How many of you "fluff" your ball or play 6"/winter rules all the time?

[Fourputt]

I checked #3, although I'm not sure what you mean by "sunk in the fairway".  If you mean embedded in the fairway, then you get relief under Rule 25-2 anyway, and GUR is Rule 25-1, so your qualification is a moot point.  However, you can't decide what's GUR on your own, that's up to the course or the committee to mark.  If it's not marked, it's not GUR.

I play the ball as it lies year round, and I played every winter in Colorado for more than 25 years, weather permitting.  Playing winter golf always seemed to me to be the best way to learn how to play all manner of bad lies.

[hammerhead]

Our league allows winter rules because the grounds keeping sucks. You can hit it in the muddle of the fairway and end up in a hole behind a huge clover plant. Heck with this heat they didnt even mow the fairways for 3 weeks because they have no water. If I play a real course I play it as it lies . I would rather have it sitting down that fluffed up

[KingG]

No matter how much I hate playing it off the dirt, I leave it there. I know where the bare spots are on the courses I play. If I don't want to play it off the dirt,I shouldn't hit it onto the dirt.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by Johnny1putt

why is it that the rules of golf get "bent" more than any other sport?

Id say its because there is no referee or umpire to stop people from doing so.  As for fluffing my ball, unless the course is really soggy I play it as it lies.  Even if it is really soggy, I still play lift, clean and place.

[brettski01]

My course is so wet and muddy they have no choice to have the 6" mark clean and place rule in winter. I dont think a ball with a 10kg of mud stuck to it is going to fly well...

In saying that the course is pretty badly maintained, enough for me to change to a different home course

[DirtCheap]

Originally Posted by Johnny1putt

Player A hits his/her tee ball into the woods on the left side of the hole.  After a search, no ball is found.  Player A then proceeds to drop a ball (and takes a penalty stroke) where he thinks it entered the woods.  Ummmm... wrong.  Hit a provisional off the tee if you think there is any chance of not finding the ball.  Saves the time and embarrassment of having to drive or walk back to the tee box to play your 3rd shot.  For the life of me I can't figure out why some people don't take a stroke & distance penalty in this scenario.

I disagree with this only because it would be very inconsiderate of the group behind you.
If we were behind you, and everyone in your group had already taken their tee shot, we would probably have already taken the tee box.
If we saw you coming back to the tee box, after having waited while you searched for your ball, we would be very unhappy, especially if you were walking.
For pace of play sake, look for you ball for about 30 seconds. If you don't find it, drop one where you think yours probably landed and keep rollin'!

[brettski01]

Originally Posted by Johnny1putt

Player A hits his/her tee ball into the woods on the left side of the hole.  After a search, no ball is found.  Player A then proceeds to drop a ball (and takes a penalty stroke) where he thinks it entered the woods.  Ummmm... wrong.  Hit a provisional off the tee if you think there is any chance of not finding the ball.  Saves the time and embarrassment of having to drive or walk back to the tee box to play your 3rd shot.  For the life of me I can't figure out why some people don't take a stroke & distance penalty in this scenario.

DirtCheap, its not hard to hit a provisional ball though.. If you cant find it you play your provisional. Now if only people would actually do this!

[Hairy Feet]

If I'm out on my own, having a practice knock, I'll move it if its in a divot hole to protect the course. Other than that its play it as it lies. How can someone believe their score is genuine if they've moved the ball?

[David in FL]

If I'm out on my own, having a practice knock, I'll move it if its in a divot hole to protect the course. Other than that its play it as it lies. How can someone believe their score is genuine if they've moved the ball?

I'm curious. How does moving the ball out of a divot "protect the course"? At worst you're only going to slightly deepen or enlarge a divot that's already there. By moving the ball you're actually likely to create a 2d divot. Sorry, I'm missing the benefit to the course here.... On a side note, the whole it's the rule thing notwithstanding, if someone moves the ball "only" during casual rounds, they'll find that they're much less comfortable with that shot when forced to play it in any kind of competitive round.

[slodsm]

My main course is kept in excellent condition but there are a few spots where there is bare dirt and club destroying terrain once you leave the fairway, then the rough, and then into the edge of the woods and I do manage to find it from time to time.

If it is possible to take a lateral with a PW and not damage the club I'll play it where it is but if not, I'll use the foot wedge to move it off the rocks/roots and get back to it. Not worth it to me either to damage a club. I never do it just to get a better lie though.

[Hairy Feet]

Originally Posted by David in FL

I'm curious. How does moving the ball out of a divot "protect the course"?

At worst you're only going to slightly deepen or enlarge a divot that's already there. By moving the ball you're actually likely to create a 2d divot. Sorry, I'm missing the benefit to the course here....

