To Search or not to Search?

[Fourputt]

52 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

LOL, I believe the OP was on the other side, he has to run and search if he wants to search.  Either way, I never realized that foot speed could be that important in the game of golf.  Of course, if the OP finds ANY ball, he can require that the opponent come and identify it, and if the opponent refuses, the Committee could disqualify him (Dec 27/13).  This could give the OP enough time to look a little further.  Still, it sounds like a win-at-all costs kind of situation, something that I'd rather not be involved with.

In any case, if it was me, I'd be trying to get my provisional ball in the hole before my opponent got around to making his search.  He can recall the stroke or not - at this point it doesn't really matter to me as I can make that 2 foot putt 20 times if it's necessary.  At least I've circumvented his plan to try and send me back to the tee again.  

In such a case I'll take the sure bogey vs. most any chip from in the trees or at the edge of them.   My odds of making better than bogey from a random lie well off the green are low.  If his putt is as dicey as the OP projected, I could still halve the hole.  If the state of the match is such that a halve doesn't help me, then I'll search and hope.

I see this as a case where the actions of both players could be dictated by the situation and how it affects the state of the match.

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

LOL, I believe the OP was on the other side, he has to run and search if he wants to search.  Either way, I never realized that foot speed could be that important in the game of golf.  Of course, if the OP finds ANY ball, he can require that the opponent come and identify it, and if the opponent refuses, the Committee could disqualify him (Dec 27/13).  This could give the OP enough time to look a little further.  Still, it sounds like a win-at-all costs kind of situation, something that I'd rather not be involved with.

Actually, the OP was, IIRC, just a hypothetical.

I would also not get myself involved in that kind of win-at-all-costs situation.  I'm in the whole "don't stoop to his level" camp regarding anything, so I would never let it come down to a race.  If I hit my provisional to a foot and chose not to look but my opponent did, I would be annoyed, but I would let him search to his satisfaction before hitting my ball.

[iacas]

On March 7, 2016 at 4:49 PM, Fourputt said:

In any case, if it was me, I'd be trying to get my provisional ball in the hole before my opponent got around to making his search.  He can recall the stroke or not - at this point it doesn't really matter to me as I can make that 2 foot putt 20 times if it's necessary.  At least I've circumvented his plan to try and send me back to the tee again.

And that doesn't feel like "gaming the system" a little bit? I get that it's not at all against the rules. You don't feel it's against the spirit of "play your golf ball from tee to green"? What if an opponent finds your ball and calls out to you, but you don't hear him? Then what? You argue over whether he called out in time?

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

And that doesn't feel like "gaming the system" a little bit? I get that it's not at all against the rules. You don't feel it's against the spirit of "play your golf ball from tee to green"? What if an opponent finds your ball and calls out to you, but you don't hear him? Then what? You argue over whether he called out in time?

I'm still working on the OP's scenario that even if I hit a pretty bad first ball, he still isn't going to be that far from the green in his search.  I don't see it as gaming the system when I made the effort to play the provisional, and only afterwards saw that my chances with the first ball were slim and none.  Had I known the situation on the tee, I'd never have called the second ball a provisional.