The final third round of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour Nexen & Saint Nine Masters held at Gaya CC (par 72) in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, on the 19th of this month. Bang Shin-sil, who started alone in fourth place three strokes behind, had reduced her score by three strokes through the 11th hole and was competing for the championship. However, she made a fatal mistake with a triple bogey on the 12th hole (par 4), causing her to drop in the rankings.
The cause was losing her tee shot in the woods on the right side. After receiving a one-stroke penalty, Bang returned to the teeing area and hit her third shot. She failed to land her fourth shot from the rough on the green, losing three strokes at once with five on the green and two putts.
When a player cannot find their ball, as in Bang's case, they must take a one-stroke penalty and return to the spot of the previous shot to play again. This is called stroke-and-distance relief, where both a penalty stroke and the distance back to the original shot location are taken. It is the same procedure as when a ball goes into an OB (out of bounds) area (Rule 18.2b).
Consider a round played by amateur golfers. When there is a strong possibility that a tee shot has gone into an OB area, caddies typically say, "You'll probably need to go out and check, sir." This is essentially a "death sentence," meaning the probability that the ball went into the OB area is effectively more than 90%. "Let's go out and check" means the group needs to move quickly, so the player should go forward and play from there. In such cases, in addition to the one-stroke penalty, one more stroke is added as if the player had hit again from the teeing area. This is why OB is calculated as a two-stroke penalty under "amateur rules."
Now let's look at how lost balls are handled. When amateur golfers lose a ball, they often take a one-stroke penalty and continue playing from the spot where the ball was lost. Although they should return to the spot of the previous shot, since they played forward instead, it would make sense to add one more stroke and take a two-stroke penalty, as with OB handling.
For "serious golfers" who want to play by the rules, when a ball may have gone into an OB area or there is a possibility of losing it, try using the "provisional ball" rule (18.3). This means taking another shot from the same spot. If the first ball is not OB and is playable, or if it is found and not lost, the player simply continues playing with it. However, if the ball is confirmed to be OB or lost, the player takes a one-stroke penalty and plays with the second ball that was hit. The advantage is that there is no inconvenience of returning to the previous shot location, so it does not significantly delay play.
One thing to remember. When hitting a provisional ball, instead of saying "I'll hit another one," the player should say "I'll hit a provisional ball" or "I'll hit another one under Rule 18.3." This is because it is not taking a mulligan to hit another shot.
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