that I was playing the provisional and take the original stroke and distance penalty (even though I'm 100% sure that I finished the hole with the original ball).

 

Ask your fellow competitors to show you where the rules state what they say is stated. It should take them quite a while.

 

It's your responsibility to announce that you wish to play a provisional, which you did. It's your responsibility to play your original or your provisional ball, which you did. The fact that you luckily played your original (which could have been a wrong ball if you weren't so fortunate) is just that -- good luck.

 

The only possible problem you might have gotten yourself into is if you were playing match play, and the announcement you described included the miss-information that you were playing your provisional. In that case, you incorrectly informed your opponent as to your score at that moment and thereby lost the hole (9-2). In stroke play there is no penalty for this.

 

 

 

 

6-5. Ball

The responsibility for playing the proper ball rests with the player. Each player should put an identification mark on his ball.

 

 

 

9-3/1 Competitor in Hole-by-Hole Play-Off Gives Wrong Information

 

Q. In a stroke-play hole-by-hole play-off, B has completed the hole in 5 strokes. A, who has a putt for a 5, inquires as to B's score for the hole, and B wrongly states that he (B) has holed out in 4 strokes. A picks up his ball without marking its position. B then corrects his mistake. What is the ruling?

 

A. B incurs no penalty. Rule 9 imposes no penalty for giving wrong information as to the number of strokes taken in stroke play.

 

A incurs a penalty of one stroke under Rule 20-1 for lifting his ball at rest without marking its position. Since this leaves A with a putt for a 6, he loses the play-off.

 

 

 

 

[Sawgrass]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1285817863' post='2721020']
Assuming that they believe you, you might escape without any penalty since you holed out with your original ball. However a case likely could be made for anything from the penalty assessed to a DQ. Too late to sit down and figure it out but you are at least guilty of not declaring to your marker what ball you were playing and what ball you were using as a provisional (I would DQ just out of principle for that alone).
[/quote]


Socrates, perhaps I am wrong. Where in the rules does it demand that you inform a competitor of how you intend to identify your provisional ball? Or your original for that matter?

[stasek]

Sawgrass - thanks a lot for your respnse. That was exactly my take on things, but I wasn't going to get into a pissing contest with fellow competitors. Ultimately, I finished the hole with the same ball I started with. Was there luck involved? Maybe... I would have never hit any ball without positively identifying that it belongs to me. IMO, the only thing I'm guilty of is stating that I found my second ball instead of first, but as you said - in stroke play it shouldn't really matter, since it doesn't really affect what my competitors were doing.

Any more feedback appreciated

[Newby]

Post deleted as I misread the original.

The provisional was declared. There is no requirement to specify the identification of the ball.

[green-keeper]

stasek (OP) wrote:
[quote]...I reach for a 5-wood, declare provisional ball (assuming I had little chance finding the first one) and proceed to hit it.[/quote]

newby wrote:
[quote]As you didn't declare the second ball to be a provisional.... [/quote]

I don't understand.

Greenkeeper

[Newby]

[quote name='green-keeper' timestamp='1285839343' post='2721235']
stasek (OP) wrote:
[quote]...I reach for a 5-wood, declare provisional ball (assuming I had little chance finding the first one) and proceed to hit it.[/quote]

newby wrote:
[quote]As you didn't declare the second ball to be a provisional.... [/quote]

I don't understand.

Greenkeeper
[/quote]

Oops. MIsread it.
Post corrected.
Thanks for catching it.

[atlanta golfer]

Perhaps the big lesson learned here is not so much the nuances of the rules, but rather the practical wisdom of always announcing the markings of a provisional ball before it is struck.

[Sawgrass]

[quote name='atlanta golfer' timestamp='1285845688' post='2721276']
Perhaps the big lesson learned here is not so much the nuances of the rules, but rather the practical wisdom of always announcing the markings of a provisional ball before it is struck.
[/quote]

I totally agree with you A.G. In fact, I like to announce the distinction of my provisional ball out loud because it helps me remember which is which. With the "bad adrenaline" pumping because of a questionable shot, I find it's not only a comfort to fellow competitors to know you're on top of things, but a memory saver for me too.

But I can understand Stasek's (apparenlty incorrect) assumption that stepping down from a driver to a 5-wood would have eliminated confusion.

Another lesson here is to not take the "ruling" of your fellow competitors over that of an official you can call.

[stasek]

[quote name='Sawgrass' timestamp='1285856158' post='2721481']

Another lesson here is to not take the "ruling" of your fellow competitors over that of an official you can call.
[/quote]

I wish there was an official that I could have called, but unfortunately this was a small club playoff tournament, where players depend on their own as well as the fellow competitors knowledge of the rules.