Provisional or stroke-and-distance. We often think about it as an either/or choice. You hit a shot, have a look, and then – if you haven’t already taken a provisional – you go back to where you played your last shot and go again.
But what about this email poser from Margaret Joyce? “Two players have hit their respective balls off the tee and moved forward to look for one of the player’s balls, which landed in the rough. If, after a short while, they decided they should have played a provisional ball, can they then go back and do that?”
What do you think? Can you go back and play a provisional while a search is still ongoing? Let’s take a look at what the Rules of Golf say…
Provisional ball search: Can you hit a provisional while the clock is ticking on search?
If I had a pound for every message I’ve received where someone says you can declare a ball lost I’d be able to coat my rules book in gold.
You haven’t been able to do it under the Rules of Golf for decades but it’s one of those things that’s just stuck around no matter how many times you try and counter it.
I mention it because there are some situations where it can hurt you to presume something and Margaret’s excellent question is one of those.
How many times have you seen a playing partner scoot around the rough for a minute before saying “it’s lost” and returning from whence they came and putting one in play under penalty of stroke-and-distance?
And yet, the rules say it’s perfectly acceptable to go back and hit a provisional.
It’s all in a clarification to Rule 18.3a and is revealed under the very straight forward heading “Playing Provisional Ball After Search Has Started Is Allowed”.
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It states: “A player may play a provisional ball for a ball that might be lost up until the point when the three-minute search time has ended.
“For example, if a player is able to return to the spot of their previous stroke and play a provisional before the three-minute search time has ended, the player is allowed to do so.
“If the player plays the provisional ball and the original ball is then found within the three-minute search time, the player must continue play with the original ball.”
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think about this provisional ball rule? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
