Hi Linda,
I was in a semi-final knock-out match, level [all square] on
the par-5 17th. My 3-wood second shot to the green was blind, well struck but a
bit left. My opponent, standing on a mound, said he saw where it went and we
looked there in long grass for five minutes, then I conceded the hole. When we
walked on, we found my ball on the green in a position after two shots where I
would probably have won the hole - he was off the green in three.
If I had been the opponent in that situation, I would have
apologised and offered a half, but he took the hole and went on to win the
match by one hole.
I have looked at “giving wrong information” and it does not
seem to cover this. I assume he did not do this deliberately and, anyway, I
think a punch on the nose is probably a breach of etiquette! My view at
the time was that it was my responsibility to know where my ball was,
regardless of what he said, and that after five minutes search in the wrong
place, it was lost. This is similar to it being my responsibility to know the
rules even if told one incorrectly. But it does seem a bit unfair. Do you have
any advice?
Thanks,
Lou from Barton on Sea, UK
Dear Lou,
I do. When you personally do not see where your ball
finishes, and you have even just a small sliver of doubt as to whether you will
find it, hit a provisional – every time. Don’t rely on the claim of another
golfer that he knows where it is. It’s a matter of a few seconds to hit another
ball.
Hitting a provisional might have saved you the match. If the
shot with the provisional were shorter than the one with your original, you
would have been able to hit a second shot with the provisional, search briefly
for the original, walk forward to continue with your provisional, and discover your
original on the way. Assuming you found the original within five minutes, you
would be required to abandon the provisional and continue play of the hole with
the original, all of which would be to your advantage.
I’m not saying this would have happened, but it might have. And
who knows? If you didn’t find the original, you still might have had a chance
to halve the hole with your provisional.
Linda
Copyright © 2017 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
