Rule 18: Lost Ball, Out of Bounds, or Playing a Provisional
What this is about
Rule 18 covers a ball you can't find or that's out of bounds. Also the provisional ball, which you play just in case.
What you need to do
- You have three minutes to search for your ball. Don't find it, and it's lost.
- Lost or out of bounds: one penalty stroke and play again from the spot of your previous stroke. That's called stroke and distance.
- Think your ball might be lost or out of bounds? Play a provisional ball right away, it saves you walking back.
- Announce out loud that you're playing a provisional ball, and hit it from the spot of your previous stroke.
- Find your original ball within three minutes on the course, and you continue with that ball; your provisional ball no longer counts.
- Otherwise, you continue with your provisional ball, plus one penalty stroke.
Common mistake
Thinking a provisional ball is free. As soon as you continue with it, the penalty stroke counts.
Example
Your tee shot disappears toward a hedge. You announce a provisional ball and hit again. Later you find your first ball on the course after all: you play that one out, with no penalty.
Practise this rule with real exam questions in the free app.
18.1 Ball played under stroke and distance
You may always proceed under stroke and distance: add one penalty stroke and play again from the spot of your previous stroke (Rule 14.6). Once that ball is in play, you may no longer play the original ball, even if you find it after all.
18.2 Ball Lost or Out of Bounds
18.2a When a ball is lost or out of bounds
Lost: your ball is lost if it isn't found within three minutes, counted from when you or your caddie starts searching. If you find a ball within that time but aren't sure it's yours, identify it right away; you get reasonable extra time for that.
Out of bounds: your ball is only out of bounds if it comes to rest entirely outside the boundary of the course. If any part of it still touches the course, it's in bounds. A ball that flies over the boundary but comes to rest back on the course still counts as in bounds.
18.2b What to do if the ball is lost or out of bounds
If your ball is lost or out of bounds, stroke and distance applies: add a penalty stroke and play a ball from the spot of your previous stroke. There's no other option. You may only drop near the spot where your ball disappeared if a local rule allows it.
18.3 Provisional ball
18.3a When a provisional ball is allowed
If you think your ball is out of bounds or lost outside a penalty area, you may play a provisional ball to save time. Clearly announce beforehand that it's a provisional ball. If you don't, that ball immediately becomes your ball in play under stroke and distance.
18.3b Playing the provisional ball
The provisional ball is played from the spot where the previous stroke was made. You may keep playing the provisional ball as long as you play it from a spot that is the same distance from or farther from the hole than the estimated spot where the original ball is located.
18.3c When the provisional ball becomes the ball in play
Your provisional ball becomes your ball in play if:
- your original ball is lost outside a penalty area (not found within three minutes) or is out of bounds
- you make a stroke with the provisional ball from a spot closer to the hole than the estimated spot of your original ball
18.3d When you must abandon the provisional ball
If you find your original ball within the three-minute search time, on the course and outside a penalty area, you must abandon the provisional ball and continue with the original ball. The same applies if it's known or virtually certain that your ball is in a penalty area; then you continue under Rule 17. All strokes with the provisional ball, including penalty strokes, don't count.