Provisional Ball Scenario…

[Ed Guertin]

On the tee box you have a penalty area directly in front of you that will take 100 yards to clear. In addition the penalty area runs down the whole left side of the fairway. You tee off and your ball follows the left side penalty area, you cleared the initial area in front of the tee box but your ball was over the penalty area the whole time. NOW, per the rules you don’t declare a provisional you hit from just in back of the hazard where your ball entered. NOW, not knowing the course you walk over the bridge and where the hazard ends there is a drop zone! SO, could you have declared your ball a provisional in the event of a drop zone? Can you hit from the drop zone now that you know it is there and disregard the ball you just hit? Or, is the ball you just hit your ball in play no matter what, even though you didn’t realize there was a drop zone?

[Ed Guertin]

Ohhh, just to add I know they note that on the sheets we are handed before play starts at the World AM but I just played in a tourney without those sheets and 3 of us hit left along and in the penalty area. We all hit from the correct area but when we got to the drop area I was asked if we can drop? I said “no” our ball is in play, period. However, not getting a sheet or brief on the drop areas the question came up for future holes, could we call a provisional?

[Ed Guertin]

Ohhh, just to add I know they note that on the sheets we are handed before play starts at the World AM but I just played in a tourney without those sheets and 3 of us hit left along and in the penalty area. We all hit from the correct area but when we got to the drop area I was asked if we can drop? I said “no” our ball is in play, period. However, not getting a sheet or brief on the drop areas the question came up for future holes, could we call a provisional?

[Jeffrey Barbas]

Like someone said before, drop zones shouldn’t even be in play in a tournament. I play in some that tell you they are not in play for the tournament. If there wasn’t a drop zone then you would have to start the drop process where you first crossed the “penalty area” which sounds like it would be right off the tee box. Sounds like you would be better off just hitting 3 off the tee if you didn’t have a drop zone. What is pretty pathetic with some drop zones is when they are placed way in front of where your ball crossed a penalty area or possibly an ESA. I’ve seen some that just seems like your cheating if you use them. But it was in the rules sheet.

[Dale McMath]

Last year, Caladonia had a drop zone on #18 right next to the green for second shots that did’nt make it across the water. Seemed a bit generous even though I was the beneficiary of the ruling.

[Tommy Briggs]

One of the last remaining rules that slows down play and makes no sense is, You cannot put a provisional ball into play if you believe your ball is in a penalty area.

The WA along with most tournaments always say, USGA rules apply. The USGA does not allow for drop areas, it does allow for any course / club to set a “local rule” that could include drop areas. Those drop areas should be included in a “local rules sheet”. If you play in a tournament where no “local rules sheet” is handed out, it always pays to ask the course pro, if there are any local rules in play for the event you are playing in.

The course owes you an apology for providing poor (or omitting) information, however once you have played a shot, that ball is in play no matter what. You cannot go back and identify a rule that “WOULD HAVE” benefited you if you would have known about it.

[Rick Kimbrell]

The pro goes over the “rules” and anything that is “local rule” before we tee off on every round. If you bother to take a moment before he starts announcing all that to read what is on the cart about the rules, you can check to see if there are any specified “drop areas’. If you don’t see anything mentioned about drop areas…what should you do? WOW…just ask the question when the pro is going over all this stuff. In a phrase…this ain’t rocket science. Just ask. He will clarify it and tell you if there are any drop areas and where.
Don’t argue with whether or not you think the “drop area” is legal by USGA rules or not…just do what the rules sheet tells you or what the pro states during his session before we go out.
So, if you are worried about what you could have known/should have known/what would have benefited you…ASK.
BTW…when his is going over the rules, please don’t ask (1) is the “one ball” rule in effect or (2) does your umbrella count as a one of your 14 clubs. 🙂

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Rick Kimbrell.

[Bob Newman]

It always good to listen to the instructions, provided the skins guy gives the pro enough time to speak. If drop zones are in effect, at MB, they are in areas that skirt the rules and speed up play. They are not correct drop zones and benefit the players that use them and not the players that do not need them. Buy if they are there use them to your advantage, I have used a DZ on a par 3 and had a 15 ft putt from the collar of green to make a par. If the sheet tells you a DZ I s on that hole, whether you know it or not, and you put a ball in play from spot it last crossed the penalty area, that is the ball in play because you put the ball in play which was one of the options. Even if you know the ball is possibly in a penalty area, you can play a provisional if ball could be lost other than penalty area.

[Rick Murgittroyd]

A few years ago, I listened to the two guys I was riding in, even though I thought they were wrong, and it cost me.

At True Blue, I hit a ball on a short par three that hit the side of the hill left of the green and over the hazard, then watched it run into the pond. I headed for the place it landed and rolled in to take my two-club lengths but they said no, I had to go to the drop zone. After discussing it, I relented and ended up with a triple. After getting in the cart, I looked at the rule sheet again, and it said, on that hole to drop where it last crossed the red-staked hazard, as is the USGA rule.

I was upset at myself for listening to them, but I should have played two balls and let the pro decide.
Here’s my point, if you’re not sure, play two and let the pro sort it out. People don’t always know what they are talking about.

[Bob Newman]

Make sure you follow the correct procedures in playing 2 balls—1: decide before taking any action, 2: declare which ball you want to count as score, 3. MOST IMPORTANTLY, let committee know you played 2 balls even if you score same with both balls.
I am amazed each year as to what players do not understand about the rules and I’m talking about just the basics, not the complicated ones. I’m interested to see what Local Rules the WA decide to use. Most people that do not play in other tournaments will assume the local rule a lost ball or ball OB, is a Rule and not the Local Rule it is.

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