Rules Changes for "Funzies" Rounds

[Golf With John]

Here are couple things I do with my group of friends when we go out to play. I'd love to hear yours as well!

• 1 Mulligan (drive) per front and back (although as we got better, we stopped "using" mulligans unless it's completely out of play.
• If it's in the fairway, you can move it to give yourself a better lie (lay?). *Don't be a donkey and push it forward. 
• If it's in the rough. No relief
• If there's rocks, you move it to the closest none rocky area. Whether it's bunker/rough/fairways. We're not pro's and we don't want to mess our clubs up. 
• If it goes into some weird bush type or under tree branches that makes it a pro level difficulty. Gentleman's agreement to give each other those 😛 

What are your unofficial rules that you play with?

[woodzie264]

Obviously you/we can't submit those/these rounds for HCP purposes, but when playing with buddies who use golf as an excuse to get together and drink, we allow:

1. the customary Breakfast Ball if first drive is out of play
2. rolling the ball in the fairway (if they're in the fairway, they deserve a good lie)
3. Leaf rule (free drop) if all parties agree the ball was assumed to be in the fairway or just off & most assuredly not out of bounds or a bad enough shot that would've have resulted it being lost in the summer or other times when ground is clear

[phillyk]

When I’m playing a non-handicapped round, I don’t follow a lot of rules. I’ll toss em around if I don’t like a lie or line, pick up once on green and/or within like 6ft, and hit several mulligans. Honestly when not keeping a handicap, play in any way that makes you happy, so long as it doesn’t effect pace of play. 

[Groucho Valentine]

We don't do breakfast balls. But the other two @woodzie264 described are pretty much winter rules. I used to play a lot of tournament golf, so im just conditioned to play the game under those circumstances, even when im playing a game with a group where they are different rules agreed to.

But the rule I and my regular group let slide most often is re-teeing or replaying after a lost ball or OB. We just agree on a general place to play the next from with whatever penalty the shot usually is. Speeds things along and doesn't really effect the outcome of our money games too much. 

[Golf With John]

1 hour ago, Groucho Valentine said:

We just agree on a general place to play the next from with whatever penalty the shot usually is. Speeds things along and doesn't really effect the outcome of our money games too much. 

Yup completely agree. No need to keep shanking into the water, just take a drop from the point of entry and let's move on. 

 

1 hour ago, woodzie264 said:

we can't submit those/these rounds for HCP purposes

Yes these are fun rounds not real rounds 😄 A good reminder though

[DaveP043]

I dislike the title of this thread a bit, it seems to say that playing strictly by the rules is NOT fun.  To me, it is fun, and I do my best to play by the rules just about all of the time.  That doesn't mean anyone else should do the same, feel free to use whatever modifications make sense to you and your friends.  

Having said that, my groups tend to play pretty liberal "preferred lies" through the winter.  We post for handicaps year-round, but we still will often play LCP pretty much through the green, or in current rule terms, in the General Area.

[iacas]

24 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

I dislike the title of this thread a bit, it seems to say that playing strictly by the rules is NOT fun.  To me, it is fun, and I do my best to play by the rules just about all of the time.  That doesn't mean anyone else should do the same, feel free to use whatever modifications make sense to you and your friends.

Yeah, I was going to write about the same thing earlier.

If golf's not fun, and you have more fun playing something other than golf, more power to you. But it ain't golf.

[TourSpoon]

Winter rules, lol - My new group just started playing them down this week because its been so wet down here for the last 3 months you would get mud on your ball on 75% of your drives. In 30 rounds, I have only seen one day where you could hit a breakfast ball because the driving range was closed (under water) and not one player took one. These guys are serious and play for money and everything is putt out to protect the field (most days are 12-16 players). 

My other group shows up and never warms up and gives you a mulligan on the first or second hole, doesn't play roots or rocks, and will incorporate occasionally, a group "retee". The group "retee" is when all four players have hit horrid tee shots. It rarely happens but this is not a super serious group of guys. No caps or scores to submit and usually just a good time with old high school friends. 

[boogielicious]

If we are doing practice rounds before we can post scores, we often will let someone do a shot over as long as it isn’t holding anyone up. 

[billchao]

If I’m not posting for handicap, I’ll drop a ball here and there to hit a shot again or play preferred lies, that kind of stuff.

The part of golf that isn’t fun for me is hitting bad shots and losing golf balls. No amount of reworking the rules can make that go away. I can lose 6 balls and score “85,” it won’t be any more fun than 95 I actually scored.

