Lost Ball Rule (Rule 18.2)
When you hit your ball deep into the woods it is worth knowing that you cannot make your original ball lost by declaration. Stating "that ball is lost" is meaningless as it's not what you say that matters, it's what you do.
A ball is only considered lost if:
If your ball is lost (or out of bounds), your only option is to take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing a ball from where the previous stroke was made.
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