EWGA-Long Island

Notes about the game from Patty Ellis, Past Rules Chair
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Greg Norman’s Florida Fiasco

          He may be handsome.
          He may be rich.
          He may wear great hats.
          But Greg Norman doesn’t seem to know the Rules of Golf… at least when it comes to hitting a provisional ball.
          If you haven’t yet heard, Greg Norman made a mistake during a recent tournament in Florida and ended up disqualifying himself from the tournament. He hit what is known as a provisional ball when his ball was in a water hazard.
          If this is unclear, your first question is probably, “what’s a provisional ball”? A provisional ball (putting a second ball in play) is taken in case the original ball is lost or out of bounds, and is done so in order to speed up play. Rule 27 Ball Lost or Out of Bounds, Provisional Ball is a strict rule: if a player’s ball is lost or out of bounds, the player has only one option - to hit another shot (under penalty of one stroke) from where the errant shot was hit. So, if a player hits a ball into the woods from the tee box, and the ball isn’t found, the only option afforded the player is to hit another shot from the tee box. Hitting a provisional ball, before one walks to the woods to look for the original ball, saves the time of having to walk all the way back to the tee box if the original ball isn’t found.
          So where did Greg go wrong? As he thought his ball was in a water hazard, he should have proceeded under Rule 26 Water Hazards. But there’s no “provisional ball” option under Rule 26, so when he hit that second ball, what he did, in effect, was put a new ball in play.
          While I haven’t yet had a chance to call him to ask him what he was thinking, my best guess is he proceeded under Rule 27 when he should have proceeded under Rule 26.