How honest are you with scoring???

[mosnas]

Originally Posted by Roblar

I guess I cheat more than I thought:

--I never take out a flagstick when I'm playing alone, and I don't give myself any penalties for that.

--I add a penalty stroke, but I never return to the tee box to hit a lost ball (so, I take the stroke and keep the distance...).  I'll often hit a provisional ball just in case though.

What's the flagstick rationale anyway? It might stop a fast-moving ball?  Is it supposed to help establish a line?  ???

Well imagine you are putting and absolutely crush a ball that might normally go 5 feet by the hole but it hits the centre of the pin and drops.  That is why there is a penalty stroke added if you are on the putting surface and your ball Hits it. Only if your ball hits it is a penalty assessed if it doesn't hit the flag stick then no harm no foul.

As for OP play golf however you want do what makes it enjoyable for you just don't go bragging to your friends about the 78 you shot without counting 3 lost balls and don't claim to keep an accurate handicap either.

I usually do the "breakfast ball" especially when I haven't been able to swing a club for a few days. As will often leave the flag in for putts more than 40 feet so I can see the hole and for time, and for line purposes when. I only do this when I play alone however.

[bplewis24]

To the OP,

In a casual round you can do whatever you want to do as far as I'm concerned.  However, if you've been playing for 3-4 years now, it sounds like you like the game.  It sounds like you want to continue playing and improving.  I can assure you of one thing: if you don't start keeping a legitimate score each and every hole, you will never improve or even be able to assess which parts of your game need the most work.  When you allow yourself mulligans and free drops, you fail to appreciate the importance and weight of each and every swing.  You'll never have a legitimate handicap, and you'll never prepare yourself for true competitive golf.

Again, it wouldn't matter to me, because it only hurts yourself in those competitions :)

[Lost-Ball]

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o267/lancerontrack/IMAG0291.jpg[/IMG] Ok so what do I do with this? Do I get relief without penalty?

[LovinItAll]

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o267/lancerontrack/IMAG0291.jpg[/IMG] Ok so what do I do with this? Do I get relief without penalty?

Why would you think you get relief without a penalty? It's not GUR, right? Saw a guy hit off roots once and the ball jumped up and hit him in the jaw. Wicked.

[Lost-Ball]

Idk. I know diddely about the rules of golf! I might as well it the ball and top it 50 yards forward then take a penalty to move it a few inches over

[Zeph]

When I'm scoring, I'm counting every stroke. A good score ruined by a few stupid penalties only make me strive more to avoid them in the future.

[bplewis24]

I will allow somebody with a better understanding of the rules give a more technical answer, but my assessment of that situation would be:

1) Play it as it lies with the risk that you will look completely silly hitting off of those roots and possibly even hurt yourself if your club gets stuck on one of them.

2) If one of those is a loose stick and not a root, you could try to move the loose stick to give yourself a cleaner shot, but if in doing so the ball moves, you are in trouble and probably need to assess some sort of penalty stroke.  By the looks of that picture, even if the stick (on top of the other root) is a loose stick and not a root, moving it will definitely cause your ball to move.

3) Consider it an unplayable lie, drop it 1 (?) club length no closer to the hole and play it with a 1-shot penalty stroke.

4) Cheat and hope that you're not secretly being recorded in a Phil Mickelson commercial.

I would probably only play a full shot if the hole was to the West of the frame of that picture.  The entire East side of the ball is exposed, which means if the hole was any other direction I would probably chip out of trouble, taking my medicine.

[Lost-Ball]

Thanks I had no idea when u take an unplayable lie that u counted one stroke. Seems like everyone I've played with makes up their own rules lol

[Doctorfro]

Originally Posted by Lost-Ball

Ok so what do I do with this? Do I get relief without penalty?

I could hit that. Maybe not a long distance but I could advance that.   And no, you don't get relief.

[Lost-Ball]

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-play-penalty-shots-in-golf.html I'm gonna give this a good reading over

[Lost-Ball]

Hey if I got free clubs every few weeks like the pros it would be no problem. I spent a lot of money buying all this stuff and would be the one having to spend more money to replace it if I break it

[mad max]

Originally Posted by Lost-Ball

Hey if I got free clubs every few weeks like the pros it would be no problem. I spent a lot of money buying all this stuff and would be the one having to spend more money to replace it if I break it

You don't have to take a full swing.  If you don't carry a full set of 14 clubs you could add a 7 iron from goodwill or some other place that has cheap clubs and use that club when you don't want to damage a club.

[Lost-Ball]

You don't have to take a full swing.  If you don't carry a full set of 14 clubs you could add a 7 iron from goodwill or some other place that has cheap clubs and use that club when you don't want to damage a club.

