Players are now allowed only THREE (3) minutes to search for a ball
18.2 - When Ball is Lost or Out of Bounds
What You Need to Know
Definition of Lost - The status of a ball that is not found in THREE MINUTES after the player or his or her caddie (or the player's partner or partner's caddie) begins to search.
- The player must promptly attempt to identify the ball and is allowed a reasonable time to do so, even if it happens after the three-minute search time has ended
- How to Fairly Search for a Ball (Rule 7.1) - A player may take reasonable actions to find and identify a ball, such as;
- Bending grass, bushes, tree branches and other growing or attached natural object, and breaking such objects, but only if done so as a result of a reasonable action to find a ball
- The player gets the general penalty for improving the conditions affecting the stroke if any of these actions exceed what was reasonable for a fair search
