What would you have done? (Course respect question) And also, whats the call?

This mornings round started great, shot well, hit the ball well, just a great morning. Up until the 5th, a hard par 4 that I was playing well.

Now for some background on my course. If you over-shoot the Green on number 1 by 100 yards, you would be directly on the 5th green. This doesnt happen often, but it has occurred, as it did this morning. I was walking to my approach shot, and I see a ball hit the green and bounce. I was about 200 yards from my ball, walking up the fairway, and I see a hacker going out to the 5th green, im thinking to get his ball and take a drop.

Nope, not so lucky. This idiot sets up, and when I realize he's hitting a wedge off the green, I start running and waving to stop him, but it does no good. This ******* chunks the ball, taking a cut about an inch deep and 8 inches long out of a perfectly maintained green.

I confronted him, and had a heated discussion, basicly getting a 'I dont care, im just here for fun attitude', so I called the clubhouse. One of the course marshalls come out to talk to the guy. Guy proceeds to blow off the marshall, who then asks him to leave the course.

Guy is now pissed that he paid a round he cant play, and comes back to me mouthing off for making the call. I give him some choice words (he's half my size, and I stay in great shape), and point him off the course. By this time, im angry, upset, just a total 180 in moods from just 15 minutes before.

So, I hit my approach shot, and its a nice feathery soft shot that lands on the green, rolls backwards, and just sits. Perfect shot. Get to the green, and this *******s divot is directly in my putting line.

Not knowing what do to do, I toom a penalty stroke and moved myu ball two clubheads to the right, out of the path of *******s divot, instead of waiting for the greens grew to come fix it and screwing up the pace of play for everyone else. Angry as I was, I three putted and watched my round go south.

So, what would you have done, and what is the ruling on an obstruction like this in your putting line? Its something i've never seen or heard of. None of the others I have asked seem to know either. So whats the procedure when an obstruction onb the green is in your line?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just my 2 cents......

1. Good for you for confronting the guy, getting the course management involved, and getting him kicked off the course for lack of respect of the game, property, grounds crew, other people/golfers, etc, etc.

2. The Golf Guru in Golf Digest magazine, probably would have advised you to persuade the course managers (no PGA rules official to call) to bring out the white spray paint to mark that divot as Ground Under Repair (GUR) and fill it in. Then you would have been able to use the GUR rules.

3. Lastly, I would have illegally treated it as GUR, and would not let it bother me unless I scored my lowest round ever at that course, therefore earning an asterisk next to my score, which means I can't post it to my official handicap tracking website :-)

I would not have confronted him. Just call the clubhouse and let them deal with it. It doesn't matter whether you're twice his size or not, getting into "heated discussions" on the course is not cool. It's not your place to police this, beyond trying to stop it in the first place.

As for the divot (I assume you mean the hole, not the removed turf) being in your line, unless the grounds crew marked it as ground under repair, you do not get relief. If the removed turf were on your line, if it's detached and not placed back in its hole, then it's a loose impediment and may be removed. Otherwise, you play it as it lies.

I woulda hit into him.

No, it sounds like you handled the situation well. You obviously have respect for the course & how the game is supposed to be played. I just can't imagine a jerk so clueless that he would take a swath out of a putting green. And it sounds like it was his attitude that got him run, not the shot himself. Good freekin' riddance.

Unfortunately, such situations tend to get the adrenaline rushing, which makes playing good golf damn near impossible. So it's no surprise your game suffered. Just one of those things that, thankfully, does not happen often.

And I agree that it should have been played as GUR, whether the marshals got to it or not. May not have been the technically correct way, but you shouldn't be penalized for some a-hole.

Just for clarity, I didnt even confront him in an aggressive way. It was he who was being mouthy and acting like nothing was wrong. When I got him kicked off the course though, he flipped, at me, and I wasnt putting up with that.

I'd like to think that if it was me that guy would have been walking funny on his way off the course with that wedge sticking out of his..... but thats not likey the case.  I'd say you handled it great.  But as far as the penalty stroke....I'm all for the spirit of the game but I think SAgolfluvr got it right...I would have treated it like GUR and never blinked an eye.  A tourney or if I was playing against someone...different story but if Im out for the pure enjoyment of the game...Treat it as GUR and move on knowing you likely saved the course more unsightly hacking.

Wow...well I mean I believe a rule is that if your ball lands on a green, you are supposed to take a drop. I would've confronted him (I am a confronter myself haha). I honestly would've just moved my ball, without a penalty. I don't know the ruling on that, and maybe you should repost this thread in the rules section to see if anyone has an answer there. I just would have been so angry I would've been like "the hell with it" and moved my ball. I would be surprised if it wasn't an obstruction though.

Didn't read this before I posted...treating it as a ground under repair is something that didn't come to mind.

How can someone do that and then justify it by saying they paid and just want to have fun? I don't understand.  You'd have to be a complete moron to even say that.  Well done OP on calling it in but next time give him an open handed bitch slap.

You did the right thing confronting him.  You can't let people get away with it.  Calling a marshall is the next step.

I would have grabbed my sand bottle off the cart, made the best repair I could, and tried to putt it through the damage.  Maybe you three putt, but at least you gave yourself a chance.

Sorry, but I'm calling complete BS on this.

I believe that some moron took a divot on the green.

What I do NOT believe is that a person took an unplayable lie because of the divot on the green.

My best guess is that a putt over a divot is going to end up closer to the hole than a drop two clublengths sideways and not cost a penalty shot.

I didn't get that one either. You could even putt on the side of the divot and still be a lot close than you would by dropping the ball.

He may have been a jerk but you were the aggressor.  You even 'pride' yourself on fitness and indicate violence as a solution. Think it over. The context of the green grass is insignificant to the situation. It's the human interactions which make or break our days. Seems to me would have been better to accept his ignorance and carelessness and kindly offered some golf rules and etiquette instruction.  The grass will grow back  but both you and he, and the course administration, will have a sour taste for days following.

What are you a priest?  This is total BS.

If you had a man twice your size (who by all accounts stays in amazing shape) running towards you on a golf course you'd probably get a little defensive as well

Zeg and Shorty both read my mind.  Call the clubhouse, nothing good comes from you getting into it with a guy on the course even if you were "twice his size" and "in great shape".  I also didn't get the decision to take a penalty and drop, I'd have just fixed the divot as best you could and putt, results couldn't be worse than the penalty.

How the hell was I the aggressor? All I tried to do was stop him before he hit the shot, then when he took the divot out I gave him a, 'Man, what are you doing, this is a putting green, you dont take iron shots off of it", to which he got cocky, but there was NO angry words until the marshall kicked him off and he came up to me swearing, calling me a f**king prick, an *******, and everything inbetween. Anyone who takes that shit from a stranger is a complete moron. The only person in the world who could get away with that with me is my father, and he would never speak like that to me, ever.

As someone else said, what are you, a priest? You just ignore it when morons destroy your golf course (or any golf course)? This isnt a muni shithole, its a nice country club, of which im a member, and have a right to try to protect the course anyway I can. Also, NOWHERE did I say or imply violence is/was a solution. so dont be making stuff up in regards to what I did. The only way there would have been violence is if I had to defend myself, period.

I took two putter heads of relief, no closer to the hole, to get out of the way of a ~2 inch divot. What the hell was I supposed to do, try to putt through the divot, then chip it out when the ball gets stuck in it? Be real;istic. I didnt know the call, took relief and a penalty stroke, played on, and didnt turn in the card because I truly didnt know what I should have done relief/penalty wise.