Yesterday: hole is a dog-leg left. On the right side of the hole is a swampy bottoms area, marked off as a lateral hazard.

I hit my drive right, and while I can't see where it lands because of a rise in the fairway, I hear it hit a tree -- bang. I thought about hitting a provisional, but figured: it's either IN the hazard, or in the fairway or short rough if I got lucky with my ricochet (monkey!).

Because all the trees are in the hazard in that area, I could be certain the ball had at least entered INTO the hazard.

I walk down, and can't find my ball in the fairway or rough; it's not a very big area there, so I positive the ball is in the hazard, but I have no idea where. I pick an entry point near a likely tree -- but this is simply a guess -- and drop within two club lengths.

In retrospect, should I have hit and played a provisional after all? Or, if not, what is the correct procedure for determining the entry point to the hazard when no one actually sees the exact spot?

Thx

Probably. Unless you are sure the ball is lost in the hazard, you can't drop and you need to replay the tee shot as your 3rd shot. The fact it entered the hazard might not be enough. If the trees were 100 yards in the hazard, that would be a safe enough assumption, but not if they were 10 yards in, or overhung other possible locations for a lost ball following a strange bounce.

This is one of those rules that is different for the tour guys, someone knows exactly where their ball went!

I just wanted to point out one thing here about playing the provisional ball. If you later decide that the ball is lost in the hazard, you cannot use the provisional ball to exercise your stroke and distance option. You would need to go back to the tee and hit again if that were the relief you wanted to take from the lateral hazard. In other words, once you've decided the original ball is in the hazard, the provisional ball should be picked up.

Hmm...let's ignore the tree for a moment.

Is it sufficient to say, "Hey, we all saw the ball clearly heading off in the direction of the hazard, so it *has* to be in it?"

Then it's just a matter of picking a reasonable area along the boundary to drop? I mean, if we're talking 250 yards away, for example, there's a fair amount of area it *could* have crossed, so pick an advantageous point?