Lost or out of bounds normally means stroke and distance.

The governing rule and version used here

This page applies the R&A and USGA Rules of Golf, 2023 edition, especially Rules 7, 14, 17 and 18, together with the digital Official Guide clarifications and Additional Clarifications updated 1 July 2026. The two bodies jointly write the Rules of Golf; the same Rule 18 baseline therefore applies across ordinary match play and stroke play under their rules.

The Committee still controls the course boundary, penalty-area edges, Local Rules and Terms of the Competition. Those documents can change the available procedure on a particular hole, so this page identifies the main Model Local Rules rather than assuming that every course has adopted them.

Work through the status in this order

1. Before leaving the previous spot, assess the possibilities. If the ball might be out of bounds or lost outside a penalty area, announce and play a provisional if it will save time.
2. Check the course markings and Local Rules. They define the boundary and may put Model Local Rule B-3 or E-5 into effect.
3. Run the search clock. The three minutes begin when the player or caddie starts searching in the likely area, not simply when the ball disappears.
4. If a ball is found, identify it promptly. Then decide whether it is in bounds, in a penalty area or elsewhere on the course.
5. If it is not found, classify the evidence. “Known or virtually certain” that the ball is in a penalty area or another specified condition can engage another Rule; otherwise it is lost.
6. Fix which ball is in play. Continue with the original, the provisional, another stroke-and-distance ball or a ball substituted under an applicable Local Rule. Do not choose between them for convenience.

The search clock is three minutes, with limited pauses

Rule 18.2a(1) makes a ball lost if it is not found within three minutes after the player or their caddie begins to search. Spectators, partners or other players may search earlier; that alone does not start this player's clock. The caddie may also be told not to begin searching until the player is ready.

Official Guide Clarification 18.2a(1)/1 stops the clock when search is genuinely interrupted—for example, while letting a following group play through, or after a ball has been found and the player leaves to fetch a club. A Committee suspension does not itself stop a player who carries on searching. Time actually spent searching still counts.

Finding a ball is not always enough

Under Rules 7.2 and 7.3, a ball can be identified by seeing it come to rest, by its identifying mark, or in some circumstances by matching its brand, model, number and condition where no identical ball creates doubt. If it cannot be identified as it lies, mark its spot before lifting or rotating it and clean only as much as needed to identify it.

If a player cannot distinguish the original from a provisional played into the same general location, Rule 18.3c(2) supplies a special result: if only one is found on the course, it is treated as the provisional now in play; if both are found, the player chooses which is treated as the provisional now in play and the other original ball is out of play.

All of the ball must be outside the boundary edge

Rule 18.2a(2) says a ball at rest is out of bounds only when all of it is outside the course boundary edge. If any part lies on or touches something inside the edge, or overhangs the edge above the ground, the ball is in bounds. A ball that crosses out of bounds and returns to rest in bounds is therefore in bounds unless an authorised Local Rule, such as one for a specified public road, says otherwise.

The Committee defines the edge. With stakes or a fence, it is normally the line between the course-side points of the stakes or fence posts at ground level; the stakes and posts are out of bounds. With a painted line, the course-side edge is the boundary and the line itself is out of bounds. Walls, roads, internal out of bounds and visibility stakes require the Local Rules to be checked.

A player may stand out of bounds to play a ball that is in bounds. Boundary objects are not ordinary obstructions: they normally may not be moved and do not give free relief.

One penalty stroke, then the previous place

The earlier stroke still counts, one penalty stroke is added, and the next ball is played from where that stroke was made. Rule 14.6 changes the procedure by course area:

• Teeing area: play from anywhere inside that teeing area; the ball may be teed.
• General area, penalty area or bunker: drop the original or another ball within one club-length of the previous spot, in the same area of the course and not nearer the hole. Estimate the spot if it is not known.
• Putting green: place the original or another ball on the previous spot, estimating it if necessary.

For a tee shot that is lost or out of bounds, the replacement stroke from the tee is stroke three: the first stroke, one penalty stroke, then the new stroke.

Playing again can end the original ball's status

Rule 18.1 allows stroke-and-distance relief at any time. Once another ball is put in play under that Rule, the original is no longer in play even if it is found before the search time ends. Calling the second ball “provisional” after the stroke cannot reverse that result.

