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

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Jimbo Slice

This commercial has been out for seven months, but I just saw it today on golf channel. I was cracking up.

Barclays Commercial with Phil Mickelson.... Dude, come on.

I love these commercials because I recognize the course.  It's Fairbanks Ranch CC in Del Mar.  This one is less obvious, but the other one where he's scolding the guy with the temper is unmistakable with the lakes and the palm trees and the clubhouse in the background.  I was lucky enough to play in a couple of charity scrambles here a few years back.  Never won squat but had a blast doing it.

[Glenn676]

Originally Posted by Jimbo Slice

This commercial has been out for seven months, but I just saw it today on golf channel. I was cracking up.

Barclays Commercial with Phil Mickelson.... Dude, come on.

Anybody else notice the double or triple hit the guy makes when he actually hits it in the end?

[Undr Par]

Well, for me I play alot of 9 holes and don't even keep my score....on those occasions I will from time to time fluff a ball (never in the fairway though) but in the rough...yes I will....now when I'm out with my friends and we are competing playing 18 and I'm keeping my score I will not fluff the ball (no matter where it lies).....for me I don't always play Golf to be serious...I like to relax and just fart around from time to time..so yes I fluff

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I love these commercials because I recognize the course.  It's Fairbanks Ranch CC in Del Mar.  This one is less obvious, but the other one where he's scolding the guy with the temper is unmistakable with the lakes and the palm trees and the clubhouse in the background.  I was lucky enough to play in a couple of charity scrambles here a few years back.  Never won squat but had a blast doing it.

Love that commercial.  Note the caddies rolling their eyes when he lets everyone know he found his ball.

From this thread, it's entirely possible that the "golfer" is one of our illustrious forum members.......

[Jimdangles]

Originally Posted by Glenn676

Anybody else notice the double or triple hit the guy makes when he actually hits it in the end?

HAHAHAHAH ya that bothers me EVERYTIME too.

[Chas]

Interesting thread.  I've started playing with a friend of my wife, who I'm getting to know better on and off the course.  I notice that he moves the ball to a better position on most fairway shots.  I don't have a problem with this.  It's his round after all and we aren't competing in any way so I don't really care how he chooses to play, as long as he keeps up the pace and plays with the proper etiquette regarding other players (which he does).  I'd rather he improves his lie and thus enjoys himself more (presumably) than that he stick to the rules and gets upset at his play more often.  Me, I'd enjoy myself less improving my lie.  Hitting a decent or halfway decent shot out of a nasty lie is one of the pleasures of golf - like making a good recovery from the rough.  If you mess it up, you might learn something about how the game should be played. This game was meant to be challenging.

[Chas]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I love these commercials because I recognize the course.  It's Fairbanks Ranch CC in Del Mar.  This one is less obvious, but the other one where he's scolding the guy with the temper is unmistakable with the lakes and the palm trees and the clubhouse in the background.  I was lucky enough to play in a couple of charity scrambles here a few years back.  Never won squat but had a blast doing it.

Thanks for that.  I drive past Fairbanks Ranch CC often as it's only a few miles from where I live and I hope to play as a guest one day.  Good looking course - what was it like to play?  I did get an invitation to play there a few years ago (by the CEO of the company I was working at) but didn't take the guy up on it - big mistake.  Anyway it's one of my favorite commercials.  Of course Phil lives nearby in Ranch Santa Fe so I'm not that surprised the commercial was shot there.

David in FL: it wasn't me, honest .....

[Stewie007]

99% of the time I generally won't. I do if its literally on a rock or somewhere that could potentially do some damage to my club. I pay for these things, so I don't see the sense in being a purist in all circumstances.... Occasionally, I have fluffed it in a really crappy lie in the rough, but I also prefer the great recovery instead of the great recovery that was a product of a bit of embellishment.

I don't really care if others in my group are doing it (which generally are people I know). Its just a friendly game of golf we're playing, so I see no point in jarring that by starting an argument.

[cooke119]

Hell no, I play in a league and we play by the rules.

[phan52]

The only time I touch my ball is if it's in GUR or if they have announced lift-clean-place. We DO play winter rules in, well, winter. Never before Thanksgiving and never after April 1. If people think it is OK to just move their ball, I don't want to play with them.

[Putridgasbag]

Originally Posted by David in FL

I just don't understand why so few people can't have fun, enjoy the course and time away from everything while playing golf properly at the same time.

I just don't get that. To each his own though.

It would seem that too many player's enjoyment of the game is tied to the number they shoot. For some reason shooting a 98 sounds better than 100 and something even if it was scored by breaking rules.

Best way to avoid the whole problem would be to do handicaps the way the rest of the world does it outside of North America where a handicap is only calculated on tournament rounds. If you are playing for shits and giggles a handicap is meaningless so why bother.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Putridgasbag

If you are playing for shits and giggles a handicap is meaningless so why bother.

That's a game I'm unfamiliar with.

[Putridgasbag]

Oh yes you are. It is when golf is more about the cart girl, where rules are made up on the fly because they don't know or don't care to know the rules...

I suppose I didn't really explain it very well. I have a hard time with a handicap system that basically puts the same weight into scores that are shot with no pressure while out wandering on the course with the buddies. Games where shots that really wouldn't be played if the score mattered or had something riding on it. Heck I am as guilty of this as the next guy. Nothing on the game I am going for a lot of stupid shots, trying stuff, having fun. Then there is the group of guys who fluff it up, nudge and roll and all the other crap. Casual rounds that count towards your handicap are the home of the Sandbagger and the Vanity 'cap guy.

