Golf Ruling On This Out Of Bounds Shot
Dear Golf Nut, please help me with this situation. I hit a tee shot on a hole that had out of bounds stakes down the right side of the fairway. Just outside of these stakes, in the out of bounds area, were a number of trees. My shot sliced towards the out of bounds area and appeared to definitely be OB. I hit a provisional ball and then went to look for my original shot. We found my golf ball AND it was in bounds, but my playing partner said that I had to play the provisional ball because my ball had obviously hit something out of bounds before landing back in bounds. I went along with him to keep the peace, but was this correct?
This has turned out to be an interesting golf rules question because I cannot find an exact answer in the rules anywhere. So I am going to respond based on my understanding of the rules. If any of you other golf nuts out there can provide any specifics from The Rules of Golf, please email me at thegolfnut@the-golf-nut.com. Otherwise here is how I understand the rules.
Rule 27 deals with a ball being out of bounds. And the definitions in the rules of golf say that a ball is out of bounds when all of it lies out of bounds. And the only time that I found a rule dealing with a ball coming back into bounds was in Rule 15 dealing with a ball being thrown back into bounds by an outside agency, which did not apply in your case.
As I read it, you proceeded correctly. First by hitting a provisional golf ball to help speed up play. And then when you found your golf ball claiming it as the ball in play. Now your partner pressed you to play your provisional ball. And I applaud you for keeping the peace, but from my understanding of the rules, he was incorrect in his position.
Now one of the things that I do when researching rules questions is to research both the Rules of Golf and all decisions related to a particular rule or set of rules. And as I said earlier, I didn’t find anything that, in particular, addressed your situation. I researched Rule 27 (Ball Lost or Out of Bounds), Rule 19 (Ball in Motion Deflected or Stopped), and Rule 13 (Ball Played As It Lies).
So I am comfortable that you should have been able to play your original golf ball once found. And that is assuming that you found it within the 5 minute timeframe that the rules allow. But as I said earlier, if any of you golfers out there reading this find something different, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Good golfing.
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Comment by Jeremy on 7 September 2009:
Yeah, it makes no difference where the ball goes to get there – if it finishes up in-bounds you can play it.
By their logic, if your ball lips out of the cup on a putt it should be counted as in the hole
Comment by Vince Spence on 8 September 2009:
He proceeded properly by hitting a provisional ball. However, he must announce it is a provisional. He cannot say something like, “Think I’ll reload” or “Let’s see what this one does”…
If you find the ball within the five minutes (once you get on the scene), the only thing that matters is where it currently sits. An exception would be if someone witnessed an ‘outside agency’ moving the ball from out of bounds to in-bounds. For example, a young kid is witnessed picking it up and tosses it over the fence in-bounds. Or if a squirrel mistook it a nut and brought back in-bounds. Both are outside agencies. A tree and a fence or a rock would not be.
Comment by Old Man Par (Charles Boyer) on 8 September 2009:
I think your assessment is spot on and the fellow who asked the question definitely led astray by his friend.
This is yet another example of why any golfer should spend a little time reading through the Rules and the Decisions in order to have a better understanding of various situations inevitable to come up. While reading the two books may be dry reading, there are several easy-to-follow books that make that task simpler. The first one that comes to mind is Barry Rhodes’ book “999 Questions About the Rules of Golf.”
Comment by George Hanks on 29 September 2009:
The answer lies in the following: Definitions -
Outside agency (OA). Rule 19-1 – Ball in motion deflected by OA is considered to be the “rub of the green”. Rule 19-2/3 If ball hits caddie standing OB and is deflected onto the course then the ball is in play. So it’s
elementary my dear Watson! In this case what’s the difference between a caddie and a tree? NONE
Comment by Parshooters on 4 November 2009:
Your playing partner was wrong. Under rule 27-2 section c. When the original ball is neither lost or out of bounds. The player shall abandon the provisional ball and continue playing with the original ball. If the player fails to do so, any further strokes played with the provisional ball shall constitute playing the wrong golf ball and the provisions of rule 15 shall apply. (Two strokes penalty for every shot you hit with the wrong ball in stroke play or lost of hole in match play.)