Dear wise and gracious Linda,
I found a ball that was driven into the bank on the 12th
hole at Cherry Wood in Truxall, Pennsylvania, with LuLu written on it in big
block letters. Lulu, if you would like your ball back, I left it behind the
left rear tire of the abandoned car left of the 18th fairway.
On the
same 18th hole today, I hit two balls into the high stuff right
of the fairway. I put my third ball in play. The question I had is this: do I
get 5 minutes to look for my original ball and another 5 minutes to look for my
first provisional? Does it matter if they are more or less co-located as
opposed say to being on opposite sides of the fairway? (This is my nemesis hole
and I have at times lost balls both left and right in the same “at bat.”). Do I
have to look for the balls in the order that I hit them?
Today I found the original, took a drop, saved my 8, and
went back and found my lob wedge which had apparently fallen through the hole in
my bag (how long do I get to look for a lob wedge???). Altogether a
successful hole.
Lou from Truxall, Pennsylvania
Dear Lou,
If the balls are located in the same general area, such that
a search for one will essentially be a search for both, you are permitted a
maximum of five minutes to search. If the two balls are in completely different
locations, you have five minutes to search for each ball [Decision 27/4].
Regarding the order of search, please use some common sense.
The original is the one you have the most interest in locating, so you might
want to search for that one first. I would hope that your fellow competitors would
join the hunt to save time. If you find the original, play it right away.
Afterwards, you can give a cursory look for your provisionals if no one has
found them, but please don’t delay everyone’s play hunting for balls that are
no longer in play.
Linda
Copyright © 2016 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