It is to the point that at my club at the Saturday Morning Members event there is a separate handicap kept with only those scores. Why? Because there is money involved and obviously nobody trusts the handicap kept with the Grand Poohba's of the game. Know what I trust the Saturday 'cap number a heck of a lot more than I do the one on the computer.

I could go on and on but I seemed to have strayed a little from the original topic.

[HmtGolfGuy]

Originally Posted by David in FL

I just don't understand why so few people can't have fun, enjoy the course and time away from everything while playing golf properly at the same time.

I just don't get that. To each his own though.

This is exactly why this thread even exists and why you will probably never understand someone who does "fluff".  I've played for over 40 years, and in every round I've posted for handicap purposes or during tournament play I've never "fluffed" a lie unless moving the ball is within the rules.  However, sometimes I play to work on a certain aspect of my game, or try different strategies on holes, or maybe trying to hone a draw played to hold or ride the wind.  At those times, I may hit more than one shot from the same position.

Do I count these scores?  Absolutely not.  I've had many opportunities to pad a handicap by counting these rounds, but that's not fair when it comes time to "play for real" (i.e. money or a tournament).  In fact, this can actually have the opposite effect because I miss out on at least a half dozen rounds each year that would end up raising my handicap (at least to some extent).

Go to a professional tournament early in the week and watch a few practice rounds and you'll see the best players in the game do exactly that (and "fluff" lies when doing so).  Does that make them less of a player because they're not playing by the rules?  Nope, not at all.  Same goes for the average player, as long as they don't count the scores for handicap calculations or in a tournament.

Originally Posted by Fourputt

This puzzles me too.  I reiterate that I don't really care what others do when they aren't in competition with me, but I can't understand the attitude that golf can't be fun when played by the rules.  To me, playing any other way is just wasting time, since I can't count anything I do as being part of a meaningful round.

Have a great round and shoot a lifetime low score?  Nope didn't happen since I was giving myself improved lies.  Holed out from the fairway for an eagle?  Can't really count it since I rolled the ball off that dry patch of fairway grass.  I'm left with only one memory, and that is that I didn't play the game as it was meant to be played, thus anything I accomplished is irrelevant.  To me, for my own play, that approach is unacceptable.

I often wonder when reading the accomplishments of others on this forum how many times those great holes or outstanding rounds were truly played by the rules, especially after reading this thread and seeing how many players really don't seem to think that the rules have any bearing on the game.  If you have only broken 90 once in your life, but played by some of the modified rules seen here, then I'm really sorry, but you haven't broken 90 - you may not even have broken 100.

For me, I enjoy golf in both situations.  It's a different enjoyment for each - posting a good score when you have a run on bad lies is a great feeling, but so is using the course for practice and getting that cut shot just right so it holds it's line into a right-to-left wind.  As noted above, I don't count the scores when I'm playing that way (the ONLY exception would be if I ever got a hole-in-one, but that's a single hole not a full round score - and no, I wouldn't call it a hole-in-one if it wasn't my original tee shot).

When I was in High School, the pro at the local course once told me one of the fastest ways to improve was to hit two shots off the tee, then play the worst one.  Repeat with your second shot, and every shot/putt for the whole round.  In his words, "do that 2 or 3 times and you'll be amazed at how quickly the difference narrows, because you'll get REALLY tired of having to play from the worst position after a lousy shot."  Definitely not playing by the rules, but if your goal is to improve your score (not necessarily your swing) you should try it - I've seen a lot of players knock 8-10 shots off their scores after just 3 rounds playing that way.

For 99% of us the goal is to have fun.  For each person that definition is different, and no one should put anyone else down or criticize them because it's not the way they have fun.  As long as you don't do it when it "counts", or when you're posting for a handicap, it really doesn't matter one way or another.

(BTW - best score ever = 69, no fluffs, including a left-handed shot because of a tree. Had a blast!  But - same could be said for the 85 I shot with a great friend just goofin' around and fluffing a couple lies)

[Wisguy]

Just bought a new gap wedge off eBay cheap (Powerbilt - really heavy, maybe 25-30% heavier head than any other wedge I've played) that arrived in Saturday's mail, didn't have time to take it to the range before playing yesterday, there was no one within 3 holes behind us, so a few times, I dropped an extra ball from 100 yards to see how long it hit (sadly it was no longer than the too-short 53* Nike gap wedge I wanted it to replace).  What, if anything, is the official rule on this hitting-extra-balls-for-practice practice in a non-tournament round, when one does not in any way count or continue to play the second ball?   Does it make any difference that I wasn't even hitting the extra ball from the same place as a ball I was actually playing, just from a predtermined distance to see how far a real (i.e. non-range) ball would go with the club?

[JaxGolfer1]

I play the ball down and into the hole, but if I got worked up every time a playing partner rolled it in the fairway and raked it in the hole I'd lose my mind. So I don't worry about them and play by the rules and everybody has a good time. At least you'll know your handicap is legit.

[RGoosen]

Originally Posted by JaxGolfer1

I play the ball down and into the hole, but if I got worked up every time a playing partner rolled it in the fairway and raked it in the hole I'd lose my mind. So I don't worry about them and play by the rules and everybody has a good time. At least you'll know your handicap is legit.

I agree... life is too short to police other players during a non-competitive round.