OB within the course

Had an interesting situation over the weekend where I didn't know exactly what the correct play would be...

Hitting an approach to a blind 16th green, I pulled my approach shot left of the green and was unable to find my ball. There is a public road that runs to the left of the green and a cart path that runs parallel to the road and not too far off of the green on the hole that I was on. The road is marked on only the side that was nearest the green with white stakes, . When I couldnt find my ball I went back to the fairway and replayed my approach shot from where I had previously hit from like any other lost ball.

Not too far on the otherside of the public road is the 17th tee box. As I approached the tee, my orignal ball from #16 was sitting on the tee box in plain view in play. Obviously once I had put my 2nd ball in play that I couldn't have played my orignal anyways, but assuming I had found it earlier before I played the 2nd ball, could I have played it even though it technically did cross the OB line on #16 and ended up in play on #17? Neither myself nor my playing partner knew for sure. There is no known local rule for this situation as far as I can tell, probably because the odds of this actually happening were very remote...

A ball on the course is on the course.

It may fly over OB, roll on it etc.

only if the ball is entirely out of the line is it OB.

Look in the club rules however if the OB is for a certain hole. This happens sometime for security reasons etc.

Good question.  My brothers club has this possibility as well.  Look at the first picture on this thread: http://thesandtrap.com/t/74900/how-would-you-play-it-9th-at-belmont-cc-fresno-ca/0_30#post_997091

Near the top of the picture just below "E Sanders Ct" is the 9th green complex, and just above that street is the 6th tee then 7th green.  The road has OB stakes on both sides.  I am of the opinion that what @bubble said would be correct.  If the ball came to rest on the road, its out, but if you got across it, then you're in.  However, my brother tells me that there is a notation on the card that states that anything beyond the near side of the road (while playing either hole) should be considered OB.

I'm fine with that but I don't think it's correct.  Here's why:  There is no OB between the 9th tee and 8th green, 8th tee and 7th green and 7th tee and 6th green.  That means that, technically , it is possible to get to that same spot without ever crossing a series of OB stakes.  Nor is it against the rules for a ball to ever go OB, so long as it doesn't end up OB (if I yank one into the street and it bounces off the curb back into the fairway, lucky me!).

So there is a lack of continuity there.  That particular spot on the course is both OB and not OB from the same place while playing the same hole depending on how it arrived.  Doesn't make sense.

But, like I said, it's hard to do anyways, so it's not a big deal to me.  Just odd. :)

My home course has on course OB, and it drives me nuts. The first hole is an uphill par 3 with the 9th green to the right, about even with the 1st green. To the right of the 1st hole is a house owned by the course, and it's property is correctly marked OB. However, the last 50-60 yards is well beyond the house and it's property, and is an area that can come into play on the 9th if you miss your approach way to the right. There are white OB stakes along the 1st hole, however. So this is an grassy, mowed area that is playable on 9, but OB on 1. That makes zero sense to me.  And since the stakes are only 10-15 yards form the green, people hit it over there fairly often, and, in my opinion, are unfairly penalized. It would be an very easy pitch from there to the green if it weren't OB.

It is similar to this situation, the only difference being that I can see is that the road is not marked on both sides in my situation and there is no way to get to the 17th tee (walking or riding) without crossing the road. It's probably not marked on the 17th side because you'd have to hit  straight backwards from the tee on 17 to get it back to the road, so that's why it was likely not marked with stakes or even mentioned on the scorecard. Not sure if that makes a difference or not. It was a crazy enough bounce that I never would have looked over there.

Without a local rule, that ball was in bounds.

However, when I wrote our local rules I added a statement that said if a ball crosses the road and ends up on the other side, it is out of bounds.

That's pretty typical.

I say that if Phil can play from the hospitality suite, then you can play from the next tee box; I can't find a specific rule or interpretation that makes this cross reference.

And permitted by the Rules of golf, see Decision 27/20.  Note that the Decision clearly states that without such a local Rule, the ball is in bounds.