Know Your Golf Rules: Situation One, Ball Out of Bounds

You tee the ball up and take a mighty swing at it. You watch it sail off into the distance toward an area defined by some white stakes, or red, or yellow. Do you know what options are available for your next swing? Do you know the penalty and the procedure to get a new ball back into play?

Or, you play a ball toward the green and it’s flying right toward the hole, and you watch in horror as it strikes the ball of one the guys in your group, knocking his ball into the hole and pushing yours 20 feet away. What happens next?

Or, let’s say you’re searching for your ball in the rough when you kick something and watch a ball skitter off away from your foot. You find it again and discover it is your ball. Now what?

During a round, any number of things can happen that might violate one or several rules of the game. You need to know to proceed when any of these happens.

Fear not, for I am here to help you!

I’m going to write this as a series of articles, each one addressing a different situation and how to proceed with play under those conditions. Keep in mind, I’m assuming you are playing in a “real” round of golf, like a tournament. If you are just playing with your buddies, and have no plans to submit this round for handicap or any other purposes, you can hit half a dozen tee shots, pick the best one, and then play four balls from there. As long as you don’t hold up any players behind you, do what you gotta do.

Here’s the situation…

You play your tee shot on a par five with out of bounds on the right along with some trees. You push the shot a bit and watch it hit a tree when you lose track of it. You are unsure of where your ball is. It could be in bounds. It could be OB. What do you do?

The first thing you should do is hit a provisional ball. When playing a provisional ball you must announce your intention to your playing competitors by saying, “I’m playing a provisional ball for…” and then you have to say why you’re playing a provisional ball. In this case, because you didn’t see the ball land, you are playing a provisional for a lost ball. You can’t say you are playing a provisional for a ball out of bounds because you didn’t actually see it go out of bounds. It is the same if you know there is water near a hole and your ball goes toward it but you don’t actually see the ball go in the water. You may not assume your ball went out of bounds or in the water. You must see it.

Obviously, if you saw the ball go out of bounds, you would say you’re playing a provisional for a ball out of bounds, but in this case, you didn’t see it go out of bounds, so you can’t say you’re playing under that rule.

As an aside, it is important that you hit a ball that is a different number than the first ball so you can identify which was your first ball and which is your second. It’s a good idea to tell your playing competitors what number ball you’re using for your provisional shot.

Okay, you’ve played your provisional – and naturally, you’ve piped it down the middle of the fairway because that’s what happens when you have to hit a provisional ball – so now, you’re looking for your first ball.

You have five minutes to look for a lost ball, and when they say five minutes, they mean it. At tournaments in which I have played, there is a rules official standing there and as you walk up, they will say to you, “Your five minutes begins now.” They are literally looking at their watch. If you find the ball in the five minutes, you proceed under whatever rule applies to the condition of the ball. If you don’t find it, the rules official will call time and you must play your provisional ball. (By the way, your playing competitors are under no obligation to look for your ball with you. It’s nice if they do so, but they don’t have to and in my experience, they won’t.)

Let’s say you find it and it is in bounds. Wonderful! You may play that ball and can simply pick up your provisional ball.

What if you find you find your first ball but it is on the white line identifying the boundary of the golf course. What now?

Your ball is out of bounds if it lies entirely outside the boundary. If any part of the ball is in bounds, it is in bounds and you may play it, and you may stand out of bounds to play a ball that is in bounds. What you may not do is remove any white stakes in order to make your swing. (White being the color used to define the boundary of the course, as opposed to red and yellow, which are used to define the margins of a water hazard.) If a white stake is in your way, you have to figure out a way to play around it.

What if there is a fence along the out of bounds. Your ball is in bounds, but is resting against the fence. Are you allowed to take relief from the fence?

As long as the fence is not used to define the boundary of the course, yes, you may. If it is being used to define the out of bounds, you may not.

Now, let’s say you find your ball out of bounds or you never find it. Either way, you may not play it. This is where your provisional ball comes into play. You may proceed with your provisional as your ball in play under the penalty of “stroke and distance.” This means on the tee, when you hit your first shot, that was one stroke, then you get a penalty stroke and lose the distance you hit that first ball (that’s why they call it a “stroke and distance” penalty.) Your provisional was played with your third stroke, so you are lying three on your provisional ball.

So, you can see how things can get complicated in a hurry and knowing what to do can be the difference between making the cut or missing it, or being a playoff and not.

One other option you always have, and this is especially handy if there is a question about a rule and a rules official isn’t around or is unclear about the rule. You have the right to play a second ball stating your intention beforehand to accept the score with your second ball if the rules allow it. (It’s important that you say this because whatever score you make with that second ball is going to be your score, even if the score with the second ball is worse than the score you would have gotten on the first ball.) This very situation happened to Arnold Palmer during the 1958 Masters.

On the final day, on the 12th hole, Palmer struck his tee shot and it plugged in the ground near the green. He thought he was entitled relief, but was told he wasn’t by a rules official. He played both balls, the one that was plugged, and the second if he had been granted relief as he believed he was entitled. He made a double bogey on the first ball, but got up and down for par on the second ball. Then, he continued play while the rules committee to decided what his score would be.

The rules committee sided with Palmer and he won his first of four Masters that year.

As Palmer’s story demonstrates, knowing your rules and your options under them is profoundly important. You might not ever win the Masters or have a chance to, but you might have a chance at your club championship, and knowing the rules could make all the difference.

If you have any questions about rules during a round that is not a tournament round, it is helpful to have a rules app on your phone, or simply go to the USGA website. Of course, you can always speak with the club pro about rules issues after the round.

During a tournament, there should be rules officials available to ask questions should the need arise. If there isn’t, you can talk to your playing competitors about any situations involving the rules of the game.