The choice is two relatively small divot holes or a crater. Have look the next time you're on the course at how quickly shallow divot holes recover compared to those that are deeper. You will also find that a shallow divot hole will still have grass roots in it, which will see grass coming through relatively quickly from the base of the hole providing its in the growing season, whereas a deeper divot hole will propogate from the sides only and will take a lot longer for the hole to germinate right across - I'm on the Green's

[kw purp]

Only time I move it is if I hit it in the fairway off the tee and land in a divot. In a casual round, if I hit it in the fairway I feel I deserve a clean shot into the green.

[tomwalshco]

I much prefer "down", but will nudge it now and then depending on circumstance. Never while betting, though.

Unfortunately, if everyone played it down, weekend rounds would slow to a crawl. Bad enough already. Look around on a muni on any given Saturday - and everyone nudges it (thank god).

Have friends who pick it up almost every time. Make a bet with them on a "down" only condition - and they will be practically paralyzed 10-20 times a round.  Bare spots, buried in 4" of rough and they're dead. Not counting the times they grab it absent-mindedly and you catch them.

And the same guys that are chronic nudgers, will also do it in hazards, bunkers, on the green, from behind trees, under bushes, etc.

It steps on the true spirit of the game - to me, anyway - but so do 46" space age material drivers, no-side-spin golf balls, 460 cc Fred Flintstone drivers, anchor putting, putter inserts, high-tech grooves.....

But I did grow up on hard-packed tee boxes, chick weed fairways (or dirt), crabgrass rough, poa annua greens that rolled like washboard country roads.

[Glenn676]

You need to move the ball sometimes as the rules dictate but fluffing the ball is cheating plain and simple. As a beginner, I like the challenge of having different lies and feel it's important to learn the different shots for those lies. How good are you and wheres the fun if you fluff the ball up to the same lie every time and make the same shot over and over

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Glenn676

You need to move the ball sometimes as the rules dictate but fluffing the ball is cheating plain and simple. As a beginner, I like the challenge of having different lies and feel it's important to learn the different shots for those lies. How good are you and wheres the fun if you fluff the ball up to the same lie every time and make the same shot over and over

Hear! Hear!  It's nice to see that we do have a few real golfers in the crowd.

To those who only move the ball under your own defined circumstances (a most curious habit from my point of view) - do you take the penalty stroke?  Just wondering.  If not them it's time to stop justifying your action.  You fluff the ball.

If you hit a bad shot and it ends up on rocks or roots or whatever in the rough, why do you feel that you have free relief coming as your due?  There is a rule to account for that, Rule 28 - Ball Unplayable.  Drop 2 clublengths away from the problem, give yourself a stroke for the privilege, play on.

[dak4n6]

Even when just practicing I play the ball down. Fluffing is a guaranteed way to not improve. I have noticed that when I have a bad lie, it makes me really concentrate on the shot and what I have to execute, and actually makes me hit with more precision.

Although, as I noted in another thread, someone who shoots 100 and plays the ball down and keeps an honest score will probably be playing a pretty slow round..

[njcl13]

'Fluff'??,i take that to mean moving your ball from an unfavourable lie because of winter conditions??,strange as 'fluff' in the uk means to miss hit your ball,to top it usually,my nearest course is horrendous,the only place where theres a good lie is on the tees

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Johnny1putt

Pet peeve of mine.  Not to change the topic... but.... why is it that the rules of golf get "bent" more than any other sport?

I could list a ton of examples but here is my favorite.  Player A hits his/her tee ball into the woods on the left side of the hole.  After a search, no ball is found.  Player A then proceeds to drop a ball (and takes a penalty stroke) where he thinks it entered the woods.  Ummmm... wrong.  Hit a provisional off the tee if you think there is any chance of not finding the ball.  Saves the time and embarrassment of having to drive or walk back to the tee box to play your 3rd shot.  For the life of me I can't figure out why some people don't take a stroke & distance penalty in this scenario.

The list goes on and on as far as golf rules being bent by players.  How about the guy who tees off... wacks a duck hook into the woods and then says "I'm taking a mulligan".  Why??????  Imagine if we were bowling and I really messed up and threw my first ball in the gutter.  Ever hear of anyone taking a mulligan in bowling???  It just doesn't happen.  Or the people who give putts that are in the proximity of 4 feet or so.  "That's good".  Ummmm.. no it's not.  People miss them all the time.

Doesn't happen in other sports, yet in golf the rules are being bent or broken all the time.

I also live in Ohio.  And play by the rules.

All of this, +1.

Also, what part of Ohio? I'm Northeast as well about 20 miles south of Cleveland.