Some rules are unfair

[hendog]

Originally Posted by Datsyuk

Why not play your rounds alternate shot - a fourball - and have the not hitting partners go on ahead to act as forecaddies.

:) Not sure if you are serious or not. I admit there is not really a solution for this but its just frustrating I guess.
I should just play better.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

:) Not sure if you are serious or not. I admit there is not really a solution for this but its just frustrating I guess.

I should just play better.

Or just stop expecting fairness.  I bet you don't think it is unfair when you hit your ball into the trees and it hits a branch and bounds out into the middle of the fairway.

The essence of golf is overcoming adversity, because everyone has adversity in the course of a round.  And it really doesn't matter if the adversity is self-inflicted or the result of a rub of the green.

[Datsyuk]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

:) Not sure if you are serious or not. I admit there is not really a solution for this but its just frustrating I guess.

I should just play better.

Of course there's a solutioni. I just provided it. Consider it a 2-for-1 solution. It also speeds up play.

[David in FL]

[INDENT][/INDENT][quote name="Datsyuk" url="/t/62843/some-rules-are-unfair/18#post_780621"] Of course there's a solutioni. I just provided it. Consider it a 2-for-1 solution. It also speeds up play. [/quote] Seems to me that would slow things down, not speed them up.... I'm hitting and you, as my partner, are down range as my fore caddie. You then have to wait to hit, not only until I get to the ball, but until I get all the way to where your next shot is likely to land. Wash, rinse, and repeat...... Lets not even think about what happens if the hitting partner duffs, or dunks one in a hazard and the fore caddie partner has to come back. :~(

[Datsyuk]

Originally Posted by David in FL

Seems to me that would slow things down, not speed them up....

I'm hitting and you, as my partner, are down range as my fore caddie. You then have to wait to hit, not only until I get to the ball, but until I get all the way to where your next shot is likely to land. Wash, rinse, and repeat......

Lets not even think about what happens if the hitting partner duffs, or dunks one in a hazard and the fore caddie partner has to come back.

Wow that sounds like a tough course. Can't say I've ever played a course with more than 2 or three blind shots and those are typically off the tee. If the opponents don't mind riding in the same cart for a couple minutes I can't see how this could possibly slow down a group. Different strokes.

[David in FL]

Wow that sounds like a tough course. Can't say I've ever played a course with more than 2 or three blind shots and those are typically off the tee. If the opponents don't mind riding in the same cart for a couple minutes I can't see how this could possibly slow down a group. Different strokes.

Got it. Actual fore caddies are used on every hole to help find and keep track of errant shots, not just on blind holes. I thought that's what you meant. Once or twice in a round is no problem at all, and as you said, probably prudent!

[zipazoid]

Back to the divot thing -

Just play in Florida. We don't replace divots. Mainly cuz there's really nothing to 'replace' except shards of grass that's in like 6 pieces.

[iacas]

It's not unfair - the rule is the same for everyone.

And as I've said before, unless you throw your ball back into the weeds every time it hits a tree and bounces back into the fairway, or back into the water every time it hits a rock and bounces out, etc. then you don't get to complain about a small bit of bad luck for hitting into a divot.

I hit my ball into a divot on the Jubilee Course at St. Andrews. I put my next shot to tap-in range for a birdie. Suck it up.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

Since the title of this thread is "Some rules are unfair" and we seem to have exhausted the divot rule I would like to throw another one out there.

This is about the difference between PGA rounds and regular rounds.

How many of you have hit a shot into the rough and maybe over a hill or some obstruction such that you can't see it and you get down there and look but can't find it anywhere? Little do you know that it clipped a tree and bounced right about 20 yards and while its in play you can't find it. If you play by the rules, you are driving back and rehitting. Stroke and distance.

In PGA events they have people everywhere spotting for them. In that same scenario, someone would have the ball spotted and marked before the player put his club away. So no stroke and distance penalty for them.

This seems unfair to me.

It's not unfair as the condition applies equally to everyone you are competing against.  It would only be unfair if they spotted the ball for one player in a competition, then ignored it for the next one.  It's unreasonable to expect the same conditions to be present for every player in every round, regardless of the importance of the round or the level of play.  As long as the controllable conditions are the same for all players in a given competition, then it can't be unfair.  If you want to pay someone to run ahead and forecaddie for you and your friends, be my guest.  Until then, or until you become good enough to compete at a high level, you will have to be content with the rest of us to occasionally be surprised.

