Question on Lost Ball Inbounds

[aguynamededdy]

Amateurs don't have the luxury of thousands of spectators and countless marshal's to help locate a ball. Do you think there should be a rule that provides relief for us amateurs when we hit the ball just off the fairway but can't find it in the rough? That's the one thing I think is incredibly unfair in regards to how lucky the tour pros are to have so many people at their disposal dedicated to tracking their shot.

[HJJ003]

Short Answer: No. 

Long(er) Answer: I understand your frustration, but that is the nature of the game. Golf is hard. I hate losing a ball I felt I shouldn't, but there have plenty of times where I have benefited from bounces or good lies where I probably shouldn't have gotten so lucky. 

29 minutes ago, aguynamededdy said:

That's the one thing I think is incredibly unfair in regards to how lucky the tour pros are to have so many people at their disposal dedicated to tracking their shot.

I don't agree with this. How is "unfair"? They aren't lucky...they are good. People only follow them because of their ability, and if that benefits them with more eyes looking for their ball so be it. They have earned that benefit. 

 

Oh...and welcome to TST! 

Edited July 31, 2018 by HJJ003

[David in FL]

No 

By the way, those tour pros didn’t get to be tour pros by having other people find their balls for them. They got there by not losing their ball very often.  Just as you and I shouldn’t...

 

Edited July 31, 2018 by David in FL

[Piz]

As unfair as it seems you have to accept that, sometimes, you are going to stripe one down the middle and never see it again.  Also, when searching for your ball in the tall stuff, you might find a dozen golf balls...none of which are yours.  Yeah it's a nuisance; but that is, literally, how the ball bounces.

[iacas]

Nope. It’s lost. Watch it better or hit it better.

[Shindig]

5 hours ago, aguynamededdy said:

Amateurs don't have the luxury of thousands of spectators and countless marshal's to help locate a ball. Do you think there should be a rule that provides relief for us amateurs when we hit the ball just off the fairway but can't find it in the rough? That's the one thing I think is incredibly unfair in regards to how lucky the tour pros are to have so many people at their disposal dedicated to tracking their shot.

No.  What sort of relief would you suggest?  Drop where you think it might have been?  I hear that suggestion periodically, but I often find my friends' balls at rest dozens of yards (typically further from the hole) than they were searching. 

[millsan1]

During friendly rounds, people I play with generally agree that if several of us believe the ball should be "around here" you can drop without penalty instead of all of us searching for a $2 ball.

 

[RussUK]

9 hours ago, millsan1 said:

During friendly rounds, people I play with generally agree that if several of us believe the ball should be "around here" you can drop without penalty instead of all of us searching for a $2 ball.

 

Pretty much what I do in friendlies. The amount of times one of us has hit a nice shot that has trickled into some long rough and got lost is crazy but it happens. We'll have a look and if we cant find it we offer a free drop at where agree the ball was "lost". Sometimes its just as annoying to think you have lost a ball and find out you have had a "lucky" bouce. nothing worse than hearing "Found it!!" to find its behind a tree but in play.

[Moxley]

No, because it would bring ambiguity into the equation, and people would expect things of their playing partners that might not be fair. 

Just one of those things. I would say better relief needs providing for the opposite scenario though ( found/visible, but out of bounds), as stroke + distance is very penal and encourages slow play.

[saevel25]

If you are just playing golf with your friends, set up what ever rules you want before the round. If you want to play OB as lateral hazards, go ahead. If you want to drop were you think the ball should have been, go ahead. There should not be an official rule change doing this. It brings in way too much ambiguity. What if the golfer drops a ball way closer to the hole than their normal drive would have been? For what it is worth, our depth perception isn't that accurate to justify making this change to the rules. You could easily average 220 yards off the tee, and then drop a ball in the area of 260 yards. That is a huge advantage over were the ball should have been.

[alleztom]

More existentially - how do you know it is still in bounds if you haven't found it?

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, alleztom said:

More existentially - how do you know it is still in bounds if you haven't found it?

The hole is located in the middle of the property, and the nearest OB is thousands of yards away. So, it's not OB. I've had a lost ball happen between two holes, not heavy rough. It just happens sometimes. Not even close to OB. Unless an animal decided to spirit away the golf ball.

[Rulesman]

38 minutes ago, Moxley said:

No, because it would bring ambiguity into the equation, and people would expect things of their playing partners that might not be fair. 

Just one of those things. I would say better relief needs providing for the opposite scenario though ( found/visible, but out of bounds), as stroke + distance is very penal and encourages slow play.

Of course it is penal. You didn't keep your ball on the course - pretty fundamental.

[alleztom]

6 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

The hole is located in the middle of the property, and the nearest OB is thousands of yards away. So, it's not OB. I've had a lost ball happen between two holes, not heavy rough. It just happens sometimes. Not even close to OB. Unless an animal decided to spirit away the golf ball.

On one level I absolutely agree, my course has a really bad habit of doing this as well.

However more philosophically, the ball is either where you can see it or it is anywhere else in the universe. Maybe the animal spirited it away, maybe a wormhole opened up and it's in Nevada. Can you absolutely know for sure? 🤔

[mcanadiens]

That's the reason why I avoid courses with long, shaggy rough like the plague. 

Luckily, there are some good options around here and rough doesn't consume very many of mine.

[Moxley]

14 minutes ago, Rulesman said:

Of course it is penal. You didn't keep your ball on the course - pretty fundamental.

Yes, but it's the same penalty if your ball is 300 yards down and 1 yard out of bounds, than it is if you shank it off the planet. It would be penal enough if you could drop by the (estimated) crossing point with a single stroke penalty, and would avoid all the time traipsing back to the tee (or the time keeping 2 balls in play).

 

[colin007]

15 hours ago, David in FL said:

 Just as you and I shouldn’t...

Well, like.....that's just your opinion, man!!!!!

47 minutes ago, alleztom said:

More existentially - how do you know it is still in bounds if you haven't found it?

 

[DDBowdoin]

16 hours ago, HJJ003 said:

Short Answer: No. 

Long(er) Answer: I understand your frustration, but that is the nature of the game. Golf is hard. I hate losing a ball I felt I shouldn't, but there have plenty of times where I have benefited from bounces or good lies where I probably shouldn't have gotten so lucky. 

I don't agree with this. How is "unfair"? They aren't lucky...they are good. People only follow them because of their ability, and if that benefits them with more eyes looking for their ball so be it. They have earned that benefit. 

 

Oh...and welcome to TST! 

While I generally agree with you at roughly 99%, there is 1% of me that has some followed some low PGA tour players who spread the ball EVERYWHERE and have marshalls finding balls.