I was playing a casual round yesterday afternoon when I hit 2 Pro V1's in to the left rough on the 4th hole. The 8th hole is adjacent to the 4th, playing in the opposite direction. As I am walking off the tee, I see a group on the 8th looking for their tee shots in the same area that I hit mine. As I am walking up I see one of them stop their cart, lean over and pocket a ball while continuing to look for their tee shots. When I get up to them I ask what ball the guy is playing, and he says "Pinnacle", but he did say that he found a Titleist Pro V1 with a mark on it. I go over to where they found it, and there it is, but its my second ball. I then remembered that I hit 2 tee shots, and go back to the group to inform them of this. They got visibly nervous and claimed that all they had was a 'Top-Flite', so I continue to look for my first ball for about 5 minutes and there is no absolutely sign of it, save for a few Top Flites and ironically a Pinnacle. Clearly they have stolen my ball, or I'm just paranoid. It bothered me for a good 2 holes.

Now my question is, in a casual practice round, was it OK to play the second ball as it was my first? It landed in roughly the same area, however I left the hole knowing I should have taken some sort of penalty stroke, though it really wasn't a 'serious' round. Have any of you had similar experiences?

27-1/2.5 Lost Ball Treated as Moved by Outside Agency in Absence of Knowledge or Virtual Certainty to That Effect
Q. A player who is unable to find his ball treats it as moved by an outside agency, rather than lost, in the absence of knowledge or virtual certainty to that effect. Accordingly, he drops a ball where he thinks his original ball came to rest (Rule 18-1) and plays it, rather than taking the stroke-and-distance penalty for a lost ball (Rule 27-1). What is the ruling?

A. In the absence of knowledge or virtual certainty that the ball had been moved by an outside agency, the player was required to put another ball into play under Rule 27-1. In playing the ball dropped under Rule 18-1, the player played from a wrong place.

In match play, he incurred a penalty of loss of hole (Rule 20-7b).

In stroke play, he incurred the stroke-and-distance penalty prescribed by Rule 27-1 and an additional penalty of two strokes for a breach of that Rule (Rule 20-7c). Because the breach was a serious one, he was subject to disqualification unless he corrected the error as provided in the second paragraph of Rule 20-7c. (Revised)

The question is: was there Knowledge or Virtual Certainty that they took your ball? In a "casual" round, I would have no problem agreeing with you. In a tournament round, I would like to hear the testimony of your fellow competitors. You continued to search for your ball, that tells me it was possible the other group did not take your ball...

Kevin

I can't say that I've had an experience like that, though there are others on the forum who have. As for the rules, if you know or are virtually certain that they took your first ball, then you can place a ball at the spot where the original ball was and there is no penalty (Rule 18-1 Ball at Rest moved by an Outside Agency). If you are not sure that it was your first ball they picked up, you should play your second ball (which I assume was a provisional ball) and take a one stroke penalty (Rule 27 Ball Lost).

Its not confirmed they stole it, but after looking for 5 minutes+ in relatively short rough I came to that conclusion. My question is implying definite knowledge of a stolen ball. My second ball wasn't intended to be a provisional. The course was relatively empty so I figured I'd get some extra shots in.

With Knowledge or Virtual Certainty , you proceed under rule 18-1.

Rule 18. Ball at Rest Moved

18-1. By Outside Agency

If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.

Note: It is a question of fact whether a ball has been moved by an outside agency. In order to apply this Rule, it must be known or virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball. In the absence of such knowledge or certainty, the player must play the ball as it lies or, if the ball is not found, proceed under Rule 27-1.

Since the OP is concered with the number of strokes on this hole, I have question. I didn't think you were allowed to hit multiple shots for no reason? He said he hit a 2nd drive that wasn't a provisional... aka "Funzy."

Can you count a round if you are hitting extra shots? It seems to me that would be a lot of extra practice. Even if you didn't count the shot for that hole, it could help you in subsequent holes.

What's the rule?

Taking a practice stroke (not to be confused with a practice swing) is a two stroke penalty. The handicap rules say that you should not submit scores for rounds where you played multiple balls.

Heck I hit a ball to the adjacent fairway, dead in middle of other fairway. As Im walking to it I see a guy pick it up. I start yelling but since I had to come down a big hill he took off in his cart before I could get there. He actually ran from me, I proceed to yell at him claiming to do unholy things to his mother but he just took off. Crazy thing

I actually had a similar situation happen this weekend. 9th hole at a local muni is a fairly long par 4 uphill with OB on the right and the 8th hole on the left. Right before driving, I saw these 2 guys in a cart swing into our fairway and pick-up my partner's ball which he left on the right side of the fairway. We thought maybe they hit a bad shot or something...but it ended up that they picked up his ball (maybe thinking it was theirs).

So as I'm about to drive, I aim at the left side of the fairway and drill a long shot into the left rough. As it starts it's decent, I see the 2 guys in the cart right in it's path (of course, I yelled "fore".). As I walk up there...I can't find my ball in fairly light rough. I knew the path because it was just left of a tree...did I see them take it...no - it was uphill, hard to see for sure. Do I have virtual certainty...99% sure it was stolen...it just couldn't have disappeared...not where it was going to land (it didn't hit anything or take any unusually bounces). I spoke with my playing partners who also watched it and they agreed that based on the direction and conditions...it couldn't just disappear. Kind of ironic that it went missing right around 2 guys who obviously stole my playing partners ball.

This situation has happened to me more than once. Without performing a strip search of the suspected offender, you just have to bite the bullet. Alternatively, if anyone has seen Leslie Nielsen in "Bad golf made easier", you would know that a stolen ball = "free drop - in the fairway!" .