Many amateur golfers rarely play a provisional ball correctly or do so at all because the main reason they are on the course is to have fun with their mates. If a ball is struck from tee and appears to be lost, players will walk away in the hope they can find the ball when they get closer to the position at which it landed.
This is fine in a lot of cases and if you are not concerned about your score or playing golf using the full rule book, that’s fine. It’s important to keep the fun in golf but if you are serious about playing golf and want to become a better player, there are some things you need to know when it comes to playing a provisional ball.
The main idea behind playing a provisional shot is to save time. If you hit a shot and it goes deep into a dense area of trees or tall rough, the chances of finding this ball are very slim. In this instance, you can declare you are going to hit a provisional ball and do so from the same position.
However, if your ball is hit into a water hazard, you cannot play a provisional shot. Usually, these hazards are marked by red and yellow stakes and if your ball travels into one of these you not allowed to play a provisional. If you play a shot which you believe went into a water hazard but you could not tell for sure, you can play another ball but even if you find your first shot, the provisional ball is in play. You cannot give yourself a choice by hitting a provisional ball.
If you strike a long drive off the tee but it goes wayward into some bushes and you play a provisional some 100 yards shorter on the fairway, you can play the provisional but must declare you are doing so. As the first shot is 100 yards further down the fairway, do not waste time going to look for it before playing your provisional ball first.
If your provisional shot goes beyond your first shot, you are deeming the first ball lost and will continue with the provisional.
The final thing you must be aware of when playing a provisional is what happens if you find your original ball after hitting the provisional.
In this instance, if you hit it a tee shot on a par-3 and believe it to be lost, you can hit a provisional. However, if you hit the provisional within one foot of the hole but find your original ball on the way to the green, you cannot play the provisional ball, even though it is the better shot. Even if the first ball is in an unplayable position and you must take your shot again from the tee, you cannot use the provisional ball, it must be removed from the green and you are forced to play from the tee.
So, if you play a bad first shot which could be lost and play a provisional, which is a great shot, you may want to forget about finding the first ball you hit.
Hitting a provisional shot is mainly to speed up play but misinterpreting the rules could lead to penalty strokes.
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