By Rich IwasZko, Director of Golf, Pocasset Golf Club
Illustrations by Jeff Camish
There has been a plethora of books written on many subjects for beginners. In order to get their attention, beginners have been renamed “dummies.” It must work, for they have sold a lot of these dummy books on any subject you can name, even The Rules of Golf. I have seen a book called Golf Rules in Plain English, which infers that the USGA uses a brand of English that no one understands. We will go the dummy route provided that you remember that its modern-day meaning is “beginner.” It’s OK to just say, “I’m new here. I can be stupid,” but stupidity in golf comes with a hefty price – extra strokes.
Let’s start with a lost ball. You just hit a ball from the teeing ground, and it slices deep into the woods. First thing you do is think about scheduling a golf lesson. Then you go looking for the ball and can’t find it within five minutes. This is a lost ball. And remember, five minutes is not 10 minutes – in any language.
You hit your ball in the middle of the fairway, and it lies next to a ball of the same make and number, Titleist Pro V1 #2. This is a lost ball because you failed to put an identification mark on it and cannot identify which one is yours. How many Titleist Pro V1 #2’s could there be out there? Millions, but you only need to find one from another dummy who didn’t mark his or her ball.
You duck-hook your ball off the tee into the high rough, and you proceed to hit another ball. The first ball is now a lost ball. Once you put a second ball in play, you must declare it as a provisional ball – a ball you may play if you can’t find the first one. You can’t stay silent or grunt. You must speak up and say, “I am hitting a provisional ball.” If you don’t, you have sealed the fate of the first ball, and it thereby becomes a lost ball.
So you declare that you are going to hit a provisional ball and then you hit it the same distance as the first ball. You find the provisional and hit it again. The first ball, even if found, is now a lost ball. You cannot make a stroke at a provisional if it lies even with or closer to the hole than where you think the original ball is.
You hit your ball into the woods yet again. You call the pro shop on your cellphone to schedule that lesson. You know those woods are thick and nasty. You look for your ball for two minutes and see all the thick and nasty stuff and say, “I declare that ball lost.” You proceed back to the tee or the previous place you hit from. Your opponent says, “I found your ball.” You say,
“It can’t be mine because I declared it lost.” Your opponent says, “It’s a Titleist NXT 1 with your 3 red dots on it and your business name.” You say, “I declared it lost.” Officially, “A player cannot render a ball lost by declaration.” The original ball is in play if found within five minutes of a search.
Let’s recap. A ball is lost if you can’t find it within five minutes from the start of the search. A ball is lost if the player has made a stroke at a substituted ball (did not declare it a provisional ball). A ball is lost if the player has made a stroke at a provisional ball even with or past the point of the first ball.
Let’s fast forward to smart behavior. Put an identification mark on your ball that is unique to you for identification. Use a sharpie pen. When you play a provisional ball, declare it as such and don’t play it past the point of the first ball. If you feel that your ball is so deep in the woods that, even if found, it would take many swings to get out, hit another ball without declaring it a provisional.
You have now come out of the beginner stage with a lost ball… and have planned to seek out golf lessons. Please keep this article for later reference. If you lose it, go to www.sendgolfballs.net and ask for a provisional. Then you won’t be lost!
There has been a plethora of books written on many subjects for beginners. In order to get their attention, beginners have been renamed “dummies.” It must work, for they have sold a lot of these dummy books on any subject you can name, even The Rules of Golf. I have seen a book called Golf Rules in Plain English, which infers that the USGA uses a brand of English that no one understands. We will go the dummy route provided that you remember that its modern-day meaning is “beginner.” It’s OK to just say, “I’m new here. I can be stupid,” but stupidity in golf comes with a hefty price – extra strokes.
You hit your ball into the woods yet again. You call the pro shop on your cellphone to schedule that lesson. You know those woods are thick and nasty. You look for your ball for two minutes and see all the thick and nasty stuff and say, “I declare that ball lost.” You proceed back to the tee or the previous place you hit from. Your opponent says, “I found your ball.” You say,