clarifying a couple of things (again)...

[mirv]

i hit a drive off the box. the drive is a duck hook that slams straight into some trees, but through good fortune, the ball is kicked back out and ends up sitting in the middle of the fairway. true enough, the ball is in the fairway, but i sure didn't put it there. i hooked the bloody thing. do i count this as a fairway hit or not?

also related, once every ten or fifteen rounds, i'll get in a rush and top the ball so that it only rolls about 100 yards or so up the fairway in front of me. is that considered a fairway hit?

it's been my understanding that if i use my putter from the fringe (or any situation where the ball is not actually on the green), this stroke doesn't count towards my putting total. so if i were to sink the ball from the fringe using a putter, would i write down zero putts for that hole, even though i holed out with a putt? i always feel a bit awkward writing down that 0 when i had a putter in my hand for the last stroke on the hole.

thanks for whatever information you guys can share!

[iacas]

i hit a drive off the box. the drive is a duck hook that slams straight into some trees, but through good fortune, the ball is kicked back out and ends up sitting in the middle of the fairway. true enough, the ball is in the fairway, but i sure didn't put it there. i hooked the bloody thing. do i count this as a fairway hit or not?

Yes. These things tend to even out.

Just as we aren't allowed to take our ball out of the divots we sometimes hit into in the fairways, we're not required to throw our ball back into the trees when we get a lucky break.

also related, once every ten or fifteen rounds, i'll get in a rush and top the ball so that it only rolls about 100 yards or so up the fairway in front of me. is that considered a fairway hit?

Yup. Though admittedly we have had a few people ask me to add a "short" option to the fairway stats in

Scorecard to go along with "left," "right," and "center."

it's been my understanding that if i use my putter from the fringe (or any situation where the ball is not actually on the green), this stroke doesn't count towards my putting total. so if i were to sink the ball from the fringe using a putter, would i write down zero putts for that hole, even though i holed out with a putt?

You didn't. You holed out from off the green, which by definition is not a putt as you said.

If you haven't bought Scorecard btw, you get a free upgrade to 2.0 if you buy now. I recommend it.

[cougar2588]

i would say it all depends how specific u wanna be with ur stats. to me, stats are the type of thing that are kept more so for personal reasons, with the exception of your ACTUAL score/handicap. sometimes if i chip one time and end up short to the point where i have to chip again i'll count that second chip shot from just off the green as a putt because it technically should have been a putt had i not messed up. then for fairways, if im only a yard off the fairway and not in the rough but light rough/fringe of the fairway ill just count it as a fairway shot.

my main question (and not to thread jack) how do you determine if you hit a GIR (green in regulation) or not? say its a par 4, is it only a green in regulation if u hit it on ur second shot? or does it still count as one if u hit it after ur third shot cuz u messed up your second shot? sry to thread jack lol

[jcorfive]

Yep, if it ends up in the fairway I would count it as a fairway hit. Even if you shank it off the garbage can to the cart part and it rolls in the fairway its a fairway hit.

And no, its not a putt if you putt it in from the fringe (nice going btw!)

Yes cougar, it is only a GIR if you hit a par 4 in your second shot. Otherwise I believe it would fall under scrambling if you still manage to make par. Although I am sure if you wanted to have it scramble to save bogey until pars become more common there would be no problem as long as you make a note of it.

Truly it is to save par though.

(someone correct me if I am wrong)

[Damien45]

i would say it all depends how specific u wanna be with ur stats. to me, stats are the type of thing that are kept more so for personal reasons, with the exception of your ACTUAL score/handicap. sometimes if i chip one time and end up short to the point where i have to chip again i'll count that second chip shot from just off the green as a putt because it technically should have been a putt had i not messed up. then for fairways, if im only a yard off the fairway and not in the rough but light rough/fringe of the fairway ill just count it as a fairway shot.

Honestly, it skews your stats and misrepresents your progress. You are only "cheating yourself" so it's not a big issue. Just a personal thing. It's like having a good shot skip out of a fairway/greenside bunker only to get kicked back in because of a rake....not your fault, but still hitting from the sand.

Yep, if it ends up in the fairway I would count it as a fairway hit. Even if you shank it off the garbage can to the cart part and it rolls in the fairway its a fairway hit.

Nope, that's as I understand it too.....unless we're both wrong..... lol

[Pinseeker81]

my main question (and not to thread jack) how do you determine if you hit a GIR (green in regulation) or not? say its a par 4, is it only a green in regulation if u hit it on ur second shot? or does it still count as one if u hit it after ur third shot cuz u messed up your second shot? sry to thread jack lol

I would hit 18/18 every time if I didn't have to count the ones I screwed up.

Stats are what DID happen, not what SHOULD have happened. Like Twain said, Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics

[mirv]

thanks for the answers, everyone, i appreciate it!

now i've got one more for you for an oddity that happened to me today:

it's a par 3, and this hole is built into a hillside, so the whole green slopes down pretty fiercely. i missed the green with a pull, hit a nice sand wedge back up onto the green, but left the ball about 10 feet above the hole with a downhill line. obviously, i make a putt. the ball rolls down... passes the hole... picks up speed... and rolls off the green and down the hill about four feet. thoroughly pissed off, i just walk down to my ball and give it a good whack with the putter without even aiming or thinking about it. lo and behold... ball rolls straight into the cup.

now... i made a stroke on the green and sent the ball off the green, and then holed out from off the green. i'm assuming i write down one putt on the scorecard, regardless of the fact that that one putt actually sent me off the green instead of into the cup. whatever strokes you make on the green count towards your putting total, regardless of if you sink it or hit it as hard as you can back towards the tee box, correct?

[Damien45]

thanks for the answers, everyone, i appreciate it!

Yeah, that's how I count it when I have done that....and thankfully I don't do that as much anymore! lol

[zeg]

The rules of golf don't address statistics, but in USGA Championships, once you've putted a stroke, any stroke until you hole out is still a putt. Makes sense to me.

http://www.usga.org/questions/faqs/r...x=123&Rule;=100

Q. Our club has a game each week for the lowest putts. What is the recommended method for counting putts? A. The Rules of Golf do not address how statistics are kept. In USGA Championships where putts are counted, the player has made his first putt once he has made a stroke from the putting green and all subsequent strokes are counted as putts. It is up to the Committee in charge of the event to determine how putts will be counted and the method used for counting.