Provisional After Playing Out A Penalty Area

[MacDutch]

So this guy hits his drive into a penalty area wirh red stakes. He is lucky, there is no water and can play his ball as it lies in the PA. But his second shot hits a tree never to be found again. What should he do next? He is not allowed to drop in the PA, so he must drop somewhere else, but that would bring in an extra penalty. What are his options and how many penaltyshots are included?

[Club Rat]

Let see if I get this right.

He plays the 2nd shot from the penalty area and the shot is lost.
He would now take relief as per options when he hit into the penalty area and drop lying 3 plus one stroke penalty for lost ball and 
one more stroke for relief. (2 total penalty strokes)

So, determine the relief and he will be playing his 5th shot.

Also, I  believe he can not hit a provisional after hitting from the penalty area as you indicated it the title of the thread. 

[MacDutch]

Its not a quiz question, this happend during a round of golf and I don’t know the right answer. Hope @Rulesman can be of help.

[RandallT]

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rule-17.html

Quote

If the player takes stroke-and-distance relief by dropping a ball in the penalty area (see Rule 14.6) and then decides not to play the dropped ball from where it comes to rest:

• The player may take further relief outside the penalty area under Rule 17.1d(2) or (3) (for a red penalty area) or under Rule 17.2a(2).

• If the player does so, he or she gets one more penalty stroke, for a total of two penalty strokes: one stroke for taking stroke-and-distance relief, and one stroke for taking relief outside the penalty area.

The player may directly take such relief outside the penalty area without first dropping a ball in the penalty area, but still gets a total of two penalty strokes.

That quote is from the link, near the bottom of the page- just under the graphics shown. I’m pretty sure this applies, but an expert can certainly correct me if I’m wrong. 

Looks to me he is allowed to drop in the penalty area. If he doesn’t like the drop, or just wants to abandon playing from the penalty area, he also can take relief outside the penalty area, with additional penalty. 

[iacas]

17.2b as @RandallT notes is this exact situation. Did you attempt to look this up @MacDutch and if so how did you fail to see 17.2b?

I'm not asking in order to be rude at all. I appreciate having a topic, because by seeing this others will be able to see this and perhaps learn that you in fact can drop in a penalty area. But we get questions like this all the time and I always wonder, particularly when it's not exactly a difficult or odd question, why the person doesn't actually take the time to look in the Rules first. There are apps, websites, and printed materials. Looking something up forces you as a golfer to think about the Rules because you have to think about where the Rule is likely to be (though this one doesn't require much thought - it's in 17, which is called "Penalty Areas"), and to find an answer. That's a valuable skill that, in just asking others, you're not gaining yourself.