At the recent Public Links Championship, a player hit his tee shot left of a cart path on a par three hole and then wedged it onto the green and finished up the hole. While proceeding to the next tee, he realized that the cart path to the left of the hole defined out of bounds. What had just happened?

He realized that his tee shot had come to rest out of bounds and that he must return to the spot where he last played that ball. In this case it was the teeing ground. He reteed the ball and hit it onto the green and two putted thinking his score was five; three strokes on the hole and two for the stroke and distance out of bounds penalty.

But what about the stroke he made at the ball that was out of bounds and those subsequent strokes with that ball?

Generally speaking, a player must hole out with the same ball he played from the teeing ground. There are some exceptions such as a ball that is lost, out of bounds or if another has been substituted.

In order to find out what happened, we need to look at the definitions of Ball in Play and a Wrong Ball. Also, Rule 15 tells us about Substituted Balls and Wrong Balls. Specifically, section 15-3b addresses playing a wrong ball in stroke play.

• From the definition of Ball in Play, when the player made a stroke on the teeing ground the ball was in play. It remains in play until it is lost, out of bounds or lifted. When it came to rest out of bounds, it was no longer in play.

• From the definition of Wrong Ball, when the player made a stroke at the ball that was no longer in play, he played a wrong ball.

• From Rule 15-3b, the player incurs a penalty of two strokes for playing a wrong ball and must correct his mistake by playing the correct ball or proceeding under the Rules. In this case, proceeding under the Rules required him to go back to the tee and play another ball which he did.

• From Rule 15-3b, strokes played by a competitor with a wrong ball do not count in his score.

Alas, his score for the hole is seven. He incurred a two stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball, two penalty strokes for stroke and distance and three strokes for playing the hole for a total of seven.

Remember, use the definitions, index or the table of contents to find the correct Rule that applies to the situation and follow the Rules of Golf to help yourself enjoy the game of golf.