[David in FL]

I have just as much fun playing by the rules, as not.

Hell, probably more...

[Esox]

22 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

Obviously you/we can't submit those/these rounds for HCP purposes, but when playing with buddies who use golf as an excuse to get together and drink, we allow:

1. the customary Breakfast Ball if first drive is out of play
2. rolling the ball in the fairway (if they're in the fairway, they deserve a good lie)
3. Leaf rule (free drop) if all parties agree the ball was assumed to be in the fairway or just off & most assuredly not out of bounds or a bad enough shot that would've have resulted it being lost in the summer or other times when ground is clear

Same here, but you can only roll it in the fairway if it is in a divot or bare ground. I play with kids in their early 20's who just started this year. They can bomb the ball, sometimes we even find it. We would hold things up if we did stroke and distance every lost ball. They drop where we last saw it go into the trees. LOL  I also get them to play "ready golf". If you are ready, hit the ball.  This saves a lot f time, particularly around the green where waiting for who's away takes too much time. The leaf rule is a necessity on some courses we play where the fairways are all alleys through the trees. There is no way grounds crews can keep up with any breeze in the fall and balls getting lost in the middle of the fairway is all too common.

     There is a point at which being a stickler for the rules just makes you that group of A-Holes that is holding everyone up, particularly high handicappers taking stroke and distance on every wayward shot. Simple courtesy dictates a different approach than the rule book.

[burr]

23 minutes ago, Esox said:

Same here, but you can only roll it in the fairway if it is in a divot or bare ground. I play with kids in their early 20's who just started this year. They can bomb the ball, sometimes we even find it. We would hold things up if we did stroke and distance every lost ball. They drop where we last saw it go into the trees. LOL  I also get them to play "ready golf". If you are ready, hit the ball.  This saves a lot f time, particularly around the green where waiting for who's away takes too much time. The leaf rule is a necessity on some courses we play where the fairways are all alleys through the trees. There is no way grounds crews can keep up with any breeze in the fall and balls getting lost in the middle of the fairway is all too common.

     There is a point at which being a stickler for the rules just makes you that group of A-Holes that is holding everyone up, particularly high handicappers taking stroke and distance on every wayward shot. Simple courtesy dictates a different approach than the rule book.

Excellent post, adjusted rules to keep the young and us not so gifted that may not play to handicap tournament golf but love the golf environment and occasional 'tv shot'. 

[DaveP043]

55 minutes ago, Esox said:

particularly high handicappers taking stroke and distance on every wayward shot.

This is probably a good place to point out that the Rules of Golf now include a local rule for an option to Stroke and Distance, primarily to speed up play in more casual rounds.  There's also a Model Local Rule to address the "leaf rule" situation.  For your own purposes you could utilize both.  So its possible to play by the rules and still not hold up play by searching too much.

[woodzie264]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

 There's also a Model Local Rule to address the "leaf rule" situation.

Is this what you mean?

[DaveP043]

2 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

Is this what you mean?

 

You may have missed adding the link, but its Local Rule F-14

Quote

Model Local Rule F-14
“During play of the [specify hole number], any ground with temporary accumulations of [identify types of loose impediments ] in the general area or in a bunker is treated as ground under repair from which free relief is allowed under Rule 16.1.

The discussion specifically mentions accumulations of leaves.

[Edsland]

Rolling the ball for a lie in a fairway depends on the course. Most i play are in pretty good shape so I dont touch anything. One course we play every once in a while has more bare spots then grass in the fairway so there Ill roll it onto a clump of fairway. 

[Golf With John]

On 12/4/2020 at 1:08 PM, TourSpoon said:

My other group shows up and never warms up and gives you a mulligan on the first or second hole, doesn't play roots or rocks, and will incorporate occasionally, a group "retee

haha thats awesome! This is exactly how my friends and I would start the round. Get to the tee box right on time or couple minutes late. No warm up. No stretching. Hit a straight hook into the woods and boom there is our first shot first mulligan of the day 😆

First time hearing group retee. I like that as well. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity when I'm with my friends

 

On 12/6/2020 at 8:26 AM, Edsland said:

Most i play are in pretty good shape so I dont touch anything. 

I agree, most course I've played at are in good shape, but I'll still move it an inch or so out to give myself the best lie I can. This includes if the ball if a little stuck, a little divot, a little mark on the ball i'll wipe, a little uneven lie, etc. It's the little things that will really get you.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Golf With John