Hi Guys

Soory if this seems a stupid question but please bear with me as I havie only been playing afew months and am not completely aware of all the rules.

Yesterday I was playing with a freind, I hit a tee shot which went right into dense tree land, I suggested that I better play a provisional.  This also went right right but not as far right and also considerably longer, we were confident that one of the balls would be found.  But unfortunately neither ball was found, it was agreed that I should take a drop as the tee was occupied by a group of four just arriving. My question is,on which line should the drop be taken (the first or second tee shoot) and how many shots had to counted up to that point.

Thanks in advance of your help

Roy

What you did was something out of the norm Roy. The rule you used would apply to a shot that finished in a water hazard, not an out of bounds or lost ball scenario. If it was a friendly game, then there's nothing wrong with it, though you had 2 balls in play, both were lost, so your next shot from where you dropped the 3rd ball should have been 6, as we'd assume you hit the 3rd ball from the tee for 5.

In a competion, you would have been faced with 2 choices after failing to find both your original and provisional ball: 1) walk back to the tee and play a 5th shot, or 2) inform you playing parteners that you will post a "No Return" on your scorecard, but continue to play with the group to complete marking your partners card (strokeplay competition only). In stableford, this hole would score you 0 points and you wouldn't play again until the next tee, and in matchplay the hole would be conceeded to your opponents.

Hope this makes it all clear.

Id say if youve only been playing a few months and are playing to 21.7 your doing damn well even without knowing the rules so keep it up is what I say and im rather jealous :P

Best of luck  Mas