Amongst the guys I regularly play with, we agreed that we would play by the strict rules of golf. When I first moved here and started playing with this group, they were noodling the ball around, taking preferred lies and free drops, gimmees from everywhere... I never said a word, I just kept playing it down and following the rules. One of them even said, "You should take a drop, that's a bad lie." I replied, "Then I would be playing some game other than golf." I never got snooty about it, I just kept playing it right.
Eventually, I think they all started to see how bad they had gotten at ignoring the rules and decided to play real golf... It is so much more fun to me when you are playing by the rules.
It is so much more fun to me when you are playing by the rules.
Exactly. When you play by the rules and someone asks you what you shot today, you can respond with something that is meaningful. Any other way is hogwash.
No such thing as a gimme in a stipulated round. If you take a gimme, then you can't post your score for handicap purposes and are DQd from the competition. In a tournament, if you see someone break a rule, you have an obligation to deal with it to protect the remainder of the field. Level playing ground means just that; fair and even. All competitors must comply. Better that way!!
Let's get back to the original point of the thread. Know the rules. Get a rules book and read it, then ask you local pro about any hazy areas. Later consider taking a USGA/PGA Rules Course. It will really open some eyes. Every golf organization and serious competition could benefit from having a Rules Chairman who has had the above course. An old pro once told me, "If you don't play by the rules, it's not golf. Have fun, but don't kid yourself about what you're doing."
Stan the Caddy,
You mentioned giving putts in a comp against others and quite rightly you can not do that. Im interested to know if you signed a card with given putts, if so your both disqualified.
As for a scrabble, the first hole in the hole is the score you count, if someone does that without thinking then its tough luck. I'm amazed that the Pro suggested otherwise.
I putt everything out, period. Call me a traditionalist, but if I were in that situation and someone tapped my ball back at me regardless of where it was, I would've been one unhappy dude.
Generally I find people will ask "Do you want it?," to which I will politely reply no thanks, I'll put it out, usually along with a quip about my poor putting or something to diffuse any tension.
Exactly right, the word gimme only happens in match play. In Harvey Pennick's book he talks about a couple and their young child, who just scored his first "Birdie" after they gave him a two foot gimme. Harvey replied that he in fact has never scored a Birdie. I'll agree with this entirely, playing real golf is more fun.
However, when playing on the weekends in a friendly round if you're over double-par and not to the green yet please pick up the ball!
If a ball were to be taken from the fairway after coming to rest, lets say by a duck/goose, and dropped into the adjacent water hazard. What would be the ruling?
I'm assuming its some form of stroke penalty that is incurred, correct?
If a ball were to be taken from the fairway after coming to rest, lets say by a duck/goose, and dropped into the adjacent water hazard. What would be the ruling?
I'm assuming its some form of stroke penalty that is incurred, correct?
A duck or goose is an outside agency. You replace the ball (or if the exact location isn't known you would drop as near as possible to that point, but no nearer to the hole) and play on... no penalty. If you don't replace the ball in your scenario and play under the hazard rule, you would be guilty of playing from a wrong place, and then you incur a 2 stroke penalty.
Getting back to the rules, every scorecard I have seen has a variation of the following "USGA rules apply with the following local rules" . The score you write or give to the scorer is a direct reflection of your respect for the game, if you dont think that you are not playing golf.
"I hate 29 handicap rules experts as much as I hate cheaters."
This immediatley gave me the picture of somebody I know. I played with him once, and will never play with him again. I swear I took about an 85 degree turn into the fairway and he SCREAMS 90 DEGREE CART RULE!!!
There are numerous other scenarios I won't discuss. He's also a very bad golfer. I don't think he's ever broken 100 and he's been playing for years.
I think this raises a good point. I think way too often in golf, people (including me) take putts they shouldn't. Whether this be a foot, two feet, etc. After we take the first putt, it becomes so easy to keep taking them, until before you know it, you are taking 6+ footers. I think everyone should get in a habit of putting everything in, because it really pays off come tournament time.
ORLANDO, Florida, March 17 - American Boo Weekley learned a costly lesson at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday after a failed attempt at good sportsmanship.
Weekley's bid to save playing partner Tom Johnson a penalty stroke while chipping on the par-three second hole cost him a two-shot penalty in the third round.
Compatriot Johnson, on the right side of the green, decided to chip instead of putt and used the contours of the fringe to work the ball down to the hole.
He executed the shot to near-perfection but, as the ball trickled towards the cup, former Nationwide Tour player Weekley darted across to remove the unattended flagstick.
"Tom Johnson did not ask him to attend the flagstick so it was unauthorised and he (Weekley) got a two-stroke penalty," PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell told reporters...........
November 6th, 2006, 10:28 AM
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