[hendog]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

It's not unfair as the condition applies equally to everyone you are competing against.  It would only be unfair if they spotted the ball for one player in a competition, then ignored it for the next one.  It's unreasonable to expect the same conditions to be present for every player in every round, regardless of the importance of the round or the level of play.  As long as the controllable conditions are the same for all players in a given competition, then it can't be unfair.  If you want to pay someone to run ahead and forecaddie for you and your friends, be my guest.  Until then, or until you become good enough to compete at a high level, you will have to be content with the rest of us to occasionally be surprised.

Uncle! Uncle! :) Of course you are all correct. I didn't mean to imply I want a rule change or that golf can not at times be both very forgiving and very penalizing and yes when the ball bounces to a great spot you keep your mouth shut and play but when it takes a bad bounce you complain. Such is life I guess. :)

To your point though Fourputt, sticking to PGA events here, how about players and groups that draw HUGE crowds versus players and groups in the same event that draw crickets? I guess this goes to your "controllable" conditions. I see times where Tiger or anyone that draws big crowds hits one sideways and it bounces off people and stays out in a playable location whereas another lesser known player might hit the same shot and have the ball bound into the trees or an otherwise less hospitable location thus costing him/her a stroke. I guess its like the great baseball player getting the benefit of a close pitch for a walk or a shutdown corner in football getting away with a little extra grabbing. Its just part of the game.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

It's not unfair as the condition applies equally to everyone you are competing against.  It would only be unfair if they spotted the ball for one player in a competition, then ignored it for the next one.  It's unreasonable to expect the same conditions to be present for every player in every round, regardless of the importance of the round or the level of play.  As long as the controllable conditions are the same for all players in a given competition, then it can't be unfair.  If you want to pay someone to run ahead and forecaddie for you and your friends, be my guest.  Until then, or until you become good enough to compete at a high level, you will have to be content with the rest of us to occasionally be surprised.

Uncle! Uncle! :) Of course you are all correct. I didn't mean to imply I want a rule change or that golf can not at times be both very forgiving and very penalizing and yes when the ball bounces to a great spot you keep your mouth shut and play but when it takes a bad bounce you complain. Such is life I guess. :)

To your point though Fourputt, sticking to PGA events here, how about players and groups that draw HUGE crowds versus players and groups in the same event that draw crickets? I guess this goes to your "controllable" conditions. I see times where Tiger or anyone that draws big crowds hits one sideways and it bounces off people and stays out in a playable location whereas another lesser known player might hit the same shot and have the ball bound into the trees or an otherwise less hospitable location thus costing him/her a stroke. I guess its like the great baseball player getting the benefit of a close pitch for a walk or a shutdown corner in football getting away with a little extra grabbing. Its just part of the game.

In a PGA tournament, there are always people in the landing area, even if it's only the hole marshals.  There are typically 10 or more marshals working each hole - we had 11 stations on the short par 5 hole I worked, but a par 3 hole would have fewer.  I worked as a volunteer hole marshal for 4 years at a PGA Tour event, and there are always a few die hards who find the spot they want and they stay there the whole time, usually in a place where they can see the tee shot land and the approach shot hit from, or somewhere near the green.  Usually when a Tour player loses a ball, it's because he hit it into such bad crap that it can't be found even with 100 eyes on it.

[x129]

Will the marshalls help if I need to lift a 2000lb boulder?

Originally Posted by Fourputt

In a PGA tournament, there are always people in the landing area, even if it's only the hole marshals.  There are typically 10 or more marshals working each hole - we had 11 stations on the short par 5 hole I worked, but a par 3 hole would have fewer.  I worked as a volunteer hole marshal for 4 years at a PGA Tour event, and there are always a few die hards who find the spot they want and they stay there the whole time, usually in a place where they can see the tee shot land and the approach shot hit from, or somewhere near the green.  Usually when a Tour player loses a ball, it's because he hit it into such bad crap that it can't be found even with 100 eyes on it.