LOST BALL RULING

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 112, 7 November 1935, Page 24

LOST BALL RULING

NOT LOSS OF HOLE

Alterations to the rules of golf are not always welcomed, and recently, at the annual meeting of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews, there was an attempt to rescind the existing rule, and revert to the old one, "Lost ball, lost hole." The present rule permits a player who concludes that his ball may be lost to play a provisional ball. Should the first ball not be found within the .prescribed limit of five minutes, the second comes into play, and the player is penalised stroke and distance. If the ball is lost from the drive the player counts three with the second ball. At present if a ball is likely to be lost or unplayable a player may "at once? play a "provisional" ball. This has been interpreted by some players to mean that they may go forward to look for the ball, perhaps leave the caddie searching for it, and then return and play a provisional ball. This is not allowed; the provisional ball must be played at once, and the player may play as many shots with the provisional ball as will bring him to the place where the first ball appeared to finish. And should he find it he may play the first ball and pick up the other, without penalty. This, of course, in order to save time. "The loss of a ball has always been annoying to a golfer, but to add as a penalty the loss of the hole would be asking too much of the equanimity of the average player,'.' writes F. J. C. Pignon, referring to the decision of the meeting. "This, apparently, was the view taken at the annual meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club, when a resolution by Sir Ernley Blackwell —the captain, and former Legal Assistant Under-Secretary to the Home Office —to change rules 22 and 23, relating to a lost or unplayable ball, was defeated. "Sir Ernley suggested' that a lost ball should mean the loss of the hole, as it did some years ago. The rules, which were revised in 1933, now permit a player whose ball is lost or unplayable to return to the place from where the stroke was made and play another ball, adding a penalty stroke. Sir Ernley also proposed a reversion to the old rule whereby a ball must be played where it lies or the hole given up, but this was not acceptable to the meeting. "Sir Ernley thought that a player, being the sole arbiter, might cfcem a playable ball unplayable because it was advantageous to do so, /and he therefore suggested that the provisional ball rules should apply only in the case of a ball out of bounds. "After lengthy discussion, the Rules of Golf Committee opposed any amendments in these rules, and the motion was rejected. "Mr. Norman Boase. Provost, of St. Andrews, and captain-elect of the Royal and Ancient, tells me that in the past two years during which the new rule has been in force there have been no serious objections or queries."