A Guide to the Lost Golf Ball Rule

So, you lost your ball during a round of golf. Now what do you do? Many people aren’t aware of what the rules are when you lose a golf ball, so here’s a quick primer on what to do.

Lost Ball Out of Bounds

If you lose your ball out of bounds, you can choose to take a provisional shot. This means you can get out a new ball and hit it from the same place you hit the now-lost ball from, but you must take a 2-stroke penalty. The point of a provisional ball is to keep the speed of play going without having to stop and search for a golf ball that’s clearly gone way out of bounds.

Lost Ball Within Bounds

If you lose your ball, but you think it’s still within bounds, you have to make a concerted effort to search for it before resorting to a provisional ball (even if you’d rather not). The rules state that you need to search for your ball for at least three minutes, at which point you may take a provisional shot with a 2-stroke penalty.

Lost Ball in a Water Hazard

It happens to all of us sometimes: You get in position, swing, make contact with the ball, watch it fly and then…splash.

If you lose your ball in a water hazard, you can opt to either replay a ball from the last spot or to play it from within two club lengths of where your original ball went into the water hazard. Either way, you’ll have to take a 1-stroke penalty.

New Local Rule for Casual Play

If you are playing a casual round of golf, you can choose to implement the USGA’s new local rule, designed to streamline play when a golf ball gets lost. With the new local rule, you can continue to play without going back to the position of the original stroke.

First, you need to identify the area where your ball is probably lost, then find the fairway edge that is closest to this spot and not closer to the hole. Now, imagine a line connecting these two spots and drop your ball in between them, then play from there. And, yes, you still take the 2-stroke penalty.

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