Just happened to me today and the ball is totally buried. Didn't even know where it is but we all saw it dropped in the sand - downhill par 3. What do you do in this situation? Can I use my club to prod the sand? Which I eventually did and lifted the ball to identify it. Then one of the guys told me to put it back but leave top of the ball uncovered (~4/5 buried) and hit it. No penalty. Did we do the right thing? What if we didn't find the ball? Do I go back to the tee hitting three?