How do you guys play? Worst you can get is double,triple,double par, or count em all.

[Fourputt]

The guys I play with during the week play double par, 6 on a par 3, 8 on a par 4,and 10 on par 5's.(those hurt). They also putt out, no gimmes. We can move it a lil in the fairway, but don't touch it in the rough. The guys I play with on the weekend play triple, and gimmes inside the leather. They play the same as far as roll it in the fairway and play it down in the rough. Most of the other guys at my home course play double bogie golf and gimmes at various distances depending on what the putts for. For example, if its a 4 ftr for bogie, they may say, ''whats that for bogie? Pick it up. The 1st time I played with these guys, I thought no wonder they always shoot low scores. Im not even going to talk about a threesome I once played with that moved it a club length from anywhere, woods, water out of bounds, and a mulligan per 9. Im a go with  the flow kind of guy, and I will play however the group wants to play, but I do hate it when I make the turn with my double par buddies, and a double bogie guy in the clubhouse ask me what I shot on the front, and I have to tell him a 45 or worse.

I play by the Rules of Golf - no rolling, all drops are by the proper procedures in the rule, no gimmes (except in match play where conceding is allowed by the rules).  If I'm just playing for handicap, I'll pick up when I reach my ESC score of 7.  If we have a wager going, they all go in the hole.

[Gioguy21]

i count every stroke however, due to ESC every now and then when i post a card i will have to adjust my final score. i don't like to do it but, it is what it is. if i'm getting ready for a tournament i count every stroke, regardless of ESC and post it

[turtleback]

Ive heard that same exact story, joke, reference, whatever you want to call it, from 3 other guys, used in different, but similar circumstances, and they were all know it all, as$holes, but Im sure your a very nice guy.

Nope, not a particularly nice guy and quite possibly an a$$hole.  But one who recognizes the humor in you considering YOUR deviations from the rules reasonable and understandable while metaphorically rolling your eyes at SOMEONE ELSE'S deviations from the rules.

[MS256]

I am genuinely curious what you guys that would never break "the rules" would do if you go play in somebody else's game (for money) and their rules are not the rules of golf.

It seems to me that your only choices would be to play at a huge disadvantage, and more than likely lose your money, or to refuse to play with them and go home.

Even though I always prefer to play by the rules of golf, and usually consider it to my advantage in a match, I'm not taking my ball and going home and I'm not donating my money. Even though I'm not really playing golf I'm betting on a game by the rules that are set for that game.

The biggest problem I have in playing in any of those games is not that we are breaking the rules of golf but that invariably somebody is going to start stretching their own rules they have set for their game. A  club length is going to turn into two club lengths and a ball just out of a fairway is going to be rolled like it was "close enough to being in the fairway", and "in the leather" is going to turn into a club length. For that reason there are some games I simply won't go play in.

[nututhugame]

I count every stroke to the best of my knowledge. And I don't give myself any benefit of doubt.There are some situations where by the real rules one would be required to go back to the tee and in the interest of keeping things moving on a fairly busy public course i'll just take stroke and distance and play on. I don't go out of my way to give myself any advantage though.

[Lihu]

I am genuinely curious what you guys that would never break "the rules" would do if you go play in somebody else's game (for money) and their rules are not the rules of golf.

It seems to me that your only choices would be to play at a huge disadvantage, and more than likely lose your money, or to refuse to play with them and go home.

Even though I always prefer to play by the rules of golf, and usually consider it to my advantage in a match, I'm not taking my ball and going home and I'm not donating my money. Even though I'm not really playing golf I'm betting on a game by the rules that are set for that game.

The biggest problem I have in playing in any of those games is not that we are breaking the rules of golf but that invariably somebody is going to start stretching their own rules they have set for their game. A  club length is going to turn into two club lengths and a ball just out of a fairway is going to be rolled like it was "close enough to being in the fairway", and "in the leather" is going to turn into a club length. For that reason there are some games I simply won't go play in.

In my case, I am just learning the proper rules, and it would just complicate my life.

I played from wood chips, dirt piles behind buildings and everything else you can think of this last weekend (from decent drives, BTW), even though my playing partners told me to pull the ball out. It is more fun to me to play off these freakishly bad lies (even though they are man-made and I could have taken relief by the rules).

In my mind, I see a picture of a PG Woodhouse character "Bertie Wooster" playing from rooftops and tree branches or Mr. Bean playing golf from every lie imaginable, and it brings a smile and a challenge both at the same time.

I really prefer to play by the rules (even beyond, sometimes) and lose strokes, because I find that part of the charm and humor of golf.

This is probably why I think of gaining more keys (5SK for a better swing and ball striking) to be more enjoyable, and not so much a lower handicap.

[treebound]

I play by the rules to be best of my knowledge of them.

If I'm recording my score for handicap purposes then every stroke counts. If ESC is in place then hopefully the computer system will take care of it, or I'll adjust the scores appropriately at the time of entering them into the system.

If I'm blowing up on a hole and if the course is busy then I'll let pace of play decide and if my bad shots are slowing others down then I'll just pick up and move to the next tee and not use that round for recording purposes.

If the course is busy and if I get backed up behind some slow players I will sometimes give up on recording and cut across a fairway and jump ahead of the slowpokes and just play the rest of the round as a practice round.

As to money play, if I can't trust the score keeping of the other players then I'll just bow out of the wagering.  I've been a solo walk-on before and got grouped with a threesome who were wagering.  I just played while they wagered and stayed out of their "gamesmanship", keeps the fun but avoids the stress and set-ups for me at least.

[bcp]

ESC max!

[Big C]

ESC max!

