Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Ask Linda #816-How many minutes to search for two balls?


Linda, your blog is great.
I am writing you from Argentina.

Here is my question:

A player sliced his first stroke from the tee. He decided to play a provisional because he thought the first ball could be lost.

The same happened when he stroked the provisional ball, so he played another provisional and finally the third one reached the fairway.

Does the player have 5 minutes to find the first two balls, or does he have 5 minutes to find the first one and then 5 more to find the second one?

Best regards,
Lou from Argentina

Dear Lou,

If the balls are so close together that they could be searched for at the same time, only five minutes are allowed. If they are not in the same area, the player has five minutes to search for the original, and an additional five minutes to search for the provisional [Decision 27/4].

Since the player in your scenario sliced both balls to the same area, his search would be limited to five minutes. If the original had sliced and the provisional had hooked, he would be permitted to search for a total of ten minutes.

If it appears that the search will be a lengthy one, please don’t forget to wave the players behind you through!

Linda
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