That's a thought.

[mad max]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

I will allow somebody with a better understanding of the rules give a more technical answer, but my assessment of that situation would be:

1) Play it as it lies with the risk that you will look completely silly hitting off of those roots and possibly even hurt yourself if your club gets stuck on one of them.

2) If one of those is a loose stick and not a root, you could try to move the loose stick to give yourself a cleaner shot, but if in doing so the ball moves, you are in trouble and probably need to assess some sort of penalty stroke.  By the looks of that picture, even if the stick (on top of the other root) is a loose stick and not a root, moving it will definitely cause your ball to move.

3) Consider it an unplayable lie, drop it 1 (?) club length no closer to the hole and play it with a 1-shot penalty stroke.

4) Cheat and hope that you're not secretly being recorded in a Phil Mickelson commercial.

I would probably only play a full shot if the hole was to the West of the frame of that picture.  The entire East side of the ball is exposed, which means if the hole was any other direction I would probably chip out of trouble, taking my medicine.

One more option comes to mind you can also declare an unplayable lie and hit from where you hit your last shot with a one stroke penalty.  I.E you hit your second shot over the green into trouble where you cant get out without getting closer to the hole, or you hit into deep into trouble where dropping 2 club lengths doesn't help you, you count your second shot take a penalty stoke 3 then you are hitting 4 from where you hit your second.

[moparman426]

Originally Posted by turtleback

I could not care less what the poster does, but when someone represents something as a RULE and it is wrong then it behooves people who know what the actual rule is to speak up.  If you take a stroke on the putting green and the flagstick is left in and you don't hit the stick nor does the ball go into the hole then there is NO penalty.  But someone is going to listen to wrong person, think that is the rule, and then make a fool out of themselves telling their playing partners the "rule" or even worse indoctrinate some new golfer with the "rule".  This is exactly how so many ridiculous mistaken rules come into being.  That is why I made he correction.

People who want to pontificate about rules ought to be sure they know what the rules actually are.  There is no rule against putting with the pin in.

As to why someone might not pull the pin?  They could be too far away, say 60 feet, to be able to clearly see the hole and if accompanied would have had the pin tended (which right there proves that the whole leaving the pin in a penalty is nonsense since most people tending the pin keep it in the hole until after the putt is struck).  But since they are playing alone and cannot have it tended they decide that it is more important to be able to see where the hole is than the small risk of hitting the pin or holing the 60 footer?

But that is all irrelevant to the issue of what the RULE is and what it isn't.

Yeah, it was already pointed out.... No need to "pontificate" about it further.

[Dave2512]

Penalties are part of the game and not calling them on yourself isn't playing the game correctly. Not sure what the point of avoiding that is. My take is when I have a penalty or miss a gimme it's motivation to try and correct whatever the flaw is that caused that to happen. Seeing it's affect on my scorecard is the motivation. It's also possible to play good golf and score poorly. I don't judge my rounds or my progress by my card but how well I played on the course. There are days when I card a 10 on an otherwise great round and the card suffers. Other days I score well but play poorly. Good luck plays a part in those rounds. Balsl hit trees and bounce into the fairway, putts that would have rolled 10f past hit the hole and drop etc. The string of seemingly endless bogeys and doubles on those rounds don't kill my card as much as the afore mentioned 10. Just happened to me the other day. Hit every fairway and green in reg and my putter went cold. Had 23 putts in 9 holes. It was brutal.

[Jeffrey71]

In the town I live in (rural Oklahoma) there are 2 courses. One has a driving range that MIGHT have balls to hit. Both courses are very different which I enjoy, but at their nature they are both glorified cow pastures with very small greens. I don't know ALL the rules of this game, but I do know "play the ball as it lies." If I have a question about "relief" I go ahead and take the penalty stroke or 2, then after my round refer to the USGA website for clarification. Then I can change the scorecard if needed. It's easier for me to hit the ball off a nicely manicured, plush fairway, but what helps me save strokes is learning how to hit a low, punch from under the tree branches while resting on roots. In 4 months I have gone from a 26 handicap to a 20. I have played with guys who will do gimmies or move their ball to a better lye and at the end of the round say they shot one thing, but in actuality they broke the rules. When I was young my dad joined the Druid Hills GC in Atlanta, GA. That's where I learned to play. When I say "learned to play" I don't mean "learned to swing the golf club". I learned the basic rules of the game, that's how you play. If you want a better score, swing better.

[Mattplusness]

I count every stroke. I don't know all of the incredibly crazy and tedious rules that golf has, but if I hit it, I count it. If it goes OB/water/lost, I'll either re-hit for shot 2 or drop my 2nd if I didn't see it get out.