When and how do I play a provisional ball?

If your ball might be lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds, you may play a provisional ball to save time (Rule 18.3a).

• Announce it first: use the word "provisional" or otherwise make it clear. Just saying "I'll hit another one" doesn't count; that ball becomes your ball in play under stroke and distance (Rule 18.3b).
• You can keep playing the provisional until you reach the spot where your original is likely to be.
• It becomes your ball in play (with the one-stroke penalty) if the original is lost or out of bounds, or as soon as you play the provisional from nearer the hole than where the original is estimated to be (Rule 18.3c(2)).
• You must abandon it if you find the original on the course, outside a penalty area, within the three-minute search. If the original is in a penalty area, play it or take penalty-area relief. Strokes with an abandoned provisional don't count (Rule 18.3c(3)).

A provisional isn't allowed just because the ball might be in a penalty area.