Playing a Ball After a 3 Minute Search

[p1n9183]

In @Easytotilt case maybe he should play 2 balls, the one he found and another from the tee box with 1 stroke penalty+distance. Always calling witch one of those are their pick in case both plays are legal.

In @Lihu  case it´s a lost ball for me, if you look for your ball in the wrong place for more than 3 minutes you are toast.

 

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

In @Lihu  case it´s a lost ball for me, if you look for your ball in the wrong place for more than 3 minutes you are toast.

Yeah, unfortunate.

I’ll have to be more thorough in my survey and maybe a bit more cognizant of how my shot feels and where they land so I don’t go looking in strange places next time. 🤪

Edited January 29, 2019 by Lihu

[mcanadiens]

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

As @DeadMan says, 5 minutes is quite a long time.  With the new reduced search time, I'm planning to have my phone with me to time our searches, at least for a while until we become adjusted to the "feel" of 3 minutes.

Maybe you guys are right. Searches seem to take forever whether its your lost ball or not. 

3 hours ago, Lihu said:

Most hit a provisional ball off the tee.

Some anyway. 

Guys I know are an optimistic bunch. They'll see their snap hooking skipping toward doom and assume it stopped short.

3 hours ago, DeadMan said:

Hopefully it will encourage more people to hit provisionals.

Indeed. That would be the biggest upside.

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

Guys I know are an optimistic bunch. They'll see their snap hooking skipping toward doom and assume it stopped short.

I have a different phrase to describe their behavior 😂

[Sifiso Zubuko]

I hit my second shot par 4, we look for the ball and 3 minutes elapse.  But whilst still searching within the 3 minutes, my pals discouraged me to look further at a certain direction and they insist that the ball went to the short distance to the rough. After we have given up the search and leaving the search area, my ball is identified right at the further direction where they discouraged me to look at.

Would that still be considered as a loss ball? But I found it but yes after the 3 minutes had elapsed.

 

[iacas]

41 minutes ago, Sifiso Zubuko said:

Would that still be considered as a loss ball? But I found it but yes after the 3 minutes had elapsed.

Yes.

It's your right to look wherever you like.

In fact, in 2019, a lost ball is defined as a ball not found after three minutes. (In 2018 "lost ball" had a few definitions.)

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Sifiso Zubuko said:

I hit my second shot par 4, we look for the ball and 3 minutes elapse.  But whilst still searching within the 3 minutes, my pals discouraged me to look further at a certain direction and they insist that the ball went to the short distance to the rough. After we have given up the search and leaving the search area, my ball is identified right at the further direction where they discouraged me to look at.

Would that still be considered as a loss ball? But I found it but yes after the 3 minutes had elapsed.

 

Happened to me too. Seems like 3 minutes is a really short time to be looking for a ball, but I’m guessing the new rules encourage faster play and trying to keep a ball in play.

Both wouldn’t be bad goals...

[Fourputt]

44 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Happened to me too. Seems like 3 minutes is a really short time to be looking for a ball, but I’m guessing the new rules encourage faster play and trying to keep a ball in play.

Both wouldn’t be bad goals...

Part of the reasoning for the shorter search time is that in most cases, if the ball isn't found within a couple of minutes, it never is found.  When a ball is buried in real spinach where the only real chance of finding it is to step on it, looking for 5 minutes is just a couple of extra minutes wasted. 

I generally make a quick evaluation of the area where my ball was last seen and if the situation is pretty hopeless, I'll look for only as long as it takes for the next landing area to be clear and it's my turn to play.  Even if that's only a minute or 2, I'll abandon the search and play on with my provisional ball (although with the more generous provisions for "penalty areas" in the new rules, I may not have played a provisional, and will drop instead). 

I don't always search for the full time allowed just because the rules say that I can.

[saevel25]

So, the takeaway from this.

Hit a Provisional!

[StuM]

This week I hit a shot on a Par 3 and connected real well.  We saw it bounce on the green but not where it stopped.  When we got to the green, no ball to be seen.  I immediately looked in the hole, but unfortunately it was not there.  We did find it quick enough in the rough 5 feet past the green.  

If the ball had been in the hole and the time expired, is it still a lost ball or since it went in the hole the hole is complete one it is in the hole?  What if I played a drop after not finding it then found it in the hole?

Edited September 18, 2020 by StuM
added question on the rule.

[Mr22putt]

6 minutes ago, StuM said:

This week I hit a shot on a Par 3 and connected real well.  We saw it bounce on the green but not where it stopped.  When we got to the green, no ball to be seen.  I immediately looked in the hole, but unfortunately it was not there.  We did find it quick enough in the rough 5 feet past the green.  

If the ball had been in the hole and the time expired, is it still a lost ball or since it went in the hole the hole is complete one it is in the hole?  What if I played a drop after not finding it then found it in the hole?

 

Good question and look forward to the answer.

[RickK]

3 hours ago, StuM said:

This week I hit a shot on a Par 3 and connected real well.  We saw it bounce on the green but not where it stopped.  When we got to the green, no ball to be seen.  I immediately looked in the hole, but unfortunately it was not there.  We did find it quick enough in the rough 5 feet past the green.  

If the ball had been in the hole and the time expired, is it still a lost ball or since it went in the hole the hole is complete one it is in the hole?  What if I played a drop after not finding it then found it in the hole?

 

The ball is not lost.  The ball is "holed" and it is over at that point.  No penalty for dropping and nothing else you do counts.  ALWAYS look in the hole.  

[cutchemist42]

I like the 3min rule, but hate that the pace of play isnt enforced on the PGA as I find it more wasteful.

I'm not sure what you would do here rules wise when balanced against pace of play in a regular round.

Edited September 25, 2020 by cutchemist42

[Missouri Swede]

9 hours ago, cutchemist42 said:

I'm not sure what you would do here rules wise when balanced against pace of play in a regular round.

What's unclear about it?

[DrvFrShow]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:23 AM, cutchemist42 said:

I like the 3min rule, but hate that the pace of play isnt enforced on the PGA as I find it more wasteful.

I'm not sure what you would do here rules wise when balanced against pace of play in a regular round.

There's nothing unclear about it. I don't wear a watch when I play. I never have. I'm not going to spend forever looking for a ball. I used to make 5 passes in an area. Now I make 3. If I don't find it, I know about where it entered, local rule time (edge of the fairway + 2 strokes).