2008 Rules Tip #13 Is Your Ball Lost?

THE SCENE:
You are playing a par three hole where part of the fairway is hidden by bushes. Your drive landed in that hidden area. The rough is deep and you can’t find your ball. But as you drove into the area you saw a dog which belongs to a neighbor and recently has been blamed for stealing balls. You think the dog took your ball. So, you drop another ball in the area where your ball landed. As you prepare to hit it, your fellow competitor says, “You don’t know for sure that the dog took your ball. It’s probably just lost.”

What Would You Do?
Ignore her and hit the ball.
Declare your ball lost. Take a one-stroke penalty, return to the tee and hit again.

B is correct.
In order to say that your ball was moved by the dog, you have to be virtually certain. You can’t just assume that it was so.

Look at Rule # 18

Rule 18 Ball at Rest Moved
18-1. By Outside Agency
If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.

Note: It is a question of fact whether a ball has been moved by an outside agency. In order to apply this Rule, it must be known or virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball. In the absence of such knowledge or certainty, the player must play the ball as it lies or, if the ball is not found, proceed under Rule 27-1.

This is new in 2008. If you can’t find your ball and you want to claim that your ball was moved by an outside agency, is in an obstruction (Rule 24-3), is in an abnormal ground condition (Rule 25-1c) or is in a water hazard (Rule 26-1), you have to be virtually certain that that is true. Otherwise your ball is lost.

REMEMBER: If you can’t find your ball and you don’t know where it is or how it was moved, it is a lost ball. Take a penalty stroke and hit from where you hit before.