New Rules

[Sean_A]

In honour of the new rules due for implementation in the New Year.

1. Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.

2. There shall be no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on or near the course and will eventually and pocketed by someone else, making it a stolen ball. The player is therefore not to compound the felony by charging him or herself with a penalty.

3. There is no penalty for so-called Out of Bounds. If a penny pinching golf course owner bought sufficient land, this would not have happened. The golfer deserves an apology not a penalty.

Carry on.

Ciao

[Jay Mickle]

A mulligan, breakfast ball, etc are all shots and shall be accordingly counted as strokes.

[Matt MacIver]

Adding to Sean’s #2: the root rule, the leaf rule and any other similar- type rule will immediately and perpetually be in effect. 

[Kevin McLaughlin]

Balls in fairway divots are treated as ground under repair. 

[John Kavanaugh]

I am not counting wiffs next year.

[Michael Whitaker]

Balls in fairway divots are treated as ground under repair.

I wish!

[Kalen Braley]

Balls in fairway divots are treated as ground under repair.

I wish!

Lol.  Don't get me started on this one.  I'm probably due for my annual rant on the bogus divot rules!! 

P.S.  Unless I read them wrong, I thought OB and Lost ball do still have penalties, they just eliminated the walk of shame option, which is great for pace of play right? 

"Courses may implement a Local Rule (not for competition) that offers an alternative to the stroke-and-distance penalty for lost balls or shots hit out-of-bounds. A player may drop a ball anywhere between where the original ball was believed to come to rest (or went out-of-bounds) and just into the edge of the fairway, but no nearer the hole. The golfer takes a two-stroke penalty and plays on instead of returning to the tee"

[John Kavanaugh]

It's impossible to define what a divot is is.

[Kalen Braley]

It's impossible to define what a divot is is.

We sure seem to be able to do it with ball marks....

I've seen more than a few playing partners repair a tiny bare spot in their line claiming it was an old ball mark...

Of course there will always be subjectivity...I just don't know why we accept it for one and not the other...

[Kyle Harris]

It's impossible to define what a divot is is.

We sure seem to be able to do it with ball marks....

I've seen more than a few playing partners repair a tiny bare spot in their line claiming it was an old ball mark...

Of course there will always be subjectivity...I just don't know why we accept it for one and not the other...

Spend the 5 minutes it takes to learn how to hit a shot out of a divot and you'll understand the difference immediately.


Oh wait. That requires trying.

[John Kavanaugh]

It's impossible to define what a divot is is.

We sure seem to be able to do it with ball marks....

I've seen more than a few playing partners repair a tiny bare spot in their line claiming it was an old ball mark...

Of course there will always be subjectivity...I just don't know why we accept it for one and not the other...

Here is one reason. When you are on the green you are always in close enough proximity to your playing partner to make a ruling. It's a simple question and response. With divots you could be 100 yds apart when a guys yells over to you, I'm in a divot can I take a drop? Do you really want to deal with this issue 10 times a round?


I have golfed and gambled with the same people for 20 years now and one way we maintain our friendships is by limiting the number of rulings either for or against we encounter during a round. I would rather hit out of 10 divots myself than have to explain to a friend why he can't hit out of one.

[Lou_Duran]

I haven't gotten to the part in the new rule book about improving your lie at will, but judging from the number of tees I am finding in fairways and even bunkers, it must be at the end with the local rules (we have any number of guys who started 2019 several months ago).


Better yet, why not just count the number of strokes as one wishes.  I had a high handicapper join us a couple of weeks ago when his normal partner didn't show and not only couldn't we keep up with him (he can walk the course in 2:15 and is usually done as a 2-ball in around 2:40+/-), but his record keeping was suspect.  He reported a couple 5s as pars on par 4s, but I didn't have the heart to quell his enthusiasm.  Golf is a big world (Tom Paul); it is a game enjoyable in a variety of ways.

[Kalen Braley]

The hypocrisy is off the charts. 

We demand the golfer be able to keep careful track of strokes over 18 holes, only have 14 clubs in the bag, play with conforming equipment, take proper drops from water hazards or OB, tee thier ball up behind the pegs, make sure to track penalty strokes correctly and otherwise obey all the rules of golf... even yes even discern ball marks from bare patches...

But heaven forbid we trust them enough to take a free drop from an obvious divot, that is just over the line! 

The absurdity....

[Mark Pearce]

The hypocrisy is off the charts. 

We demand the golfer be able to keep careful track of strokes over 18 holes, only have 14 clubs in the bag, play with conforming equipment, take proper drops from water hazards or OB, tee thier ball up behind the pegs, make sure to track penalty strokes correctly and otherwise obey all the rules of golf... even yes even discern ball marks from bare patches...

