So you're playing alone, hitting your second shot on a par 5 on an overcast day. There's not much in the way of trouble around, unless you hit a horrific shot.
You hit the ball, feel solid contact, but can't find it in flight anywhere. You know you hit it well, you're just not sure where. You look a bit right where you felt like it went, then you you look left, long, short and everywhere else you can think of. You simply can't find the ball since you never saw it.
Now, officially, there's obviously no debate. It's a lost ball. You go back to where you last hit, take a penalty stroke and play again. I'm pretty much a stickler for the rules when it comes to myself. I don't get upset when my playing partners are more liberal with the rules, but I generally play it straight up.
However, in this situation, I found myself in great internal strife about what to do. I *knew* the ball wasn't lost. It was a good shot. I just didn't have any help to track it. Had I been playing with someone, it would have been found.
The day was so overcast the same situation happened two more times. Each time I struggled with whether to give myself a bit of a break and drop a ball where I thought it was likely to have gone, or to drop a ball with a penalty stroke where I thought it had gone, or to obey the letter of the law and take stroke and distance despite my strong conviction the ball would still have been in play had I had a partner.
Just curious what others do in this situation.
You hit the ball, feel solid contact, but can't find it in flight anywhere. You know you hit it well, you're just not sure where. You look a bit right where you felt like it went, then you you look left, long, short and everywhere else you can think of. You simply can't find the ball since you never saw it.
Now, officially, there's obviously no debate. It's a lost ball. You go back to where you last hit, take a penalty stroke and play again. I'm pretty much a stickler for the rules when it comes to myself. I don't get upset when my playing partners are more liberal with the rules, but I generally play it straight up.
However, in this situation, I found myself in great internal strife about what to do. I *knew* the ball wasn't lost. It was a good shot. I just didn't have any help to track it. Had I been playing with someone, it would have been found.
The day was so overcast the same situation happened two more times. Each time I struggled with whether to give myself a bit of a break and drop a ball where I thought it was likely to have gone, or to drop a ball with a penalty stroke where I thought it had gone, or to obey the letter of the law and take stroke and distance despite my strong conviction the ball would still have been in play had I had a partner.
Just curious what others do in this situation.