There is a teeing-area nuance in Clarification 18.1/1. A ball merely teed in the teeing area is not yet in play, so an original found within the search time may still be used before a stroke is made at the teed ball. Away from the teeing area, a correctly dropped stroke-and-distance ball becomes in play when it comes to rest in the relief area; the original is then out of play.

A provisional requires a possible Rule 18 outcome

Rule 18.3a allows a provisional when the original might be lost outside a penalty area or might be out of bounds. It is also allowed when the ball might be in a penalty area but could instead be lost outside that area or be out of bounds. The information reasonably available when the player decides controls the permission.

A player may even return and play a provisional after searching has begun, provided the original has not been found and identified and the three-minute search time has not ended. In practice, announcing and playing it before going forward is usually faster.

If the only possible place the missing ball could be is a penalty area, Rule 18.3 does not allow a provisional. A ball played from the previous spot is then the ball in play under stroke and distance—unless the Committee has adopted the specific penalty-area procedure in Model Local Rule B-3.

Make the provisional status clear before the stroke

Before making the stroke, Rule 18.3b requires the player to announce to someone that the ball is provisional. The safest words are “I am playing a provisional ball.” Referring expressly to Rule 18.3 or saying the player is playing another ball “just in case” can also communicate the required status.

“I am playing another” or “I will reload” is not enough by itself. If other people are nearby, a statement made too quietly for them to hear is not an announcement. If nobody is nearby, the player may play the provisional and inform someone when it becomes possible.

Distance from the hole—not stroke count—controls

The provisional may be played repeatedly from spots the same distance from the hole as, or farther from the hole than, the original ball's estimated position. Those strokes do not make it the ball in play. The relevant position is where the player reasonably estimated the original to be, not where it is later found.

The provisional becomes the ball in play when the player makes a stroke at it from a spot nearer the hole than that estimated position. Dropping, placing or substituting a ball under another Rule is not itself a stroke, so such an action nearer the hole does not by itself end provisional status. A stroke from there does.

When the provisional becomes the ball in play

Under Rule 18.3c, the provisional becomes the stroke-and-distance ball in play when either:

• The original is lost anywhere on the course except in a penalty area, including when the three-minute search expires; or
• The original is out of bounds; or
• The provisional is played from a spot nearer the hole than the original ball's estimated position.

The original is then a wrong ball and must not be played. Every stroke made with the provisional counts, along with the one-stroke stroke-and-distance penalty.

A found original normally removes the choice

If the original is found on the course outside a penalty area within three minutes, before the provisional has become the ball in play, the player must abandon the provisional and play the original as it lies. If the original is found in a penalty area, or is known or virtually certain to be there, the normal Rule 18.3c result is also to abandon the provisional and either play the original as it lies or take Rule 17 penalty relief.

The player may ask others not to search, but they need not comply. If a ball that might be the original is found while it could still be in play, the player must make reasonable efforts to identify it. Strokes and penalties applying solely to an abandoned provisional do not count; a later stroke at it is a stroke at a wrong ball.

Model Local Rule B-3 is a narrow exception

For an unusual, specified penalty area where looking first would unreasonably delay play, a Committee may adopt Model Local Rule B-3. It can allow a provisional using a Rule 17.1d relief option, including an available dropping zone. Players cannot apply B-3 unless the Local Rule names the penalty area and is in force.

Under B-3, if the original is found in the penalty area within three minutes, the player may choose the original as it lies or the provisional. If the original is not found in time, or is known or virtually certain to be in that penalty area, the provisional becomes the ball in play. This differs materially from the normal Rule 18.3 result.

“Not found” does not always mean stroke and distance

Rule 18.2b makes exceptions when it is known or virtually certain that an unlocated ball was moved by an outside influence or played as a wrong ball by another player, is in or on a movable obstruction or abnormal course condition, is in a penalty area, or was deliberately deflected or stopped by a person. The applicable Rule may then permit substitution at a different reference point.

Known or virtually certain is an evidence standard, not a preferred explanation. Ball flight, witnesses, the ground and all places where the ball could reasonably have finished matter. If the evidence does not meet that standard and the ball is not found in time, it is lost even when a penalty area is nearby.

Model Local Rule E-5 is not a casual “gallery drop”

If adopted, E-5 lets a player whose ball is lost outside a penalty area or known or virtually certain to be out of bounds take two penalty strokes and drop in a defined relief area. That area is built from the estimated ball or boundary-crossing point and the nearest fairway reference point not nearer the hole; it must be in the general area and not nearer the hole than the ball reference point.

