Rules of Golf ?????

I play a lot of senior scramble get togethers sponsored by the golf course (a good money maker for the courses that do them here). Following the true rules of golf are impossible because most think they know the rules but really don't.
I like a man with a little honesty. A few weeks ago before teeing off he addressed the group and said..."Im just warning everyone ahead of time, I cheat when I play. That is the only way I play".
 
I have played with many who don't hit provisional balls when they may be OB. They just drop where they went out and take a stroke.

And I can't remember anyone who has gone back to the spot where they hit from after a lost ball, they just drop where they think the ball should be and take a stroke.

"A 'provisional ball' is a ball played under Rule 27-2 for a ball that may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds."
IIRC if you don't hit a provisional ball and your ball is lost or OB, by rule you are supposed to walk back to where you last hit from and hit again - I've never seen that in person.

I don't yet know how the league I am starting next week will handle OB or lost balls.

But the league has some actual language on gimmies. "When playing for least number of putts, in general (tap ins OK?) there are no gimmies. If you are putting for a birdie there are no gimmies. Any other time, anything 12 inches away or closer is a gimmie."
 
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^ If I'm playing for score and think I've lost a ball, I'll hit a provisional. I'll even announce it as "a provisional according to rule 27-2" before hitting it, which is also a requirement of the rule.

If I can't find my ball after walking up to where it should be, if there's nobody behind me and my playing partners don't mind, I'll go back and rehit from the original spot.

But if there are people behind us or my playing partners object, I will drop around the area I thought it should be and stop keeping score at that point.

To each his own, but for me, scoring only makes sense in the context of a consistent set of rules over time and across players. That's why I am either both following the rules and scoring or neither following the rules nor scoring.
 
I'm confused. If you can't find your ball then you can play your provisional (which is lying 3 if it was a tee ball). If you find your ball you can play it.

Technically, if you find your ball and can't play it (because two club lengths in any direction no closer to the hole is insufficient relief, as is going back as far as you want from the ball in line with the pin) and declare it unplayable, then technically you are supposed to go back to the tee and hit again.... but as a practical accommodation outside of tournament play many people then just play their provisional.... close enough for non-tournament play and it keep play moving.
 
I have played with many who don't hit provisional balls when they may be OB. They just drop where they went out and take a stroke.

And I can't remember anyone who has gone back to the spot where they hit from after a lost ball, they just drop where they think the ball should be and take a stroke.

You would probably get run off most golf courses if you walked back to the tee box every time you lost a ball or found out it went OB. The USGA requires that you use 'Equitable Stroke Control' for handicap purposes. Based on your handicap there is a maximum number of strokes you can take for any hole. In my case the highest score I can submit for any hole is a double bogey so if I lose a ball during a casual round I mark down a double bogey for that hole and move on.
 
Based on your handicap there is a maximum number of strokes you can take for any hole. In my case the highest score I can submit for any hole is a double bogey so if I lose a ball during a casual round I mark down a double bogey for that hole and move on.
It's all new to me (again), but the league I just joined has a max of double par, so 6, 8 or 10 are the max scores on any par 3, 4 or 5 for us.
 
I'm confused. If you can't find your ball then you can play your provisional (which is lying 3 if it was a tee ball). If you find your ball you can play it.

Yeah, I was unclear.

Most of the time, I hit my tee shot and it's pretty clear if I can find it or if it's almost certainly lost.

If I think I can find it and I can...yay, life goes on.

If I think I can't find it and I can't...I hit a provisional.

If I think I can't find it but I can...well, that's never happened.

Sometimes, though, I think I can find it - and therefore don't hit a provisional - but I can't - and therefore should have hit a provisional. It is this scenario that sometimes happens that results in me trudging backward to the tee box.

Remember, I've never broken 100. I'm not that good at golf. But my grandfather was a lawyer so I do like to read and try to follow laws.
 
You would probably get run off most golf courses if you walked back to the tee box every time you lost a ball or found out it went OB. The USGA requires that you use 'Equitable Stroke Control' for handicap purposes. Based on your handicap there is a maximum number of strokes you can take for any hole. In my case the highest score I can submit for any hole is a double bogey so if I lose a ball during a casual round I mark down a double bogey for that hole and move on.

You're either a very good golfer or you are misinterpreting ESC... for most people it is a fixed number, not in relation to par. So if your ESC is 7 then it could be a 7 on a par 3 (quadruple-bogey) or a 7 on a par 4 (triple-bogey) or a 7 on a par 5 (double-bogey).

If your course handicap is 9 or lower then it would be double bogey.

Course HandicapMaximum Number On Any Hole
9 or lessDouble Bogey
10 through 197
20 through 298
30 through 399
40 or more10
 
One thing that my home golf course did last year was to swap out all of the white OB stakes with red lateral hazard stakes. It works kind of like the local 'desert rule' that some courses use. One of the proposed rule changes is to allow the more liberal use of the red lateral hazard stakes. I hope this becomes more common, I've always felt the penalty for hitting a ball OB was too penalizing.
 
Our course has done the same thing... I think more to speed play more than anything else.

But then they do something stupid... like weed whacking the tall grass within the lateral hazard... which just encourages people to look for balls which slows down play and also encourages them to try to play out of the hazard to avoid having to take a penalty.:facepalm:
 
You're either a very good golfer or you are misinterpreting ESC... for most people it is a fixed number, not in relation to par. So if your ESC is 7 then it could be a 7 on a par 3 (quadruple-bogey) or a 7 on a par 4 (triple-bogey) or a 7 on a par 5 (double-bogey).

If your course handicap is 9 or lower then it would be double bogey.

Yes, believe I stated the maximum number of strokes you can submit for a hole is dependent on your handicap, in my case it's a double bogey (HI 5.6).
 
