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You’re playing a challenging par 3 late in a close match. Nerves set in, and your tee shot goes into the trees left of the green. Even if you find your ball, you quickly realize your next shot will likely be a tough one, so you decide to play a provisional. But are you required to look for your original ball?
The answer is no. There is no requirement in the Rules that says you must search for it. You can continue with your provisional ball when it is your turn to play.
One wrinkle, though: Even if you decide not to hunt for your ball, if someone else finds one that might be yours, you are obligated to go and identify it. And if it is yours, you then must continue play with that ball.
A few other things to note about ball searches:
-If you do choose to search for your original ball, you have up to three minutes to locate it before it becomes officially “lost.”
-The three-minute search clock starts when you or your caddie begins to look for your ball (in a partner format, your partner or partner’s caddie can also start the search clock).
-If you look for one minute, find it in long rough, go to grab a club from your bag and then can’t relocate your ball, you have two minutes of search time left to find it.
The post Are you required to search for your ball? Here’s what the rules say appeared first on Golf.
