A player hits his tee shot 300 yards into an area of tall grass in the general area. He begins searching for his ball and after four-minutes he finds a ball that he thinks might be his original ball. Without marking the ball, he picks up the ball and cleans it and identifies it as the original ball he had played from the teeing area. He replaces the ball back where he picked it up from and plays that ball from there onto the putting green and then holes out in two more strokes. What is the ruling based on there being a serious breach?

A. He must return to the tee and will be playing his fourth stroke.

B. He must return to the tee and will be playing his fifth stroke.

C. He must return to the tee and will be playing his sixth stroke.

D. He is disqualified.

Definition of Lost

The status of a ball that is not found in three minutes after the player or his or her caddie (or the player’s partner or partner’scaddie) begins to search for it.

If the search begins and is then temporarily interrupted for a good reason (such as when the player stops searching when play is suspended or needs to stand aside to wait for another player to play) or when the player has mistakenly identified a wrong ball. 

• The time between the interruption and when the search resumes does not count, and
• The time allowed for search is three minutes in total, counting the search time both before the interruption and after the search resumes.

Rule 18.2a(1) also covers lost.

When Ball Is Lost or Out of Bounds

(1) When Ball Is Lost. A ball is lost if not found in three minutes after the player or his or her caddie begins to search for it.

If a ball is found in that time but it is uncertain whether it is the player’s ball:

• The player must promptly attempt to identify the ball (see Rule 7.2) and is allowed a reasonable time to do so, even if that happens after the three-minute search time has ended.
  
• This includes a reasonable time to get to the ball if the player is not where the ball is found.

If the player does not identify his or her ball in that reasonable time, the ball is lost.

Now that we know that the ball is lost, Rule 18.2b tells us how to proceed once our ball has become lost.

What to Do When Ball Is Lost or Out of Bounds

If a ball is lost or out of bounds, the player must take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing the original ball or another ball from where the previous stroke was made (see Rule 14.6).

Exception – Player May Substitute Another Ball Under Other Rule When It Is Known or Virtually Certain What Happened to Ball: Instead of taking stroke-and-distance relief, the player may substitute another ball as allowed under a Rule that applies when his or her ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that the ball:

• Came to rest on the course and was moved by an outside influence (see Rule 9.6) or played as a wrong ball by another player (see Rule 6.3c(2)),
  
• Came to rest on the course in or on a movable obstruction (see Rule 15.2b) or an abnormal course condition (see Rule 16.1e),
  
• Is in a penalty area (see Rule 17.1c), or
  
• Was deliberately deflected or stopped by any person (see Rule 11.2c).

Penalty for Playing Ball from a Wrong Place in Breach of Rule 18.2: General Penalty Under Rule 14.7a.

Based on this information we can now determine how the player must proceed.

The players original tee ball became lost when it was not found within 3 minutes of the start of the search. This required the player to return to the teeing area, under Stroke and Distance penalty, 18.2b, to play their third shot. By not returning to the tee as required, the player then played from a Wrong Place, any place on the course other than where the player is required or allowed to play his or her ball under the Rules, and receives the general penalty for this breach in addition to the lost ball penalty.

In correcting these mistakes, the player must return to the tee and will be playing his 5thshot, making this week’s correct answer B.

If the player fails to correct this mistake before playing from the next teeing area, they are disqualified.

Do you have a rules question that you have often wondered about? If so, please send it to dmiller@mvgolf.org for an answer and who knows it could very well be our next “Rules Question of the Week”.