Sometimes no introduction is required, you just let the email do the work. “My husband is adamant that if you hit a really off-line tee shot into a large area of bushes, or brambles, and so on that you must call a provisional ball, play a provisional ball, and look for the ball for three minutes,” this correspondent told me.
“We say, you can say, ‘I’m taking three off the tee’. That will then be the ball in play even if, when walking on, the first ball is found! That ball cannot be played. Help please.”
I’ve shielded our correspondent’s name here, lest I inadvertently cause an argument, but I am happy to weigh in on this marital issue – to further Rules knowledge only, of course.
Provisional ball rules: Penalty under stroke-and-distance allowed at any time
I’m sure some of you are asking why I’m tackling this given, at first sight, the answer is very straight forward.
The reality is I get a lot of emails about it, and it also sometimes arises when players try and work out what to do when they’ve erroneously declared a ball lost. Once again, you can’t do that.