When do I Exercise the Provisional Ball Rule while I Golf in New Mexico
As you are going to read, waiting for every shot stinks and it is no different when you golf in New Mexico either. And that is with the beautiful sunsets and golf courses.
Nobody wants to stand around for the better part of five and a half hours, watching other people play golf up ahead, while you’re, well, just standing there.
There was a rule put into place by the people who write the rules of golf. This is the provisional ball rule. This rule is intended to speed up play.
New golfers tend to equate a provisional ball with a “mulligan,” or a “do-over.” A provisional ball is not a mulligan or do-over. The provisional ball is legal and within the rules of golf. It will help to keep the pace of play better when it is used correctly.
Use the provisional ball if you think you hit your ball out of bounds. Also use the provisional ball if you think you lost your ball outside a hazard.
It works this way: Now if there is doubt that your ball can be found or is even in bounds, you make the announcement "provisional ball", and hit. You must actually utter the words “provisional ball,” not just “I’ll reload” or “I’ll hit again.”
You then can play strokes on the provisional ball up to the point where you believe your original ball to be. At that point, you commence the search for the original ball and, if it’s not found within five minutes, the provisional ball becomes the ball in play.
What this does, it saves time. If you did not play the provisional ball, you would have to walk back to where you hit the ball to play another, but the provisional ball has done this for you.
This is how the scoring would go: Count all the strokes on the original ball that you lost. Then take your penalty. Now count all the shots you took on the provisional ball.So, if your tee shot was the one that went OB, you’d count that stroke, plus a penalty stroke, plus the stroke on the provisional. So you are lying 3 and hitting 4.
OK, here is another scenario, you go up to where you thought the ball was lost and you find the ball in bounds and you hit a provisional ball, what do you do?
Easy, the provisional ball is like it has never been played. Just go and pick up your provisional ball. Any shots that you played on the provisional ball you don't need to count. Now all you have to do is just continue to play the original ball.
Ok, you are on the tee and you bang out a fade of 300 yards and you think it went OB. Now you are mad and you have lost your rhythm and you just top the ball 3 or 4 times down the fairway until you reach the point of the original ball. There is nothing finer than finding that original ball and, poof, all those topped shots on the provisional go away because from a scoring standpoint, they never happened.
Now you know how to use the provisional golf ball, so when you decide to come and go golfing in New Mexico, you are going to have a great time. One thing, when you do decide to come, make sure that you get a discounted tee time that will save you some money.
Nobody wants to stand around for the better part of five and a half hours, watching other people play golf up ahead, while you’re, well, just standing there.
There was a rule put into place by the people who write the rules of golf. This is the provisional ball rule. This rule is intended to speed up play.
New golfers tend to equate a provisional ball with a “mulligan,” or a “do-over.” A provisional ball is not a mulligan or do-over. The provisional ball is legal and within the rules of golf. It will help to keep the pace of play better when it is used correctly.
Use the provisional ball if you think you hit your ball out of bounds. Also use the provisional ball if you think you lost your ball outside a hazard.
It works this way: Now if there is doubt that your ball can be found or is even in bounds, you make the announcement "provisional ball", and hit. You must actually utter the words “provisional ball,” not just “I’ll reload” or “I’ll hit again.”
You then can play strokes on the provisional ball up to the point where you believe your original ball to be. At that point, you commence the search for the original ball and, if it’s not found within five minutes, the provisional ball becomes the ball in play.
What this does, it saves time. If you did not play the provisional ball, you would have to walk back to where you hit the ball to play another, but the provisional ball has done this for you.
This is how the scoring would go: Count all the strokes on the original ball that you lost. Then take your penalty. Now count all the shots you took on the provisional ball.So, if your tee shot was the one that went OB, you’d count that stroke, plus a penalty stroke, plus the stroke on the provisional. So you are lying 3 and hitting 4.
OK, here is another scenario, you go up to where you thought the ball was lost and you find the ball in bounds and you hit a provisional ball, what do you do?
Easy, the provisional ball is like it has never been played. Just go and pick up your provisional ball. Any shots that you played on the provisional ball you don't need to count. Now all you have to do is just continue to play the original ball.
Ok, you are on the tee and you bang out a fade of 300 yards and you think it went OB. Now you are mad and you have lost your rhythm and you just top the ball 3 or 4 times down the fairway until you reach the point of the original ball. There is nothing finer than finding that original ball and, poof, all those topped shots on the provisional go away because from a scoring standpoint, they never happened.
Now you know how to use the provisional golf ball, so when you decide to come and go golfing in New Mexico, you are going to have a great time. One thing, when you do decide to come, make sure that you get a discounted tee time that will save you some money.
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