Provisional Ball in Golf: When To Use & How It Speeds Play
According to the USGA, you can hit a provisional ball if your shot lands near the out-of-bounds line and you cannot see where it ended. This saves you from returning to your original position to hit another shot, but you will incur a penalty stroke. I have hit thousands of provisionals during my 30 years on the golf course, and I welcome the practice for speeding up play. Although the concept is simple, several rules are attached to the practice. At the end of this post answer this rules question, you will know when you can play a provisional, how