Our "New" Lost Ball Rule Explained

I think most of our confusion centers around a "Provisional" ball being allowed, and how it relates to your allotted 3-minute hunt (or 5+ minutes for some of you cheaters and slow players).

The FBGC rule I transcribed says:

8.4) You have 3 minutes to search for a lost ball. Once that limit is reached, you must drop a ball (with penalty) and continue play. Any ball found after the drop must be ignored.

 

I did NOT mention anything about a "provisional." I did say in the supplemental post announcing the new rule: "With a 4-1 vote, lost balls not near OB will be handled like the USGA intended (Faz voted against)."

 

One mistake I made was the following sentence: "Once that ball is dropped, that's your ball. It does not matter if you find your original ball - with the only exception of finding your original ball in the hole."

 

I believe this to contradict what the USGA intends, because it ignores the allowed use of provisionals.

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One issue is we don't consider "lost" balls to be stroke-and-distance penalties (the same as OB). So if you want to nit-pick and quote the USGA exactly, you've already lost the plot. Instead, we have to see how their rules blend with ours. I'll attempt to do so from their Provisional Ball section (18.3):

• If your ball might be lost or out of bounds, to save time you may play another ball provisionally under penalty. 
•  Before the stroke is made, you must announce that you are going to play a provisional ball. You must use the word “provisional” or otherwise clearly indicate that you are playing the ball provisionally under Rule 18.3. 
• You may continue to play the provisional ball without it losing its status as a provisional ball so long as it is played from a spot that is the same distance or farther from the hole than where your original ball is estimated to be.
• Your provisional ball becomes your ball in play - with penalty - in either of these two cases:
• When your original ball is deemed to be lost or out of bounds (after a 3 minute search).
  
• When your provisional ball is played from a spot nearer to the hole than where your original ball is estimated to be.  
• Your provisional ball must be abandoned if:
• Your original ball is found on the course outside a penalty area before the end of the three minute search time. 
• Your original ball is found in a penalty area or is known or virtually certain to be in a penalty area. You must either play your original ball as it lies or take penalty relief. 
  

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A couple of key points to make:

• You only get 3 minutes to hunt for a ball. To save time, you can announce a provisional before you hunt.
• Does that mean you can hunt for 1.5 minutes, hit a provisional, and then hunt for another 1.5 minutes?
• According to the USGA - no. 
• I don't know how we want to handle this. A member literally told me today he didn't know how long 3-minutes is without using a stopwatch.
  

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The USGA is even more strict on the matter. They do NOT let you hit a provisional ball if your ball is in a hazard. And it gets messy - like for this Korn Ferry guy who was DQd in 2023.

There's TONS of Reddit debates on the topic, and most of the arguments are around "virtually knowing" your ball is in a hazard.

They mention provisionals to save time, but they don't let you use them if you hit it near a penalty area. Only if a ball is lost away from a hazard, and even then you have 3 minutes to conduct a search after you hit the provisional.

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The Board took a stab at writing a rule that can be enforced.

"Common Sense" isn't a rule. "It's bullshit if I find my ball 50 yards ahead" isn't a rule.

Feel free to make a better attempt in the comments for future Boards to consider. In the meantime, keep in mind you CAN hit a provisional before you hunt. But once that 3 minutes is up... the provisional (with penalty) is in play.