Lesson 3: When You Cannot Find Your Ball
Sometimes a golf ball gets lost. It flies into thick rough, disappears into water, or goes somewhere you simply cannot find it.
When this happens, there is a rule: you get three minutes to search for your ball. If you cannot find it in three minutes, it is officially a lost ball.
A lost ball means you have to play another ball from where you last hit, and you add a penalty stroke to your score. This is called stroke and distance — you lose the distance your ball traveled AND add an extra stroke.
This rule keeps the game moving. If every player searched for five or ten minutes every time a ball was lost, a round of golf would take all day.
Rule: You have 3 minutes to search for a lost ball. If not found, go back to where you last played and hit another ball — adding one penalty stroke.
Why do you think the rule is 3 minutes and not 10 minutes? What would happen on a busy golf course if there were no time limit for searching?
Hiding game! Have your parent hide a golf ball somewhere in a small area — in grass, behind a tree, under a leaf. You have exactly 3 minutes to find it. If you find it in time, no penalty! If you don’t, that is a lost ball. Then swap and you hide the ball for them. Talk about: why is the 3-minute rule helpful for everyone on the course?