I play by the rules for the most part. If I hit a tee shot that is in play but I cant find the ball in the rough...I wont go back and tee up another. Golf is already slow enough.

Ill always play the ball down. The only time ill ever roll a ball around is if my club could be damaged if I hit the ball as is. Large root or stone too close to ball.

If you're always fluffing the ball up for the "perfect lie" you're not even playing golf imo. My FIL thinks different. He still thinks hes a single handicap golfer. Ive played with him 15 years now...I cant recall one single round where he didnt roll the ball around for every single shot. He even likes to foot wedge it from time to time and he still claims hes a single handicap. Dude couldnt break 85 playing real golf if his life depended on it.
 
I play by the rules for the most part. If I hit a tee shot that is in play but I cant find the ball in the rough...I wont go back and tee up another. Golf is already slow enough.

Ill always play the ball down. The only time ill ever roll a ball around is if my club could be damaged if I hit the ball as is. Large root or stone too close to ball.

If you're always fluffing the ball up for the "perfect lie" you're not even playing golf imo. My FIL thinks different. He still thinks hes a single handicap golfer. Ive played with him 15 years now...I cant recall one single round where he didnt roll the ball around for every single shot. He even likes to foot wedge it from time to time and he still claims hes a single handicap. Dude couldnt break 85 playing real golf if his life depended on it.

I've got a friend like that. Claims an index that is a couple of strokes better than mine, but I would be willing to play him even up for a LOT of money because there is no way that he could beat me. He remembers when he was scratch and his ego just can't take being any higher than about a 6.

He has joined a senior league this year, that may make him a little more honest. But it may not...;)
 
I've got a friend like that. Claims an index that is a couple of strokes better than mine, but I would be willing to play him even up for a LOT of money because there is no way that he could beat me. He remembers when he was scratch and his ego just can't take being any higher than about a 6.

He has joined a senior league this year, that may make him a little more honest. But it may not...;)

Ha...yea sounds exactly like my FIL. He was once a scratch golfer...legit. He did get his card to teach...he had to take some exam and play 2 rounds breaking 75 or something both times...dont quote me. He's around 63 now and he has a hard time dealing with the fact he's getting old. Still thinks he should be a scratch golfer. He has an ego when it comes to golf because everyone always says how great he is (people he's known for 30+ years.)

Its funny...he's been a member to clubs all his life but not one single time did he ever play in a club championship! He knew he would butcher it up having to play the real rules of golf...and that people would hold him accountable.

Golf is a strange game when it comes to people and honesty. You can learn a lot about someone spending 5 hours on a course.
 
Very true that you can learn a lot about people when you play golf with them. The reality with my friend is that he is probably still a solid mid-single digit player tee to green, but inside 50 yards he is hopeless. I haven't seen him take a 3 or 4 foot putt seriously in the 8 years I've known him. Once or twice a year everything will come together and he'll shoot a 73 or 74, but the rest of the time he would struggle to do better than 82 or so if he played by anything resembling the rules of golf. He really just likes to go out and walk the course and hit balls, but he feels obliged to keep score, sorta.
 
I play in a Wednesday men's league in the summer that is strictly USGA rules with handicaps.

When playing with friends or my son I pretty much play straight up to keep my handicap correct. The only time I might fudge is refusing to go back to to rehit from a previous location on a lost ball. Too much of a time waster and annoying to groups behind you. I just play it as a lateral with a penalty most of the time unless it's clearly/potentially OB and I hit a provisional.
 
A foot mashie is part of the rules, right?
 
i have played with some guys who liked to pretend it is within the rules. As long as you don't see it.

Yeah.

I actually like to play strictly. In my younger days, I insisted on it and had verbal fights with foot mashie users.

I've since learned to relax. It isn't that important, and I also don't bet. If money were involved, I'd be calling in a rules official.
 
I play in a Wednesday men's league in the summer that is strictly USGA rules with handicaps.

When playing with friends or my son I pretty much play straight up to keep my handicap correct. The only time I might fudge is refusing to go back to to rehit from a previous location on a lost ball. Too much of a time waster and annoying to groups behind you. I just play it as a lateral with a penalty most of the time unless it's clearly/potentially OB and I hit a provisional.
I was just reading on a golf forum last night that some courses are using red lines (lateral hazard) instead of OB to discourage folks from going back to a tee, or another previous location - to keep pace going. Makes sense to me. YMMV
 
OB? Ha ha. I've had members of my foursome hit from plenty of back yards. When I try to explain those white stakes, they look at me and say, "What?"
 
So many "rules" are appropriate for tournament play, but totally inappropriate for casual play when what we really want to do is have some fun, and keep the pace of play to four hours or less for 18 holes. The OB rule is one of them. There is no reason to not play it like a lateral hazard (same for lost ball) when the course is full of regular folks playing with their pals, wives, girlfriends, etc...even if there is a whopping $20 on the line.
 
So many "rules" are appropriate for tournament play, but totally inappropriate for casual play when what we really want to do is have some fun, and keep the pace of play to four hours or less for 18 holes. The OB rule is one of them. There is no reason to not play it like a lateral hazard (same for lost ball) when the course is full of regular folks playing with their pals, wives, girlfriends, etc...even if there is a whopping $20 on the line.
And of course the chances of a lost ball for pros is almost nil with galleries, TV crews, etc.
 
The OB rule is one of them. There is no reason to not play it like a lateral hazard (same for lost ball) when the course is full of regular folks playing with their pals, wives, girlfriends, etc...even if there is a whopping $20 on the line.

I agree that it's often not feasible to go back to the tee or where the shot was played from during a round...and if I have to do that, I do at least attempt to make the scoring close to the proper rule by giving it a 2-stroke penalty to account for both stroke and distance.
 
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