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Unexpected Lost Ball - No Provisional - What Do You Do?


GlasgowsGreen
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  1. 1. Unexpected Lost Ball - No Provisional - What Do You Do?

    • Run back and play your shot again
      24
    • Take a drop with a stroke penalty
      40
    • Take a free drop (someone must have picked it up, right?)
      10


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My friends and I like to play golf by the rules. No mulligans, no 4ft gimmes, no foot wedges.

Something we don’t do however is take a distance penalty when we have an unexpected lost ball. You know the one – what appears to be safely in play is nowhere to be found when you get up there.

We just take a drop where we think the ball must have went into the rough. Note – not on the fairway, but not in the deep stuff either!

Obviously this aint exactly R&A; rules but no one wants to run back 200 yards to retake their shot.

I suspect that this must be the most common rule breach amongst guys who otherwise play by the rules. Interested to see what the poll says..

It depends. We do exactly that if we are just playing a casual round. But if it is a tournament or a match, you have no choice. You have to go back.

Bill M

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By "adopts this policy", you mean playing by the rules.......?

And no, I didn't slow anyone down.  I'm searching while waiting on the group ahead to finish on the green.  Then, I'm hitting and rejoining my own group on the green and we're going to resume our spot right where we left off, right behind the group in front of us.  Since you were right behind us in the first place, you're obviously able to keep up too and within a half hole, you'll be waiting on us, waiting on them again.  No loss in net time at all.

Playing by the rules does NOT cause slow play.  Slow players cause slow play.  Slow players also like to look for excuses for their own slow play and tend to blame everyone/everything but themselves.  BTW.....that was not directed at you, but rather a general comment based on loooooong observation.

One more time though......keep this in context, we're talking stroke play competition.  If you read my first post in this thread you'll note that when the form of play allows another, better option, I'll take it.

I understood Fourputt and Iacass to write that there were ways to play this without going back to re-tee.  And when you say competition, I don't remember the OP saying it was any kind of sponsored tournament or anything. I was thinking this was a typical day of golf with a given group who were playing stroke play.

With regard to the scenario, I still say you can slow down play of those behind you.  Suppose there are 4hr groups ahead of you and behind you.  At the point you re-tee, you create a little gap in front of you.  Then within a hole, you play fast and fill it.  But the group behind you is not super-fast. They are a 4hr pace group. They don't necessarily fill the gap within one hole.  Then the group behind them might need even more holes to fill it.  And then maybe one of them has a re-tee mishap of their own.  Now there is another gap.  And all of these players playing each hole at the pace the course asks of them.

I don't think it is an affront to the rules of golf to find a way to keep moving forward in these instances.  Sometimes life pushes ahead and some tiny little injustices just have to be tolerated.  Look what happened to the Packers with the dead ball offsetting personal fouls on Sunday.  Gave the Niners 7 points when they should have had 3 or maybe none. Possibly cost them the game.  Everyone knows the call was blown.  And yet the pro football world moved on.  And these are pro organizations in a sanctioned event - a show that costs millions of dollars to put on.

It is my opinion that recreational golfers can find a way to be courteous to those behind them in this case.  If you don't want to - please don't.  I would never say anything to anyone who did this. But at the same time, I'd never do it to anyone either.  I'll continue to break the rules on this one.

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From a Golf Digest article this month:

"Searching for golf balls that might be lost, out of bounds, or not playable in the weeds, woods and water adds minutes - frequently lots of minutes - to a round.  One or two perfectly legal five-minute searches for a missing ball (usually a group activity) burns up more time than that wasted over 18 holes by a selfish golfer possessing a lengthy pre-shot routine who's rarely ready to play when it's his turn."

The math behind this statement baffles me.  Did the article elaborate a little bit I hope?  Two perfectly legal 5 minute searches adds 10 minutes to a round.  The selfish golfer who's not ready to play when it's his turn AND possesses a lengthy pre-shot routine can only "waste" an extra 10 seconds or so per shot before he's causing more of a slow down than the two legal searches.

I don't get it.

