Rule 27: Ball lost or out of bounds; Provisional ball.

Definition.

A ball is deemed "lost" if:
(a) It is not found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after the player's side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it; or
(b) The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball; or
(c) The player has made a stroke at a provisional ball from the place where the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place. Time spent in playing a wrong ball is not counted in the five-minute period allowed for search.

 

27-1 Ball lost or out of bounds.

If a ball is lost or is out of bounds, the player must play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played.

 

27-2 Provisional ball.

(a) Procedure.
If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play another ball provisionally in accordance with rule 27-1. The player must inform his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play that he intends to play a provisional ball, and he must play it before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball. If he fails to do so and plays another ball, that ball is not a provisional ball and becomes the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance (rule 27-1); the original ball is lost.