https://pinhighpress.com/tags/rules-of-golf/ Recent content in Rules of Golf on Pin High Press Hugo en-us Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://pinhighpress.com/posts/what-the-provisional-ball-actually-costs-you/ Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://pinhighpress.com/posts/what-the-provisional-ball-actually-costs-you/ <p>The provisional ball is the one shot in golf the rules of the game have explicitly designed to save the player from themselves, and it is the one shot in golf most amateurs refuse to play. The refusal is the part that has always interested me. The economics of the provisional are not difficult. The cost of hitting one is small. The cost of not hitting one, when the original is gone, is roughly half a stroke a hole for the rest of the round in the form of pace-of-play penalties, lost rhythm, and the walk of shame back to the tee on the fifteenth fairway. The maths is clear. The amateur, on the eighth tee with a slice that has just kicked into the long stuff to the right, will not play one anyway. The question is why.</p>