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I understood Fourputt and Iacass to write that there were ways to play this without going back to re-tee.  And when you say competition, I don't remember the OP saying it was any kind of sponsored tournament or anything. I was thinking this was a typical day of golf with a given group who were playing stroke play.   With regard to the scenario, I still say you can slow down play of those behind you.  Suppose there are 4hr groups ahead of you and behind you.  At the point you re-tee, you create a little gap in front of you.  Then within a hole, you play fast and fill it.  But the group behind you is not super-fast. They are a 4hr pace group. They don't necessarily fill the gap within one hole.  Then the group behind them might need even more holes to fill it.  And then maybe one of them has a re-tee mishap of their own.  Now there is another gap.  And all of these players playing each hole at the pace the course asks of them. I don't think it is an affront to the rules of golf to find a way to keep moving forward in these instances.  Sometimes life pushes ahead and some tiny little injustices just have to be tolerated.  Look what happened to the Packers with the dead ball offsetting personal fouls on Sunday.  Gave the Niners 7 points when they should have had 3 or maybe none. Possibly cost them the game.  Everyone knows the call was blown.  And yet the pro football world moved on.  And these are pro organizations in a sanctioned event - a show that costs millions of dollars to put on.   It is my opinion that recreational golfers can find a way to be courteous to those behind them in this case.  If you don't want to - please don't.  I would never say anything to anyone who did this. But at the same time, I'd never do it to anyone either. I'll continue to break the rules on this one.

And if you're in front of me and it speeds up your pace of play, I'll thank you for doing so! :beer:

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
3-Wood: Titleist 910F;  15* Diamana Kai'li
Hybrids: Titleist 910H 19* and 21* Diamana Kai'li
Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

Wedges: Scratch 51-11 TNC grind, Vokey SM-5's;  56-14 F grind and 60-11 K grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Kombi S
Ball: ProV1

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Yep. The course was really open, I played through one group that only held me up about 5 mins. Every green side bunker I dropped 2-4 balls in and practiced, worked on the putting stroke, and hit multiple iron shots from the same spots. If I rushed it and played one ball, I probably would have been done in 40 minutes. But at that point it's almost a waste of money. haha.

Plus, this left me like an hour and a half to work on my short game on/around the practice green.

I'm sure your greenskeeper is thrilled with that.

Bill M

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What is "par+handicap"?  I don't understand that.  Meaning if you would get 1 pop on a hole due to course handicap, then you take par +1?  If you were getting two pops, you add 2?

Brandon a.k.a. Tony Stark

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The Fastest Flip in the West

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OK, we've established the correct way to play a ball when it was close to the woods or trouble, and very likely went OB.

Now, the situation that I've been involved in a bunch of times - say you hit a PERFECT drive - right down the pipe.    100% chance that it's on the fairway.   You spend 5 minutes & can't find it.     Could have plugged, could be under a divot or leaf, could be who knows where.    Due to the certainty that it was a good shot & you'd find it if you had the course to yourself & could spend an hour looking for it ... what would a properly schooled golfer do in this situation (lets assume we're playing for hcp or in a tournament) ??

Thanks -

John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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The math behind this statement baffles me.  Did the article elaborate a little bit I hope?  Two perfectly legal 5 minute searches adds 10 minutes to a round.  The selfish golfer who's not ready to play when it's his turn AND possesses a lengthy pre-shot routine can only "waste" an extra 10 seconds or so per shot before he's causing more of a slow down than the two legal searches.

I don't get it.

I don't know - just a guy who thinks that looking for balls slows play down.  The article was about how courses should hire kids to be forecaddies so players wouldn't have to search so long.  Once again, I think the important part is that it takes longer to search for a ball than to not search for a ball.

And then my point - once you have taken the time to search - which is longer than not searching, going back to re-tee is even more additional time - notably compared to not re-teeing.

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What is "par+handicap"?  I don't understand that.  Meaning if you would get 1 pop on a hole due to course handicap, then you take par +1?  If you were getting two pops, you add 2?

Yes.

Bill M

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OK, we've established the correct way to play a ball when it was close to the woods or trouble, and very likely went OB.

Now, the situation that I've been involved in a bunch of times - say you hit a PERFECT drive - right down the pipe.    100% chance that it's on the fairway.   You spend 5 minutes & can't find it.     Could have plugged, could be under a divot or leaf, could be who knows where.    Due to the certainty that it was a good shot & you'd find it if you had the course to yourself & could spend an hour looking for it ... what would a properly schooled golfer do in this situation (lets assume we're playing for hcp or in a tournament) ??

Thanks -

If you are playng in a tournament, you have no choice. If you don't find your ball, it is a lost ball. Good shot or no, you have to protect the field in a tournament.

Bill M

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OK, we've established the correct way to play a ball when it was close to the woods or trouble, and very likely went OB.

Now, the situation that I've been involved in a bunch of times - say you hit a PERFECT drive - right down the pipe.    100% chance that it's on the fairway.   You spend 5 minutes & can't find it.     Could have plugged, could be under a divot or leaf, could be who knows where.    Due to the certainty that it was a good shot & you'd find it if you had the course to yourself & could spend an hour looking for it ... what would a properly schooled golfer do in this situation (lets assume we're playing for hcp or in a tournament) ??

Thanks -

That's exactly what this whole thread is about.......

