Facts

Reader BrC interrupted an otherwise splendid round by firing his drive on the Par 4 7th Hole at HCC in the general direction of the houses bordering the right side of the fairway. The ball was heard striking and rattling around in the trees, but its eventual landing spot could not be determined visually, due to the severe slope off the fairway and through the rough.

BrC was advised to play a “provisional” ball as his fellow players noted that the first ball might be Out of Bounds. BrC promptly grabbed another ball out of his golf cart, and declared and hit a “provisional” shot … darn, a shot almost identical to his initial drive. It could be heard rattling in the trees, and again, no one saw it drop.

A diligent search was undertaken by the group and a ball was soon found safely in the rough inside the treeline. “Yep, that’s my ball”, said BrC when the ball was identified as a Titleist 2 with two black dots.

About this time, Foremost saw another ball on the tree-line in bounds and about thirty yards ahead of the previously identified ball. Upon inspection, this ball also was a Titleist 2 marked with two black dots. “Yep, that’s my ball too”, said BrC.

“Did you place any special mark on your provisional ball?”, asked F. “No”, said BrC. “That’s my personal identifying mark and I mark all my balls the same way. Which ball should I play?”

“Hmm”, said F. How do you know which ball was your original drive?”

A discussion ensued. “I’m pretty sure I hit my first ball better, and the longer ball should be my first drive”, said BrC. He looked to his teammates for support. (It should be noted that the day’s format was two best balls of the foursome, and the team might certainly need BrC’s ball to remain in play — lying one — as the difficult Par 4 7th often plays as a Par 5, or worse).

“Yes, I agree”, a team-mate solemnly declared. “I’m pretty sure you hit the first ball better, too.” The entire group politely nodded its collective head in support of this observation which, of course, had nothing to do with the question at hand…could BrC identify his original drive?

“Are you positive the longer ball was your first drive?”, F asked BRC. “No, but pretty sure”, he said. F was pretty sure BrC was about to hear some bad news.

What ball should he play? What did he lie?

Ruling

There are a couple of ways a player might identify a ball at rest to distinguish his original ball from his provisional ball. First, the player or someone in the group might actually see the ball come to rest. Unfortunately, no one in this group saw a ball drop after either of BrC’s drives.

A second identification method is the use of a personal marking.This method works, but only if the personal markings are different and distinct on the original and provisional ball. The markings were identical in the case at hand.

BrC’s final argument actually had some merit in F’s opinion. “I’m pretty sure I hit the first ball farther”, he had said. Ball identification by a distinguishing marking or actual sight isn’t absolutely necessary if the balls are located in different areas….for instance, when balls are seen to disappear on different sides of a fairway, it wouldn’t matter that the balls had identical markings. However, when balls with identical markings are seen to disappear and are located in “the same area” (R7.2), the ability to make any distinction or proper identification is lost.

Reluctantly, F finds that balls having bounced off the same patch of trees are found in “the same area” even if located some 30 yards apart, and even if the player is “pretty sure” he hit one ball harder than the other ball. Anything can happen when a ball bounces off a tree!

Accordingly, BrC was allowed to choose and play either of the found balls, but it counted as his “provisional” ball and he lay 3 … no help to his teammates on Hole#7. (R18.3c(2)).

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F