How honest are you with scoring???

[saevel25]

The courses i play are usually busy, and most people wouldn't understand the concept of walking back to the tee to hit a 2nd ball. So if i know i didn't hit it OB or a place i can't find it, you know those times were you hit a ball, you know were it landed but its just not there. I will drop one there, then i will just count that as 2 strokes instead of 1, because of distance.

Other than that, i play strickly to the rules of golf when i play by myself. If i am with my dad we usually play more lax because we want to have a good time, like we will give putts.. Same with league, if a guy gives me a 2 footer, thats fine, and we don't play stroke and distance in league.

[Lost-Ball]

i wanted to play today but after playing 36 holes friday i thought id give my golf muscles a rest. might play tomorrow if it ever drops below 100* lol i know i can still shoot in the high 80's if i play to my normal abilities and count EVERYTHING as the rules state. ive always been a "go for it, driveable par 4, what water?" type of guy but now the M (mulligan) word is out of my system ill be "Mr play it safe".

i think people were getting the idea i was just spraying tee shots left and right and just teeing up anouther like its no big deal on every other hole and i dont. im very good at recovery shots and really enjoy them actually. delofting my 4 iron and hitting it dead straight or drawing it under trees only letting it get waist to chest high is a shot i fell very confortable with.  after learning how to be a sweeper or a divot taker, a drawer or a fader of the ball there arent many shots i shy away from. what i love about golf is nothing is every the same. you get to be very creative and you better carry around a bag of tricks with you at all times.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by 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.

Actually if you tee off and it goes ob/hazard, it is shot 3

[LovinItAll]

i dont penalize myself for O.B. (yet) etc., etc.

Or, as Arnold Palmer says in a commercial for the First Tee program: "(Golf and The First Tee are about)... learning important values, like doing the right thing, even when no one is looking." So really, read the rules so you can enjoy the game the way it's intended to be played. I think I can learn almost everything I need to know about a casual acquaintance based on the way they conduct themselves on the golf course.

[Lost-Ball]

Arnold Palmer shakes babies and bites the heads off kittens when no one is around

[pholmes]

I try to play as strictly as posslble, but sometimes duing a practice round I find myself just bending rules to suit what I am working on, like rolling a ball out of a divot so I can see how well I an really hitting my 5 iron. The other one, I usually dont have the luxury of hitting balls first, if I dont, I allow a mulligan on the first tee.

[LovinItAll]

Arnold Palmer shakes babies and bites the heads off kittens when no one is around

Thank you for making my point. [quote name="Mr3Wiggle" url="/t/59887/how-honest-are-you-with-scoring#post_733931"]So when you break 80 for the first time, will you be excited.  :-D [/quote] ^^^^ Still the funniest post in this thread.

[turtleback]

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?  ???

You are allowed to leave the flagstick in.  But IF you are ON the green and you hit it, and that includes hitting it by sinking the shot, it is a 2-stroke penalty.  If you are OFF the green and the flagstick is attended and your shot hits it you also incur the 2-stroke penalty, unless you were not aware that it was being tended (say you play a shot to an elevated green and cannot see that someone other than your caddy is attending the flagstick).

[daniel2852]

Currently I am pretty liberal with my scoring, but then again I don't use it to calculate a handicap, but do keep track of stats online, so I suppose I should start being more honest.

The only thing I will really do is sometimes if I lose a ball, skip that hole. If I hit out of bounds I won't count it, and with water hazards I re-tee it and don't take a penalty.

I will start playing more in line with the rules however, not that scores aren't bad enough already.

[Chuckles76]

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2011-10/photos-reasonable-rules #

Interesting read, but use at your own risk.

[Dave2512]

Whether or not to take the penalty and move the ball by calling an unplayable lie is part of the strategy and course management of playing golf. Sometimes it doesn't make sense because the lie can't be improved. In that instance I play it as it lies, even if it's on roots, and play something smart. Where many players get into trouble is attempting the hero shot, probably because they see the pros do it. Again it's about course management. If I land in a bad spot I don't try to poke it on to the green. I'll take something I can control with a light swing and pop the ball out to a better lie. I pick a general target, the fairway, away from trees or bare ground. You don't need to take a full whack at something to hit a good shot. Recovering from bad lies is part of the game and if you do it well, even if you don't advance the ball very far, the people playing with you will be impressed.

I consider those shots to be the same as deciding whether or not to lay up to a hazard. Don't just think about that shot but how you will be playing the shot after that. Being in control of your round means planning ahead. Unless the green is within reach and I have a shot that will get me there I consider that it would likely take two shots to get there anyway. If it would normally be a 7i and a chip I simply reverse the order. Recovering from and taking obstacles out of play will improve your game.

[LovinItAll]

Originally Posted by Chuckles76

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2011-10/photos-reasonable-rules#

Interesting read, but use at your own risk.

Wow...'loose' would be an understatement regarding that proposed 'rule set'. I'm surprised they didnt add 'foot wedge' as an acceptable rule deviation.

Sure, no one wants to walk back to the tee after hitting one OB, but proposing not to hit a provisional because "...you can cut down on people going through their whole pre-shot routine before hitting a provisional ball that's likely to suffer the same fate ."

Maybe something like, 'Treat yourself to a practice round occasionally to try out different shots, etc. as long as you're not holding people up.' would have been better.

[Never3putt]

It boils down to "do you cheat or not?"   EVERY stroke counts.  Penalty strokes count.  Anything less is cheating (either yourself or your opponents)

[Lost-Ball]

they had a special today ($20 to ride 18) so i went out around 5pm to hit some balls. i used the first nine as practice and on the back nine i kept score. my goal for the back nine was to shot 6 over. greens seemed to be uncut and slow today with is unusual for this place. i left at least 3 puts on the back nine short by an 1" or 2

back nine info - par 36 - 3186 yards - 68.5/113 slope rating

back nine score 45

2 pars

5 bogeys

2 double bogeys

2 O.B. (tee shots on 17&18)

4 GIR

3 fairways hit

8 chips

15 putts.

i plan to play again wednesday and go to the driving range and putting green before my round. i didnt go today just to make sure i got a full 18 in before it got dark.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by Lost-Ball

back nine score 45

2 pars

5 bogeys

2 double bogeys

2 O.B. (tee shots on 17&18)

So the double bogeys were on 17 and 18? They would have been pars if your second ball ( third shot) was the first drive?

[Lost-Ball]

Originally Posted by Shorty

So the double bogeys were on 17 and 18? They would have been pars if your second ball ( third shot) was the first drive?

on 17 i managed to pull off bogey and on 18 i doubled. the other double was on #15. a 394 par 4 with a narrow fairway and a creek at 300 yards that goes into a figure 8 shaped green with water on the left. pulled my drive left, then chipped out to have 100yards left, hit my wedge which didnt baby draw (my normal shot) and was hole high but missed the green. 1 chip and 2 putts later i walk away with a 6.

on a good note i had no 3 putts

[Beachcomber]

I can't believe this thread is still going...

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by Lost-Ball

on 17 i managed to pull off bogey and on 18 i doubled. the other double was on #15. a 394 par 4 with a narrow fairway and a creek at 300 yards that goes into a figure 8 shaped green with water on the left. pulled my drive left, then chipped out to have 100yards left, hit my wedge which didnt baby draw (my normal shot) and was hole high but missed the green. 1 chip and 2 putts later i walk away with a 6.

on a good note i had no 3 putts

So you're saying you didn't count the OB balls on 17 and 18. What's the point?