Friends who call you out on rules but don't follow them themselves.

[trackster]

This has been quite laughable for me.  For the past 3 years I have been quite a stickler for the rules.  I like knowing what I shot.  This year in general there has been some really funny "rule confrontations" between me and my best friend.  Some of the rules that my friend likes to break are grounding the club in the bunker, lost ball counts as drop in the general area (one stroke penalty), OB as lateral (or even better yet, if he finds it OB he will play it as it lies no penalty.

Anyways a few days ago my friend pulled his tee shot into a heavy tree line.  The chances of finding that ball was 0%.  He then teed up another one.  I commented with "Good, you are finally playing a provisional."  He replies with "I don't know what you are talking about, this is my first shot."  On that same hole I hit my drive down the fairway.  After a short search for my ball (turns out it had rolled under an evergreen in the middle of the fairway).  He says "You better go back and hit your third."  I ended up finding the ball under the tree and having to take an unplayable.  His response to most of my rule corrections is usually "You are going to beat me anyways."

Anyone else have friends like this?

[hendog]

Lost ball drop, OB as lateral and OB play it as it lies are regular "rules" with the group I play with. I always hit provisionals regardless but they never do. And yes they don't really care because they know they can't compete with me anyway and they don't want to bother with. I don't really care since it actually helps speed them up.

They will occasionally question me about following a rule that they don't simply because they know I DO follow the rules. I actually was the culprit yesterday. I mentioned the number of "illegal" drops throughout the round but was reminded that I breached a rule as well. In a bunker on the 8th hole, a bunker that had not been raked in 3 months and looked like a scale model of a river basin (there were channels cut where the water had eroded the sides etc). My ball had stayed next to the lip because of this and also was sitting next to a big stick. Frustrated with the poor maintenance, I moved the stick and then played the shot on my knees from outside the bunker.

I will add the penalty when/if I enter the score (one hole had temporary tees and played as a par 3 rather than 5 so I am lost as to how to enter the rating and slope. See my Course Rating Question thread.)

As for the rules in general, they only play for fun so I don't bust their balls about it. Now if they beat me one day when I followed the rules and they didn't well then that will be a different story.

[trackster]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

Lost ball drop, OB as lateral and OB play it as it lies are regular "rules" with the group I play with. I always hit provisionals regardless but they never do. And yes they don't really care because they know they can't compete with me anyway and they don't want to bother with. I don't really care since it actually helps speed them up.

They will occasionally question me about following a rule that they don't simply because they know I DO follow the rules. I actually was the culprit yesterday. I mentioned the number of "illegal" drops throughout the round but was reminded that I breached a rule as well. In a bunker on the 8th hole, a bunker that had not been raked in 3 months and looked like a scale model of a river basin (there were channels cut where the water had eroded the sides etc). My ball had stayed next to the lip because of this and also was sitting next to a big stick. Frustrated with the poor maintenance, I moved the stick and then played the shot on my knees from outside the bunker.

I will add the penalty when/if I enter the score (one hole had temporary tees and played as a par 3 rather than 5 so I am lost as to how to enter the rating and slope. See my Course Rating Question thread.)

As for the rules in general, they only play for fun so I don't bust their balls about it. Now if they beat me one day when I followed the rules and they didn't well then that will be a different story.

See this is the thing,  If he beats me (hasn't happened this year) playing by his rules he has no problem claiming this score.  I think this frustrates him in the long run, because when he does play a legit good round, he can't understand why it is barely better than any other round.

[Fourputt]

As far as the question of rating... if I was that uncertain, I wouldn't enter it, or I'd ask in the golf shop and see if there is a reasonable resolution for the shortened hole.  I was pretty religious about entering every score when I carried a USGA handicap, but there are occasionally special circumstances in which it just doesn't make sense.

[Jimdangles]

Originally Posted by trackster

This has been quite laughable for me.  For the past 3 years I have been quite a stickler for the rules.  I like knowing what I shot.  This year in general there has been some really funny "rule confrontations" between me and my best friend.  Some of the rules that my friend likes to break are grounding the club in the bunker, lost ball counts as drop in the general area (one stroke penalty), OB as lateral (or even better yet, if he finds it OB he will play it as it lies no penalty.

Anyways a few days ago my friend pulled his tee shot into a heavy tree line.  The chances of finding that ball was 0%.  He then teed up another one.  I commented with "Good, you are finally playing a provisional."  He replies with "I don't know what you are talking about, this is my first shot."  On that same hole I hit my drive down the fairway.  After a short search for my ball (turns out it had rolled under an evergreen in the middle of the fairway).  He says "You better go back and hit your third."  I ended up finding the ball under the tree and having to take an unplayable.  His response to most of my rule corrections is usually "You are going to beat me anyways."

Anyone else have friends like this?

Alot of my friends dont follow alot of the main rules. I will usually point them out but I dont care that much because

A) I almost always win and when I dont I know why

B) I am not a real stickler for the rules because some I just find irrelevant. If they cheat blatantly I will usually call them on it but if they ground their club in fluffy grass and the ball moves then I dont care a whole lot.

I do get pretty pissed when my buddy takes a relief from a tree because it is too close or something. He is the only one who does it. He is also the guy that shoots 80's everyday one week and when he plays with you he happens to shoot a 110.

Just the other day I mentioned that almost every one of my friends always mark their ball wrong. It is something where I feel can be taken advantage of but if they mark their ball in front and mark their ball behind and put it in the right spot then its just not worth the trouble.

I also dont keep an "official" handicap so as long as EVERYBODY plays OB's as a laterall hazard then it isnt too big of a deal. It just saves time but we will hit provisionals when applicable.