Hazard

[leftylucas]

I was playing with "family" this past weekend and we had a strange situation. The golfer hit his ball into a red staked hazard area on the right from the teeing ground. He found his ball and hit from the hazard right across the fairway into another red staked hazard area. Not having found his ball he hit another on to the green which he claims he declared a provisional ball prior to hitting it. He then found another ball and claimed it was the original and hit it into the green as well.

Was this the proper procedure?

Lucas

[EDSGOLF]

I believe what he did was correct. Since it is sometimes difficult to identify a ball in a hazard, a golfer can hit what he thinks is his ball, but if he finds out that wasn't his ball and then finds his correct ball, play on with no penalties unless he drops it outside the hazard. Now him saying he found his original ball is another story

[LobWedge]

You can't play a provisional based on a ball that was played from inside one hazard in to another hazard. Rule 27-2 states that "If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play another ball provisionally in accordance with Rule 27-1."

He should have proceeded as follows:

26-2. Ball Played Within Water Hazard
26-2a. Ball Comes to Rest in Same or Another Water Hazard
If a ball played from within a water hazard comes to rest in the same or another water hazard after the stroke, the player may:
(i) proceed under Rule 26-1a (play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played). If, after dropping in the hazard, the player elects not to play the dropped ball, he may:
(a) with reference to this hazard, proceed under Rule
26-1b (not applicable here), or if applicable Rule 26-1c (as additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole), adding the additional penalty of one stroke prescribed by that Rule; or
(b) add an additional penalty of one stroke and play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which
the last stroke from outside a water hazard was made (see Rule 20-5); or
(ii) proceed under Rule 26-1b, or if applicable Rule 26-1c; or
(iii) under penalty of one stroke, play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the last stroke from outside a water hazard was made (see Rule 20-5).

[leftylucas]

Thanks Lob wedge, I thought it sounded kinda funny. I never heard of a provisional from a hazard. I really did not want to make an issue of it at the time. We are always close in scoring and he usually beats me except in the last year or so. The ball he found and claimed as being his was in fact a brand that he does not use and that he does not like. He holed out and walked off the green without his ball, I noticed the odd ball when I recuperated my own from the cup. I expect he was feeling the pressure after such a bad hole, oh well, he was only cheating himself. IN the end it made little difference.