Thursday, March 23, 2017

Ask Linda #1497-Ball found in hole after five-minute search

Linda
The other day a guy from our club went for the green on a short par 4. When they looked for the ball no one could find it. They looked well past the 5 minutes allowed. Finally someone walked to the hole and found the ball in the hole. Is this a hole-in-one, or is it considered a lost ball because it was more than 5 minutes? We gave him the hole-in-one, but just wanted to know if we are correct by doing that. Our reasoning was that the hole was completed by him since the ball was holed out.
As always thanks for your help. 

Lou from California

Dear Lou,

The player had a hole-in-one. The hole was completed when the ball was holed [Decision 1-1/3]. Your reasoning was both logical and correct. Well done!

Reply from Lou:
Thanks, so even if he went back to the tee box, called it a lost ball and re-teed, would it still be a hole-in-one?

And my answer:
Absolutely. Even if he returned to the tee, re-teed, and hit the ball, the original would still count [Decision 1-1/2].

Linda
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