What are your "unwritten" rules of golf?

[T.J.K.]

If you don't hit it past the lady's tee box, you have to show your pecker.

Obviously no one shows anything. It's just to razz them of course.

[Fabfivefigo]

no mulligans and no gimmes

While I get that these are actually written rules, they are contrary to most peoples playing customs so I think they fit.

Also, I generally won't even look for a ball in the woods. If it goes in there, I'll hit a provisional and score it OB. This happens a lot as you can tell from my index.

[Zeph]

I don't understand why some people ask what club someone used. There are so many variables in this game, comparing the clubs won't help you anything. It could cause more headache than you already had. If you are playing with a friend you play with all the time and he or she hits an exceptional good shot you can of course ask what club that was, but normally it doesn't matter to you what other people use.

I never step in someones line, also try not to step anywhere around the hole, especially somewhere a ball might go if the other player misses the cup. You can never know where it goes, it can spin on the cup and sling out anywhere, but mostly the ball go somewhat on the putting line, I don't step there.

Silence when someone is taking a shot or doing their routine.

Wait at the tee until everyone has played, wait on the green until everyone is in the cup. It's crap that you save time by going to your bag, the group behind can't hit before the entire group is out of the way anyways, it doesn't take longer for three people to walk away from the green than it does for one. If I see that another player is going to read the green or isn't ready I might go put my putter in the bag then return to the green to watch the putt.

If I walk around on the course and for some reason have to walk by some other people playing I stop when they get ready and move again when the shot is done. I normally don't use a cart and got covers on all my clubs, so if I'm not really close I can usually walk on without making any sound.

[Elvisliveson]

Allow the higher handicappers in our group to play OB like a lateral hazard.

[telrod11]

Also, I generally won't even look for a ball in the woods. If it goes in there, I'll hit a provisional and score it OB. This happens a lot as you can tell from my index.

And as someone who has *never* bought a golf ball in 16 yrs of playing, I would like to personally thank you!

[nevets88]

Off the tee, if I see my ball bounce and land, walk up to it and it's not there, and there's no leaves or straw or anything that could cover, basically, I should find it, I don't take the penalty.

Not kosher, but what the hell, ball should be there, no?

[Borf]

Off the tee, if I see my ball bounce and land, walk up to it and it's not there, and there's no leaves or straw or anything that could cover, basically, I should find it, I don't take the penalty.

Theres no such thing as something that "should" happen.

If your ball is not there, its just not there.....take the pentaly strokes

[Zeph]

Off the tee, if I see my ball bounce and land, walk up to it and it's not there, and there's no leaves or straw or anything that could cover, basically, I should find it, I don't take the penalty.

That's not an unwritten rule, that's breaking at least one of the written rules.

[Fabfivefigo]

And as someone who has *never* bought a golf ball in 16 yrs of playing, I would like to personally thank you!

What can I say, I'm a giver

[HighPointNJGolf]

I don't understand why some people ask what club someone used. There are so many variables in this game, comparing the clubs won't help you anything. It could cause more headache than you already had. If you are playing with a friend you play with all the time and he or she hits an exceptional good shot you can of course ask what club that was, but normally it doesn't matter to you what other people use.

I couldn't agree more with the club asking; since I had my clubs customized early this year, my 7i doesn't compare to anything off the rack or anything in anyone's bag for that matter.

[tjy355]

Off the tee, if I see my ball bounce and land, walk up to it and it's not there, and there's no leaves or straw or anything that could cover, basically, I should find it, I don't take the penalty.

The topic was asking about the game of GOLF. Not sure what game it is that you are playing there.

[telrod11]

Off the tee, if I see my ball bounce and land, walk up to it and it's not there, and there's no leaves or straw or anything that could cover, basically, I should find it, I don't take the penalty.

I see several posters bashing you here, but I'll stand with you and take the heat also, because we sometimes (not always, but especially in the fall with leaves, etc) do the exact same thing.

Is it right, no - agreed, but here's my reasoning: If we know there is no way the ball should be lost..... The pro's have spotters and people to hit with their errant shots, so they will rarely lose a ball. We judge it the same way - if we had folks up the course watching the ball, would there be a reasonable chance the ball would have been found. If yes, then we drop, and don't take the penalty... Do you guys stay so close to the actual rules that this wouldn't make sense to you? I'd be interested to hear the counter arguments on this....

[firstcut]

I don't understand why some people ask what club someone used. There are so many variables in this game, comparing the clubs won't help you anything. It could cause more headache than you already had. If you are playing with a friend you play with all the time and he or she hits an exceptional good shot you can of course ask what club that was, but normally it doesn't matter to you what other people use.

I disagree. I think that after a few holes you can usually tell where someone else plays their game. i.e. I know if I'm a club above or below them and can gauge my club off theirs. I've stopped asking since some folks think it's rude, but I'll still sneak a peek. And it still helps.

I see several posters bashing you here, but I'll stand with you and take the heat also, because we sometimes (not always, but especially in the fall with leaves, etc) do the exact same thing.

Ya, this is a "flame on" topic for sure. And the rules guys have a very valid point IMHO.

That said; As long as I am *certain* that the ball is not OB, I do the same thing. If the guys in front of us are slow, I'll take my time and really look. If I can't find it, I'll take the drop and stroke. But if I think that taking my allotted time to look for a ball will slow the course down, I can sleep at night with a drop and hit without counting. I lose 1-4 balls a game. I figure I just saved the course 20 minutes on a bad day!

[Doctorfro]

Don't ask to hit another man's driver.

[zeg]

If I can't find it, I'll take the drop and stroke. But if I think that taking my allotted time to look for a ball will slow the course down, I can sleep at night with a drop and hit without counting.

Two comments: first, there's no requirement that you even look for your ball before declaring it lost. Hell, you could choose to play a provisional after driving the green if you really wanted the stroke-and-distance. If you think there's any reasonable chance you're not going to find your ball, you can play a provisional.

Second, when I lose a ball that didn't have a reasonable chance of being missing, I do the drop instead of trucking back to the tee. However, I take a two stroke penalty to better simulate the stroke-and-distance effect. I wouldn't do this if anyone but me was counting on the results, but when you're still trying to break 110, I don't see any harm.