lateral hazard and provisional ball

Question
While playing in a tournament, a ball is hit to the left of the fairway and presumed "in trouble".   A provisional ball is hit after another player says that  the left side is not a hazard.   After hitting a provisional ball and  then walking up to the area where the first ball was hit, the area did have a red line, designating it a lateral hazard.   If the ball was dropped two club lengths away, it would  have been lying in a hedge.  When asked by the official why I had hit a provisional ball, I said I didn't know why.   He said that because I said I didn't know why I had hit the provisional, I had to play it and that it really didn't matter anyway because I would have had to drop the original ball into the hedge located between the hazard, cartpath and fairway.   Was he correct or could I have gone further back towards the tee where I could get relief and been lying 2?  Is not understanding the rule when the question is asked "why did you..." grounds for having to play the provisional?

Answer
A provisional ball is one hit if your original is thought to be either lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds.  The following is a quote from the rules:  "The player must inform his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play that he intends to play a provisional ball, and he must play it before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball."  Technically if you failed to announce you were playing a provisional ball, the 2nd ball you hit from the tee would be the ball in play and you would be lying 3.  Unfortunately, the rules do not address or compensate for poor course marking.  With no visible evidence of a hazard, you were within your rights to hit a provisional.  Going forward to discover a hazard, you would not incur a penalty for hitting a provisional when you shouldn't have.  If you didn't find the original, there would have to have been evidence the ball went into the hazard.  So, let's assume there was agreement the ball went into the hazard and you want to take relief.  The rules stipulate your options as being 1. Replaying the stroke from the original spot with a one shot penalty, 2.  Playing from the hazard, 3.  Dropping a ball within 2 club-lengths from the point it last crossed the margin of the hazard, and 4. Playing a ball withing 2 club-lengths from the other side of the hazard from a point equidistant from the point it last crossed.  So, if by taking relief, it required you drop into a hedge, you would have to do that and deal with the new situation; either play it from there or declare your ball unplayable and proceed under that rule.  Can you move your ball until you have relief from the hedge?  No, the rules only give you 2 club-lengths.  Each additional 2 club-lengths you move your ball will cost you a stroke.

Not knowing the rules does not excuse you from the consequences of infractions.  Not only are you responsible for playing the game according to the rules, in a competition, you have a responsibility to the field to make sure others also play by the rules.

Thanks for the question!

Fairways & Greens,

John
www.golfnutts.com