Your queries resolved
In a recent four-ball better-ball game, I drove towards OOB, with one of our opponents doing the same – we both hit provisionals. He found a ball, said it was his and played it, while I continued searching without success before playing my provisional. Someone else then found another ball, which turned out to be his. When we reached the one he’d hit, it turned out to be mine! We both picked up, leaving our partners to finish the hole. I did so believing that, as I had played my provisional, it was now the ball in play. But on reflection, would I actually have been allowed to take my first ball back to its original position without penalty? Nigel Coulson-stevens, via email
Q
Under Rule 6.3, if your opponent plays your ball, they get the general penalty, but only the player (not the partner) gets the general penalty in four-ball. This is true whether the ball played belongs to their partner, their opponent or anyone else (Rule 23.8). In your situation, the player who gets the general penalty has no score that can count for their side on that hole, but if you had played your provisional from a position nearer the hole than where the original was expected to be, then your provisional ball would be your ball in play.
Chris Wallace, R&A Rules manager
A
What should happen in this scenario, please? You hit a ball from a blind spot towards the green. It’s coming in hot and you suspect it’s missed
Q
the green and gone into the rough at the back. After a three-minute search, the ball is deemed lost… but then you find it in the hole! As you’ve holed it and completed the hole, does that override the lost ball or should you always check the hole as part of your search? nyckuk, GM website forum
The good news in this
A situation is that when the
original ball ended up in the hole, the player had completed their play on that hole, and there is no penalty for playing a wrong ball or an incorrectly substituted ball at any point after that (Interpretation 6.5/1). If the player did not know the hole was completed and attempts to complete play of the hole with another ball, any strokes with the second ball would simply be disregarded. Furthermore, the player’s play with the second ball is not considered practice.