Three off the tee/ playing a provisional ball

Sorry if this is a bit boring and been discussed before, but I can't understand the logic or reasoning of he following scenario.
I drive a ball off the tee, and it disappears into a wood. Thinking it could be lost, I play a provisional which ends up visible, in the rough, say.
I then go down to the wood, and look for my ball. I find it, but it is unplayable. As I understand it, if dropping a ball under penalty isn't practical, I then have to go back to the tee and play ANOTHER ball. Why don't the rules allow me to play my provisional - playing my fourth shot?

Simple answer - the rules don't allow it because a provisional is only available in case of a lost (or out of bounds) ball. Your first wasn't lost so the provisional becomes irrelevant

More complicated answer; allowing you the choice to play your provisional even if the first is found, gives you an advantage - it allows you the choice to decide just how bad your first ball was or just how good your provisional was

Considered too much of an advantage to give you that choice considering you are supposed to be being penalized.

Being able to choose between 1st and 2nd ball is certainly more likely to speed the game up and if it was a casual game then maybe should be allowed - but not not in match conditions

I think I get it. Thank you. But then, as I walk towards my first ball, I see that the area is going to be impossible to play from, and so, before I get there, and still not being able to see my ball, can I declare it lost and NOW play my provisional? (Before anyone else "finds" my lost ball)

Strictly speaking you can't declare a ball lost, and in a match your opponent has every right to take the 5 minutes available to find it for you, but in essence, yes you can give up on a ball and adopt the provisional. What you can't do is pick up the first one, or leave it if it's visible, and opt for the provisional instead

Thanks again. I'm clear now.

If someone finds your ball, you can say 'I can't identify it as my ball', even if you know it is your ball. You are the sole arbiter of whether the ball is yours or not. This isn't really in the spirit of the game, and you aren't going to be popular but it's an option.

George1507 wrote:If someone finds your ball, you can say 'I can't identify it as my ball', even if you know it is your ball. You are the sole arbiter of whether the ball is yours or not. This isn't really in the spirit of the game, and you aren't going to be popular but it's an option.

That's also called cheating!!

And in a similar vein.. you can rush up to your provisional and hit it again.. once you've hit it twice AND it's past where your original is likely to lie, then it becomes the ball in play. Not really in the spirit of the game, but technically legal.

EDIT: What I mean is.. you've hit it when it lies past your original...

"If someone finds your ball, you can say 'I can't identify it as my ball', even if you know it is your ball. You are the sole arbiter of whether the ball is yours or not."

Are you not supposed to declare the ball (and identifier) to your playing partners before putting it in play to prevent such an instance? Or can you still (cheat and) claim that the ball that is found is not yours?

I knew the provisional became in play when hit from a point in advance of where the original was believed to be, but didn't contemplate that someone could rush ahead and hit it to avoid the problem of finding the first in the mangoes. Unscrupulous indeed!

I've never done it, nor would I, but realised it was a possible tactic. I presume the original question came from the pickle Scott Jaimeson got himself into in SA at the weekend. The issue there was he hit driver into the tee, then took an iron as a provisional - so was sure to be short of his original ball - so he couldn't have done the above easily.

Interestingly, having found his original unplayable he went back to the tee and hit driver again. If he was confident of finding the original even if it was unplayable, I would imagine he'd have hit driver for the provisional, not an iron.

Roller_Coaster wrote:"If someone finds your ball, you can say 'I can't identify it as my ball', even if you know it is your ball. You are the sole arbiter of whether the ball is yours or not."

Are you not supposed to declare the ball (and identifier) to your playing partners before putting it in play to prevent such an instance? Or can you still (cheat and) claim that the ball that is found is not yours?

I knew the provisional became in play when hit from a point in advance of where the original was believed to be, but didn't contemplate that someone could rush ahead and hit it to avoid the problem of finding the first in the mangoes. Unscrupulous indeed!

The RoG say about lost balls -

A ball is deemed “lost” if:
a. It is not found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after
the player’s side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it; or
b. The player has made a stroke at a provisional ball from the place where
the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that
place (see Rule 27-2b); or
c. The player has put another ball into play under penalty of stroke and
distance under Rule 26-1a, 27-1 or 28a; or
d. The player has put another ball into play because it is known or virtually
certain that the ball, which has not been found, has been moved by an
outside agency (see Rule 18-1), is in an obstruction (see Rule 24-3), is in
an abnormal ground condition (see Rule 25-1c) or is in a water hazard
(see Rule 26-1b or c); or
e. The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball.

So, whilst it's really cheating, you can play the provisional ball by just not identifying your ball. And no, you don't have to declare to your partners what ball you are playing. It's good etiquette to do that though.

Bob_the_Job wrote: I presume the original question came from the pickle Scott Jaimeson got himself into in SA at the weekend.

Exactly. I thought the procedure just wasted time. He's going to play 3, so what is the problem? Rules are rules.

Similar to Lefty in a play off one year.

Drove into a ravine, played a provisional. Got to the ravine told the spectators not to look for it. Walked up to his provisional, just as a spectator called out "Phil, I've found your ball". Phil then has to march all the way back to the tee to play 3. Phil was not amused.

But proceeding in that way is hedging your bets. If he didn't want to look for the original, he should have just played three off the tee and not declared a provisional. I suspect that the reason he declared it provisional was that he was concerned he'd hit the second ball in the same (or worse) place and when he didn't, he decided to forget the first one. Not strictly in the spirit of the game imho.