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
3-Wood: Titleist 910F;  15* Diamana Kai'li
Hybrids: Titleist 910H 19* and 21* Diamana Kai'li
Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

Wedges: Scratch 51-11 TNC grind, Vokey SM-5's;  56-14 F grind and 60-11 K grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Kombi S
Ball: ProV1

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I don't know - just a guy who thinks that looking for balls slows play down.  The article was about how courses should hire kids to be forecaddies so players wouldn't have to search so long.  Once again, I think the important part is that it takes longer to search for a ball than to not search for a ball.

And then my point - once you have taken the time to search - which is longer than not searching, going back to re-tee is even more additional time - notably compared to not re-teeing.

We have two spots on our course where you may have a hard time finding a ball that is clearly in play. In tournaments, that's what we do. It speeds up play significantly.

Bill M

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I'm sure your greenskeeper is thrilled with that.

Why wouldn't he be? I fix any divots...it's Cleveland, you just replace and stomp and it's like nothing ever happened. Plus, most of my shots are from the rough anyway...not exactly taking huge divots there...

I'm sure he'd prefer me over the a-hole who takes huge chunks out and leaves it as it, and then doesn't fix his ball marks.

Ryan M
 
The Internet Adjustment Formula:
IAD = ( [ADD] * .96 + [EPS] * [1/.12] ) / (1.15)
 
IAD = Internet Adjusted Distance (in yards)
ADD = Actual Driver Distance (in yards)
EPS = E-Penis Size (in inches)
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Why wouldn't he be? I fix any divots...it's Cleveland, you just replace and stomp and it's like nothing ever happened. Plus, most of my shots are from the rough anyway...not exactly taking huge divots there...

I'm sure he'd prefer me over the a-hole who takes huge chunks out and leaves it as it, and then doesn't fix his ball marks.

A divot is a divot. Multiple shots form the same place isn't good. If you want to spread it around a little, OK. But something like this (which I came upon a few weeks ago) is not kosher. There was no scramble tournament or anything, so the guy was obviously practicing on the golf course.

Bill M

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A divot is a divot. Multiple shots form the same place isn't good. If you want to spread it around a little, OK. But something like this (which I came upon a few weeks ago) is not kosher. There was no scramble tournament or anything, so the guy was obviously practicing on the golf course.

Again, blank unfixed or unfilled divots shown in the pic. Unless you looked real hard, you wouldn't have been able to see where I even hit from.

In Cleveland, we have to kinds of golf days...the ground is either so hard that it's impossible to take a divot, or it's so soft that a strip just comes up that's easily fully replaced.

Ryan M
 
The Internet Adjustment Formula:
IAD = ( [ADD] * .96 + [EPS] * [1/.12] ) / (1.15)
 
IAD = Internet Adjusted Distance (in yards)
ADD = Actual Driver Distance (in yards)
EPS = E-Penis Size (in inches)
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Again, blank unfixed or unfilled divots shown in the pic. Unless you looked real hard, you wouldn't have been able to see where I even hit from.

In Cleveland, we have to kinds of golf days...the ground is either so hard that it's impossible to take a divot, or it's so soft that a strip just comes up that's easily fully replaced.

I love those that the strip comes up.  I see Tiger and company do it and always thought I was just doing something wrong.  Played in a tourney in Rochester in August and they just come out like perfect little strips you can lay back in the divot.  Where I play outside of Atlanta - they mostly explode into many pieces.

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I love those that the strip comes up.  I see Tiger and company do it and always thought I was just doing something wrong.  Played in a tourney in Rochester in August and they just come out like perfect little strips you can lay back in the divot.  Where I play outside of Atlanta - they mostly explode into many pieces.

Yeah, that's what it was like when I played in Florida, you don't even bother replacing, you just fill. I'd never just hit practice shots there, that's a different story.

Ryan M
 
The Internet Adjustment Formula:
IAD = ( [ADD] * .96 + [EPS] * [1/.12] ) / (1.15)
 
IAD = Internet Adjusted Distance (in yards)
ADD = Actual Driver Distance (in yards)
EPS = E-Penis Size (in inches)
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The math behind this statement baffles me.  Did the article elaborate a little bit I hope?  Two perfectly legal 5 minute searches adds 10 minutes to a round.  The selfish golfer who's not ready to play when it's his turn AND possesses a lengthy pre-shot routine can only "waste" an extra 10 seconds or so per shot before he's causing more of a slow down than the two legal searches.

I don't get it.

I assumed the article meant a pre-shot routine when teeing off but who knows.  In my experience people seem to take a little bit more time preparing a tee shot than elsewhere.

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Note: This thread is 3211 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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