playing the ball 'up'

[motteler621]

what the rule when the fairways are wet and my drives would hit the fairway and go under ground an inch That was happening on this course I played last week.

[acegolfer]

You said "playing as it lies" would improve your game. So why is your HI higher now than before? Shouldn't you be "better" now than you were before?

My HI was lower because I CHEATED. I improved lies, treated OB as lateral hazard, took muligans and not putting out. If you play like what I did 5 years ago, your HI will be lower by at least 5 shots.

I didn't feel good about it. That's why I started to play down. I hole out every thing because I can miss 2 footers. I hope it makes sense to you now.

[acegolfer]

what the rule when the fairways are wet and my drives would hit the fairway and go under ground an inch That was happening on this course I played last week.

Rule 25: embedded ball

[double_j]

I love the way so many players try to justify breaching the rules by saying the play they ball down

Rocks are indeed natural features of golf courses - but not usually when embedded in a fairway.

[GolfBear]

When I played on my high school team (many moons ago) the rule at the time was that you could roll a ball that was in the fairway one clubhead not nearer the hole. That was the only time we were allowed to touch a ball and that's basically the way I've played most of my golf unless it was a tournament. I have no idea if that's still the rule for high school competition.

For a stretch when I lived in Albany we played a lot at a local muni that had absolutely horrendous conditions most of the time. Our group established the following local rules:

1. If your ball lands in a divot in the fairway and there has been absolutely no attempt to repair that divot then you may move it out of the divot.
2. If your ball lands in a massive footprint in a bunker you are allowed to lift the ball, rake the spot then drop the ball. We didn't have to worry about fried egg lies because the bunkers were basically sand and what appeared to be Portland cement.

Other than that, it was ball down. It may not be within the official rules and may offend the purists but I play golf to enjoy the game, not to appease a rules committee. our interpretation was this it was "ground under disrepair"! None of the eight guys I played with regularly was interested in being penalized because some a-hole was too lazy to fix a divot or rake a bunker.

[sacm3bill]

1. If your ball lands in a divot in the fairway and there has been absolutely no attempt to repair that divot then you may move it out of the divot.

Despite my comment to a previous poster about taking the good luck with the bad, and despite being a rules stickler myself, I must admit I do see some validity in the above. (When playing for fun or when posting rounds for handicap purposes - not when playing in tournaments, obviously.)

Our handicaps are supposed to reflect our potential, and I'm not going to be playing to my potential if I'm hitting out of unrepaired fairway divots and bunker footprints. Sure, playing the way you describe may artificially decrease one's handicap, but unlike artificially *in*creasing one's handicap, at least that's a victimless crime.

[Fourputt]

Rocks are indeed natural features of golf courses - but not usually when embedded in a fairway.

Show me the definition of "fairway" in the Rules of Golf and I'll buy that.

[Shorty]

Our group established the following local rules:

Why is it OK for pros to play out of divots but not you and your friends?

I know a lot of people frown upon this. Of course, fluffing the ball even when in a fairly good lie is wacky. However, where do we draw the line? What about in a bad patch of fairway where the ball is on the dirt between two clumps of grass? do we play that as it lies or put it on the clump of grass? what do the purists think?

It's nothing to do with drawing a line or being a purist.

You play by the rules. They aren't that complicated. Unless it's preferred lies or lift clean replace, you play it as it lies. There's no debate about it amongst serious golfers. If you aren't in a competition, do what you like, just don't submit a score for HC purposes.

[iacas]

I play the ball up when the old farts I play with once a month all do. It'd be one against 27 then... and even then I forget most of the time. And sometimes I make a point of not doing it at all even if we're "allowed."

But the "divots" thing is one that pisses me off. So what if you're in the fairway and ended up in a divot? Your ball's never hit a tree and ricocheted back into the fairway? Play the ball as it lies.

[BallStriker]

If it's lift clean & place in effect, do it. Playing hero on the west coast in december is not worth it sometimes.

Amen brother (from a fellow Pacific Northwesterner).........can't post those scores for handicap anyway, so at least get it out of the half-plugged hole and the mud off of it....7 irons (sometimes 6 irons) are only going 150 yds in our sub-50 degree weather as it is....

[GolfBear]

Why is it OK for pros to play out of divots but not you and your friends?

I never said that we would take relieve from every divot. What I said was

there has been absolutely no attempt to repair that divot.

If our drives landed on a divot that had been replaced or a divot that had been sanded then we play it as it lies. I'm not interested in fracturing my wrist trying to extracate my ball from some 3" wide, 6" long 2" deep trench that some craptastic hacker has left in the fairway and decided it wasn't worth his time to repair it. Apparently you must play on perfectly manicured country clubs and have never been on a muni. I've seen divots on some muni's and public courses that look like they were made with farm machinery.

I challenge anyone here to tell me of a time when they saw a PGA tournament where a pro played out of un-repaired divot. Not off a divot that had been replaced or sanded, a legitimate monster gouge in the middle of a fairway left by some pro who decided to ignore it.

[1clubmakere2]

Play it as it lies, unless the conditions warrent lift, clean and place and it is the rule of the day--that day, not all the time.

[Shorty]

Your readings skills need some work. I never said that we would take relieve from every divot. What I said was . "there has been absolutely no attempt to repair that divot"

Makes no difference. It's annoying, but it's just bad luck, just like the lucky bounces we get. In any case, as I've said, unless you are in a competition, you are just practicing anyway, so who cares? If you took relief from an unrepaired divot in competition you'd be disqualified, so the point is moot. If you do take relief and then add up a score at the end of the day without calling relief from a divot an unplayable lie and taking a penalty stroke, it's called cheating.

[Zeph]

If you are out to practice, why not practice something you might face when playing with the rules? Hitting a few shots out of a divot, under a tree or from hardpan lie now and then is useful for the day you have to pull it off.
Practice doesn't mean hitting the ball from perfect lie all the time.

[iacas]

I'm not interested in fracturing my wrist trying to extracate my ball from some 3" wide, 6" long 2" deep trench that some craptastic hacker has left in the fairway and decided it wasn't worth his time to repair it.

So chip it out. Putt it out. Man up and hit it (it's not 2" deep, be real). Or declare it unplayable, drop, and hit.

There, problem solved, injury avoided, and all within the rules.

[JWL1957]

The funny thing about this thread is that some people call it cheating, or ruining the spirit of the game to bump the ball in the fairway. It is not cheating. The USGA is a little vague over the NON RULE about preferred lies and winter rules. But they do say that all rounds should be posted while playing under these conditions? Doesnt sound like cheating to me when the governing body of rules (USGA) recognises that alot of us play on (beat up) (underfunded) weed patches. There are a few courses in the area that my buddies and I will play the ball down and dirty....... but not many.

[BallStriker]

But they do say that all rounds should be posted while playing under these conditions?

I believe that every local "association" can make their own determination -- the WSGA (Washigton State Golf Association) prohibits the posting of rounds between Nov 15 through the end of February -- I believe the idea is that the course conditions and weather are so crappy in this area that posting those scores would over-inflate one's handicap.

I am sure this is similar in the NE and midwest...

[GolfBear]

So chip it out. Putt it out. Man up and hit it (it's not 2" deep, be real). Or declare it unplayable, drop, and hit.

I decided to stop being a tough guy about 12 years ago. You'll get there someday too!