Searching for a lost ball

Question
QUESTION: If a player thinks his ball is lost - from a tee shot or in open play - does he have to search for it or can he immediately declare it lost?

Thanks.

Mike

ANSWER: Hi Mike,

No, the player does not need to search for the ball. He can drop another ball and hit it from the same spot and it becomes the ball in play (unless he declares the 2nd ball to be a provisional ball).

Take a look at the rules at www.usga.org/rules

Please visit and patronize my site, www.probablegolfinstruction.com

Best regards,
Ken Tannar

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Ken,

Thanks for that.  So a player can take a one shot penalty
without bothering to look for the errant ball.

This does seem odd to me - watching the pros on the TV -
they  always seem to try to find the ball even if it in the
deep stuff.  So - there is no requirement to do this at all?

That seems a little bit unfair - the player is not then
punished for a particularly bad shot.

Recently in competition I took 3 shots out of very deep
rubbish to get back to the fairway - I didn't need to do
that - just take a one shot penalty and continue?

Many thanks!

Mike

Thanks.

Mike

Answer
Hi Mike,

To clarify, there is a penalty for playing a 2nd ball. In most cases it's advantageous to find and play your original ball. Let's say, however, you hit a shot into some deep bush. Even if you find it, you may need to hit the ball many times just to get it out of the bush. In that instance, you may choose to abandon the ball immediately and play a 2nd ball. You count the original stroke, plus the 2nd stroke and a penalty, so you would be laying 3.

With pros, it is very rare to lose a ball because there are so many specators that can see where the ball ends up.


Hope this helps.

Ken