Dear Linda,
Recently, while playing a local course my friend encountered the following situation. He hit his tee shot just off the fairway in the rough. He proceeded to hit his second shot on this par five. The ball was again in the rough. He hit his third shot to within 10 yards of the green. He walk up to hit his fourth shot and then realized this was not the ball he teed-up with. He went back to where his tee shot ended up and found his original ball. He proceeded to hit it into a tree, never saw his ball come out into the fairway. He now drops another ball and that one goes into the rough. He now goes out into the fairway and sees what he thought was his lost ball. He now hits that and is just short of the green. He then hits on the green and then two putts. We cannot figure what score he should take on that hole. Also, while he was playing the wrong ball more than 5 minutes passed, so was he permitted to go back and look for the original, which when he did, he found immediately.
Thank you, Lou-Lou
PS I love your very informative "Ask Linda"
Dear Lou Lou,
Are we playing Stump the Chump, or did this really happen? I’m guessing it did – it would take quite an imagination to make up this adventure!
I’m going to spoil the story by giving away the ending (a time-saver for those of you who are not inclined to plow through the lengthy explanation). In match play, your friend lost the hole as soon as he hit a wrong ball. In stroke play he was disqualified for playing a wrong ball and not correcting that error before he played from the next tee. In a casual round, on a busy golf course, pace of play etiquette and friendship would dictate that you pick up before that 200 yard trek back to your ball and record your most likely score for the hole (read on to find out what that might be).
For those of you who are more adventurous, let’s take a step-by-step look at everything your friend did, take note of what he did wrong, and count his strokes as we go along.
1. His tee shot is stroke #1.
2. His second shot (the one he hit from the rough, to the rough, to 10 yards short of the green, where he discovered the ball he had been hitting was not his) was a wrong ball. The penalty for hitting a wrong ball in stroke play is two strokes. His total up to now in stroke play would be 3 strokes (tee shot plus penalty). Any strokes and penalties incurred while playing a wrong ball do not count. Again, if this were a match play competition, he would have lost the hole as soon as he hit a wrong ball.
3. Your friend is done playing this hole if this is match play. He will continue playing if this is a stroke play event, so let’s take a look at what happened next. He went back, found his original ball, and hit it. His procedure here is correct, and he has now hit stroke #4. He was not searching for this ball while he was hitting all those shots with the wrong ball, so the fact that five minutes had elapsed is irrelevant. The five-minute clock does not start until he begins the search for the original ball.
4. Stroke #4 (the one that hit the tree) was deemed lost when he put another ball into play under stroke and distance. (As soon as he dropped a ball and played it from where he hit his previous shot, he was playing under stroke and distance unless he declared that shot to be a provisional, which he apparently did not, since it was not one of the details in your brain-teaser.) There is a one-stroke penalty for a lost ball, and you of course count the stroke he made with the ball he dropped. That adds two strokes to his score, so we are now up to 6 strokes.
5. Here is where the real trouble starts. When he put the new ball into play under stroke and distance (the one he dropped and hit into the rough), the original ball that hit the tree and caromed into the fairway was deemed lost. He is not permitted to play that ball; it should have gone into his pocket. When he hit that “lost” ball (yes, we know he found it, but it is lost according to the rules of golf), he hit a “wrong ball,” which carries a two-stroke penalty. That brings the total to 8 strokes.
6. The rest of the strokes played with the wrong ball do not count in his score. He is required to continue with the ball he dropped under the stroke and distance rule and subsequently hit into the rough. If he does not return to play that ball before teeing off on the next hole, he is disqualified. If he does return to play that ball, his score is 8 plus however many strokes it takes to finish the hole.
Please note that if your friend’s score for the hole turns out to be more than he is allowed under ESC, then when he posts his score he will have to subtract some shots, depending on his course handicap. (For a more detailed explanation of posting scores and ESC (Equitable Stroke Control), please read Ask Linda #39-Understanding ESC, posted in February, and Ask Linda #32-Posting Scores, posted in January.)
One piece of advice, if I may. If this was just a casual round among friends, then unless you are playing in the dead of winter with no other golfers in sight, both your friends and the golfers playing behind you would be eternally grateful if you would pick up that wrong ball that lay ten yards from the green and not complete the hole. For handicap purposes you would record your most likely score, which in this case would appear to be the maximum you are entitled to under ESC. If there is a wager riding on the outcome, it’s time to pay up graciously and hope for better luck at the next hole.
Linda
Copyright © 2008 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
