Delo’s Divots: The week after the Masters I always get asked
questions about rules. I guess it is watched by a lot of people,
many of whom want to know why a certain player was allowed to drop
a ball in a certain situation.
The week after the Masters I always get asked questions about rules. I guess it is watched by a lot of people, many of whom want to know why a certain player was allowed to drop a ball in a certain situation.
Now, we don’t have the advantage of a rules official walking every step of a round with us to interpret the rules. So what the average player must do in many situations is play a “provisional” ball. This is telling your opponents/partners that in case I can’t find it or it’s out of bounds, I have another ball ready to be put in play. This is such a good habit to get into because it speeds up play.
There are a couple of rules that you must remember, though. First, always declare to your playing partners that this is a provisional ball, in case the first one is lost or out of bounds. Second, let them know the difference between that ball and the first one — different number, markings, something. Don’t try to hit the exact same ball as your first ball, and when they end up close to the same place, the first one is considered in-bounds.
Lastly, you can hit your provisional ball more than once if you haven’t reached where you feel your first ball is located. In other words, if you bomb a 250-yard drive that hovers close to an out-of-bounds fence, and you hit a provisional 30 yads, you can hit the provisional again and again until you reach a point equal to where your first ball might be.
If you find it, great; abandon the provisional. If not, keep playing the provisional and score with that ball.
Don’t be afraid to play by the rules; they are there to help you as much as possible, and penalize you for a bad shot.
