Provisional Ball Rule in Golf: When and How

When you can hit one

You can play a provisional when your ball might be lost outside a penalty area or might be out of bounds. It’s there to save time: instead of finding out the ball is gone and walking back, you’ve already hit the replacement.

You can’t play one for a ball that is in, or almost certainly in, a penalty area. For that, see the penalty area options.

Say the word

Before you hit it, tell someone you’re playing a provisional, using the word “provisional” or making it clearly obvious. “I’ll hit another one” isn’t enough; that ball becomes your ball in play, under stroke and distance, and the first ball is out of play even if it turns up in the fairway.

If nobody’s around, you can hit it and tell someone as soon as you can.

What happens next

You find your first ball in bounds within 3 minutes: play it. Pick up the provisional; it never counted.

Your first ball is lost or out of bounds: the provisional becomes your ball. Count the stroke you hit the first ball with, one penalty stroke, and the provisional. Off the tee, the provisional was your 3rd shot, and your next shot is your 4th.

You hit the provisional again from closer to the hole than where the first ball probably is: it becomes your ball at that moment, even if you later find the first ball. Until you’ve looked for the first one, play the provisional only from spots that aren’t nearer the hole than that.

Your first ball turns out to be in a penalty area: pick up the provisional, then play the first ball as it lies or take penalty area relief.

You can keep going

If your provisional might also be lost or out of bounds, you can hit another provisional. It works the same way, just one more stroke down.