Will divots decide The Memorial?

[Kalen Braley]

I think that the liberalization of the rules have gone far enough, though I would like to simplify a few things for taking free and penalty relief- two club lengths for both, placed with no delays (hold barely above ground for an instant and let go).  As noted, I think that defining divots as ACC or GUR creates many more problems than it solves.


Daily play is largely governed by whatever rules each group wishes to adopt.  Not playing in many handicap events, I am not bothered by whatever inaccuracy this creates- if I play strictly by the rules and others don't, that should work to my benefit.


There will never be an ideal set of rules simply because golf's BWT.  Ditto for all the discussion of distance, bifurcation, "fairness", etc.  I hate to be so trite, but golf is what it is.  Play it down and enjoy all of its irregularities, inconsistencies, and the occasional good streaks of luck.

Lou,

I appreciate the candor in that last paragraph.  "Fairness" is a tricky topic in golf, because while its something that should be looked at, no doubt its led to some bastardized stuff like bull dozed fairways, flat greens, and well manicured bunkers.

While, irregularities and inconsistent rules are OK when it comes to love or writing poetry, its not without a spoonful or irony that they still exist in golf where they have effectively legislated the hell out of everything in hopes of clarity and "reasonable judgement" ...(Rule 1.3.b) .  Or is this a case of do what I say, not what I do by the USGA. 

[Thomas Dai]

Given how the game’s gone soft in many areas I can’t imagine it’ll be too long before the RoG will permit placing or preferred lies when a ball’s in a divot? I can see it coming. And one day playing shots off tee pegs in the fairway and allowing preferred lies in the rough wouldn’t surprise me either.

Atb

[Lou_Duran]

The PGA Tour does not need to play by winter rules.

But they do more than any other organization.  A chance of rain over 50%, preferred lies.

A number of golfers at our club play under lift, clean and place in the general area (sometimes limited to closely-mown areas) when carts are limited to the cart paths.  The PGA Tour is cited as the example for trying to minimize playing with mud on the ball.


David Thomas- judging by the number of tees I find in the fairway, I suspect that some golfers are doing just that.  For beginners, young juniors, and the elderly, it is probably a desirable practice.  Getting the ball in the air can be hard and most of us are out there for enjoyment.     

[Thomas Dai]

judging by the number of tees I find in the fairway, I suspect that some golfers are doing just that.  For beginners, young juniors, and the elderly, it is probably a desirable practice.  Getting the ball in the air can be hard and most of us are out there for enjoyment.   

Haven’t noticed this trend in the UK Lou. I wonder if it happens elsewhere other than the US? Casual fun golf and things that go on within it are of course very different to what the RoG permit. Just hope that what folks do in their casual fun games isn’t allowed to percolate over time into the RoG though.
Atb

[Kalen Braley]

The two primary principles of the Rules are 1) Play the course as you find it and 2) Play the ball as it lies.
Balls in divots are covered by #2.  Damage on the putting green is really an issue for #1.   The feeling that the putting green is a special place where the ball is rolled on the ground has led to the loosening of that principle on the green.  Partly because the ruling bodies want to ensure that people on the putting green get similar conditions and partly because we want greens to be repaired.
The previous Rules allowed for some damage caused by golfers to be repaired on the putting green.  It was felt that if we should be able to repair some damage, we should be able to repair all damage caused by golfers.  But, things like aeration holes are due to normal maintenance and it would be impossible as well as incredibly slow to allow them all to be repaired, although there is a Local Rule that gives relief when the ball comes to rest in one.  Also damage due to nature such as diseases can't be repaired.  Basically, the greens should play the same for the last player as they do for the first player.
As for relief from divots in fairway, you don't always end up in the fairway as the result of a good shot.  As a hypothetical example, let's say Justin's drive on the final playoff hole had hit the tree and bounced into a divot in the fairway.  Should he get relief?  And what if Collin's drive had hit a sprinkler head took a big bounce into the rough and ended up in one.  Should he be required to play from the divot?
We often say the word "fair" doesn't appear in the Rules.  Most of the complications in the Rules come from trying to be fair.
I've played about 35 round so far this year and I've been in one divot in a fairway and it was so shallow that it really didn't matter (other than in my head).

Hard luck has to start somewhere.

John,

Thanks for chiming in, I figure you know the mind of the USGA perhaps better than any one else in the forum.  A few counter points:

1)  Wanting a similar putting experience is a fine goal but how do you accommodate one who has hit to the "wrong" side of the green and now must putt thru weather damaged spots on the green?  While his playing partner hit to the other side and has a damage free line to the hole.  Or a situation on say Bermuda greens where one putt is super slow against the grain, or lightening quick down grain?  I'm not opposed to the goal, just the artificial limiting of it to greens only, and even then it still falls short.

2)  Your example with Justin and Collin is a bit of apples and oranges.  The discussion about how a ball has arrived at its resting point in the fairway is different from the current condition it ultimately ends up in.  Its no different from a scenario where one skulls a shot, but it runs thru a bunker and pops out to 10 feet away on the green, vs one who hits a "perfect" shot but hits the pin and kicks back into a pond...an actual case of hard luck.  While the result of the shot is basically out of anyone's control after being hit, we can deal with the current condition where the ball has come to rest.

My fundamental question/issue here is not fairness per se, but the consistent and logical establishment of rules so like things are treated in similar fashion.  And getting a "hard luck" break is one thing when you're in a crater of a divot 190 yards out and quite another when you're 10 feet from the hole with a tiny spike mark in your line.

P.S.  If rarity of occurrence is the issue, I can count on one hand in my 20+ years of golfing I got relief from marked Ground Under Repair...but I still got it.

[Pete Lavallee]

Karen,


All divots eventually grow back. How do you decide when they are fully healed and no longer require relief? Sounds like a fist fight waiting to happen in a money game!

[JohnVDB]

Kalen,
Everyone who hits it to the wrong side of the green has the same putt over the bad ground.  Think of this way (note this is not entirely true), the player can restore the putting green to the condition it was in at the start of the day. That way everyone gets the same result.  If that area is so bad on the putting green, the Committee can make it ground under repair.  But, even then, the player who has it on his line of putt could get relief, but the one off the green wouldn't. 

The putting green is different than the general area, is different from bunkers.  You get different permissions, different breaks etc.  There is (almost) no distinction between the fairway and the rough in the rules.