E-5 is intended for general play and is not appropriate for competitions limited to highly skilled players. It cannot be used for an unplayable ball or a ball known or virtually certain to be in a penalty area. It also cannot replace the original ball after a provisional has been played, although it may apply to a provisional that itself cannot be found or is known or virtually certain to be out of bounds.

Once a ball is put in play under E-5, the original is out of play even if found before three minutes expires. Always check the scorecard, noticeboard and Terms of the Competition before using the option.

A tee shot finishes beyond the fence

Situation: the original tee shot is found wholly beyond a fence that defines the boundary. No Local Rule E-5 applies.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: the ball is out of bounds under Rule 18.2a(2). Add one penalty stroke and play from anywhere in the teeing area under Rule 14.6a. The next stroke is the third.

The original appears after the provisional is played nearer

Situation: a player estimates the original to be 180 yards from the hole. The announced provisional lies 170 yards away and the player makes a stroke at it. The original is then found in bounds at 150 yards before the search time expires.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: the provisional became the ball in play when struck from 170 yards, a spot nearer the hole than the original's estimated 180-yard position. The later-found original is a wrong ball even though it is farther forward than expected.

A possible ball is found just before time expires

Situation: at 2 minutes 55 seconds, a spectator finds a ball in deep rough that could be the player's. The player is several metres away and promptly walks over, marks and lifts it only enough to see the identifying mark after three minutes has passed.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: the original was found in time and may be identified during the reasonable additional period allowed by Rule 18.2a(1). If the player instead ignored it and continued a general search, the ball could become lost when the three minutes expired.

The only possible location is a lake

Situation: all available evidence shows the ball can only be in a marked penalty area. With no Model Local Rule B-3 in force, the player announces a “provisional” and plays from the previous spot.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: Rule 18.3 did not permit a provisional. The second ball is the ball in play under stroke and distance. The player cannot find the original and then switch to another Rule 17 option.

E-5 is in force and no provisional was played

Situation: a tee shot is not found outside a penalty area. The Committee has adopted E-5 for the hole, and the player correctly drops in its defined relief area.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling with E-5: add two penalty strokes. The player's next stroke is the fourth. The dropped ball is in play and the original must not be played if later found.

A late-found original is not harmless

If the original is already lost, out of bounds or otherwise no longer in play, a stroke at it is a stroke at a wrong ball under Rule 6.3c. The general penalty is loss of hole in match play or two penalty strokes in stroke play. In stroke play, the player must correct the mistake by continuing with the right ball before teeing off on the next hole—or before returning the scorecard on the final hole—or is disqualified.

Six shortcuts that produce the wrong ruling

• “Everyone searching starts my three minutes.” The clock starts when the player or caddie begins searching.
• “I can choose the provisional if it is better.” Ball status is fixed by Rule 18.3c, not preference.
• “Any second ball is provisional.” It must be allowed and announced before the stroke.
• “A ball over the line in flight is out.” Its resting position controls, subject to an authorised Local Rule.
• “A nearby penalty area proves where it went.” Rule 17 needs the original ball to be found there or known or virtually certain to be there.
• “Two-stroke fairway relief is always available.” Model Local Rule E-5 must have been adopted and its relief area must be followed.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• The R&A and USGA — Rules of Golf, 2023 edition, Rule 18: stroke and distance, lost or out of bounds, and provisional ball
• The R&A and USGA — Official Guide clarifications to Rule 18, including search interruptions, announcements and provisional-ball status
• The R&A and USGA — Rules of Golf, 2023 edition, Rule 14.6: playing again from the previous place
• The R&A and USGA — Rules of Golf, 2023 edition, Rule 7: finding and identifying a ball
• The R&A and USGA — Committee Procedures, 2023 Rules: Model Local Rules A-1–A-5, B-3 and E-5
• The R&A and USGA — Additional Clarifications of the 2023 Rules of Golf, updated 1 July 2026

Checked against the jointly issued 2023 Rules of Golf, effective 1 January 2023, the current digital Official Guide clarifications, and Additional Clarifications updated 1 July 2026. No separate professional-tour rule is assumed. A course or competition's boundary definitions, Local Rules and Terms of the Competition may supplement this baseline; Model Local Rules B-3 and E-5 apply only when adopted by the Committee.