Our monthly tournament was at Riverwalk this month. On the first hole, my second shot went left of the green, and I couldn't tell what was over there. Hazard? OB? Nothing? So I hit a provisional. The provisional landed nicely on the green.
It turns out that my original shot was right by the cart path. It was easily found.
But if I hadn't found it?
If there was a hazard where I believed my ball had gone, then I would have had to drop there, and I would be chipping my fourth shot.
If I couldn't find the ball and there was no hazard, then that would be a lost ball. I would play my provisional, which was on the green laying four.
If there was OB, and I believed that my ball was OB (even if I didn't find it), then I would also be playing my provisional (hitting my fifth shot).
I had tree issues where my original ball was. I was tempted to have not found it, but it was hard to miss. You don't have to spend the requisite five minutes looking for a ball, but mine was hard to miss. So I chipped on, made the putt, and got one of my only pars of the nine. So it worked out okay.