But heaven forbid we trust them enough to take a free drop from an obvious divot, that is just over the line! 

The absurdity....

Which misses the point completely.   It's not about whether you can identify a divot.  It's about playing the ball as it lies.  Learn to play the shot.

[Kalen Braley]

The hypocrisy is off the charts. 

We demand the golfer be able to keep careful track of strokes over 18 holes, only have 14 clubs in the bag, play with conforming equipment, take proper drops from water hazards or OB, tee thier ball up behind the pegs, make sure to track penalty strokes correctly and otherwise obey all the rules of golf... even yes even discern ball marks from bare patches...

But heaven forbid we trust them enough to take a free drop from an obvious divot, that is just over the line! 

The absurdity....

Which misses the point completely.   It's not about whether you can identify a divot.  It's about playing the ball as it lies.  Learn to play the shot.

Once again,

If that's the case, why allows free drops off ground under repair, or off cart paths, or if lies next to a building, or next to a staked tree?

The consistency isn't there, especially given that a divot is artificially made...and before you say it... ball marks are also made in the process of playing the game, but you can repair those...


P.S.  A ball embeds in the soggy grass?  No problem.  A ball sitting way down in a nasty divot?  Play it where it lies..

[Kyle Harris]

Ground Under Repair is just that: under repair.


Meaning stay the hell out so the repair can finish.


Other situations are not considered integral to the course. The cart path rule is nice because it makes an exception of cart ballers to the point that accomodating them nullifies a section of the course. Also, cart path drops are frequently to a disadvantage.

[Joe Hancock]

Rule #3, there is Noooooo Rule #3......


(Obscure, I know, but I have faith that a few of you will know the reference)

[Erik J. Barzeski]

But heaven forbid we trust them enough to take a free drop from an obvious divot, that is just over the line! 

The absurdity....

Oh please.

You can't come up with a definition for when a divot hole ceases to be a divot hole. Not one that everyone could apply pretty evenly.

It has nothing to do with hypocrisy. Plus, a divot hole is not an abnormal ground condition - it's expected. It's a golf course - there are divot holes on the course.

Like someone else said, take the few minutes and learn to play from them. It's not like you're in more than about two or three per year.

[Peter Flory]

The worst thing about driving into a divot is when they are the ones left by an over the top chopper and aren't pointing anywhere near the hole. 

[Duncan Cheslett]

With divots you could be 100 yds apart when a guys yells over to you, I'm in a divot can I take a drop? Do you really want to deal with this issue 10 times a round?

Call me cynical, but I would think that a significant proportion of golfers already take relief from divots, particularly when their nearest playing partner is 100 yards away!

[Thomas Dai]

Penalty areas shall be 18 yds by 18 yds in size.
Atb

[Mark Pearce]

Penalty areas shall be 18 yds by 18 yds in size.
Atb

Goals should be 9 feet high.

[Thomas Dai]

Penalty areas shall be 18 yds by 18 yds in size.
Atb

Goals should be 9 feet high.

When the ball is required to be dropped it shall be dropped by the referee.
Atb

[John Emerson]

A side note to this topic that’s somewhat relevant——— how do I go about changing peoples mind about match play at a club??  Any thoughts or ideas on how to change the mindset of these people?  Most folks I play with are absolutely obsessed with their score on the card and how it translates to their handicap.  Maybe one out of every 10-15 rounds can I convince them to play matches.  Not only does it speed up play but it actually creates aome pressure situations.
-John

[Lou_Duran]

The worst thing about driving into a divot is when they are the ones left by an over the top chopper and aren't pointing anywhere near the hole.

Hey, I resemble that!  And as a digger, they are deep too.  I could mitigate that a bit if I was a rider and had a sand bottle, but then you guys would call me a fat ass, which, again, I resemble that.


At my home course with over 100 catch basins in playing areas, I've been in two or three divots in a single day.  Through necessity and my mostly stringent commitment to play by the rules, I've learned to chop down on the ball with my over-the-top swing, further compounding the problem.   I have asked our HP to white line (AGC/GUR) the worst areas, but that is too much work, apparently.  And in his defense, during the winter when bermuda is dormant and most of our 400 riding members don't adjust their habits, it would take a paint factory to keep up with us.


I suspect that the majority of golfers play loose with the rules, so it is probably not a huge deal.  Bigger problems at any number of daily-fees and some privates in DFW are the very poor bunker conditions and un-repaired ball marks on the greens and approaches.