OB & Lost Ball Rules — What to Do When Your Ball Disappears

What OB means and how to take the penalty

OB stands for Out of Bounds — the area beyond the course boundary, marked by white stakes or white lines. If your ball comes to rest entirely on the far side of that boundary, it's OB. Easy color code: white stakes = OB, yellow stakes = water hazard, red stakes = lateral water hazard.

The standard penalty is stroke-and-distance: one penalty stroke added, and you replay the shot from where you last played. If your second shot goes OB, you're now playing your fourth shot from the original spot. In practice, one OB costs you two shots of position — one actual penalty plus one wasted stroke replaying from back there.

Lost balls work the same way. If your ball isn't found within three minutes of your group beginning to search, it's a lost ball and stroke-and-distance applies.

The provisional ball — play one every time you're unsure

When your shot might be OB or might be lost, play a provisional ball. Announce it clearly to your group — say "I'm playing a provisional" — and hit another ball from the same spot before walking forward to search. Hitting a second ball without the announcement makes it a new ball in play, not a provisional.

If the original turns out to be in bounds and playable, pick up the provisional and continue with the original. If it's OB or not found in three minutes, the provisional becomes your ball and you continue from where it lies. This one habit cuts out the walk-of-shame back to the tee and keeps the round moving for everyone.

The 2019 local rule: the simpler option for casual play

The 2019 R&A/USGA revisions introduced Model Local Rule E-5, which committees may — but are not required to — adopt. It only applies if the course has officially put it in effect; it is not automatically available. When adopted, instead of replaying from the original position, you take two penalty strokes and drop in a defined relief area. That area is bounded by two reference points: Reference Point A is the estimated spot where the ball last crossed the boundary (or is estimated to be lost), and Reference Point B is the nearest point on the edge of the fairway to Reference Point A. The drop zone is within two club-lengths of Reference Point B, no nearer to the hole than either reference point.

Always check the scorecard or ask the starter whether this local rule is in effect before you use it. In formal competition, stroke-and-distance generally still applies.