The problem with ESC max (in my opinion), is that you forget what it's like to endure some really atrocious holes. So if I'm playing a casual round and I snap my drive OB, then dump my approach shot in the water? No problem, just pick up and record my ESC double bogey. What happens when that same thing happens during a tournament? All of a sudden I'm lying 5, having to get up and down for triple bogey. But even worse is that I have no conception of how to grind in that situation because every time things got a little hairy, I just picked my ball up during my casual rounds.

During my round yesterday, one of my best shots all day was a 10-foot breaking putt that I sunk to save triple bogey. As you can imagine, the shots leading up to that point were pretty atrocious all the way around. But I took my time over that putt, didn't let myself get rattled, and put a really good stroke on the ball. While it sucked to card an 8 (par 5), I was really proud of my ability to hang in there mentally.

[Golfingdad]

The problem with ESC max (in my opinion), is that you forget what it's like to endure some really atrocious holes. So if I'm playing a casual round and I snap my drive OB, then dump my approach shot in the water? No problem, just pick up and record my ESC double bogey. What happens when that same thing happens during a tournament? All of a sudden I'm lying 5, having to get up and down for triple bogey. But even worse is that I have no conception of how to grind in that situation because every time things got a little hairy, I just picked my ball up during my casual rounds.

During my round yesterday, one of my best shots all day was a 10-foot breaking putt that I sunk to save triple bogey. As you can imagine, the shots leading up to that point were pretty atrocious all the way around. But I took my time over that putt, didn't let myself get rattled, and put a really good stroke on the ball. While it sucked to card an 8 (par 5), I was really proud of my ability to hang in there mentally.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that people punish themselves with by playing casual rounds too, well, casually, is gimme putts.  (If you ever plan on playing competitively, that is)  Even putts as short as a foot are missable if you're not careful.

[chriskzoo]

As long as the strokes matter, play by the rules and let ESC handle any handicap adjustments. In our league, we give leeway to asking your opponent for drops on what we would consider unmarked ground under repair and simply treat OB as lateral (drop where it went out and add a stroke) - moves play along.

[meenman]

The problem with ESC max (in my opinion), is that you forget what it's like to endure some really atrocious holes. So if I'm playing a casual round and I snap my drive OB, then dump my approach shot in the water? No problem, just pick up and record my ESC double bogey. What happens when that same thing happens during a tournament? All of a sudden I'm lying 5, having to get up and down for triple bogey. But even worse is that I have no conception of how to grind in that situation because every time things got a little hairy, I just picked my ball up during my casual rounds. During my round yesterday, one of my best shots all day was a 10-foot breaking putt that I sunk to save triple bogey. As you can imagine, the shots leading up to that point were pretty atrocious all the way around. But I took my time over that putt, didn't let myself get rattled, and put a really good stroke on the ball. While it sucked to card an 8 (par 5), I was really proud of my ability to hang in there mentally.

how often do guys really shoot over the ESC max for a hole? Honestly, I rarely see single digit caps triple and I do not see a ton of quads with guys at my level (and when it does happen, it is on a par 3 and the round will never be part of our top 10 anyway) on a crowded course during non - tournament play, double digit holes will not do much more than give you a reputation as a slow golfer.

[Big C]

how often do guys really shoot over the ESC max for a hole? Honestly, I rarely see single digit caps triple and I do not see a ton of quads with guys at my level (and when it does happen, it is on a par 3 and the round will never be part of our top 10 anyway) on a crowded course during non - tournament play, double digit holes will not do much more than give you a reputation as a slow golfer.

At my home course I will generally exceed ESC once every two or three rounds. Yesterday I did it twice, but I'm blaming that on winter rust/lack of play more than anything. I think my general point stands, however. Those blow up holes (however infrequent) are a great opportunity to work on keeping your mental game intact when your game suddenly deserts you, for whatever reason. It

[Spitfisher]

about the only rule I will violate when just going out to play, no money or important match, just for social fun, is not going back to the tee if a ball was lost, rather make a best case estimate, throwing one down and taking the 2 strokes penalty. everything else is played down and eventually played in.

I don't lose many balls, with exception of last fall with lighting and leaves being a problem, sometimes 1 ball will last me several rounds.

[hopefulhacker]

I am genuinely curious what you guys that would never break "the rules" would do if you go play in somebody else's game (for money) and their rules are not the rules of golf. It seems to me that your only choices would be to play at a huge disadvantage, and more than likely lose your money, or to refuse to play with them and go home. Even though I always prefer to play by the rules of golf, and usually consider it to my advantage in a match, I'm not taking my ball and going home and I'm not donating my money. Even though I'm not really playing golf I'm betting on a game by the rules that are set for that game. The biggest problem I have in playing in any of those games is not that we are breaking the rules of golf but that invariably somebody is going to start stretching their own rules they have set for their game. A  club length is going to turn into two club lengths and a ball just out of a fairway is going to be rolled like it was "close enough to being in the fairway", and "in the leather" is going to turn into a club length. For that reason there are some games I simply won't go play in.

In Ireland we just play golf... We might have a bet but we keep within the rules of whatever format we are playing and the local rules of the course. I don't see the need to bastardise the game of golf by: rolling it on the fairway, moving a club length etc. It must be an ego thing. I'm glad to say it's something I don't have to deal with.

[Dave2512]

how often do guys really shoot over the ESC max for a hole? Honestly, I rarely see single digit caps triple and I do not see a ton of quads with guys at my level (and when it does happen, it is on a par 3 and the round will never be part of our top 10 anyway) on a crowded course during non - tournament play, double digit holes will not do much more than give you a reputation as a slow golfer.

Exactly.

[Golfingdad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big C

Yesterday I did it twice, but I'm blaming that on winter rust/lack of play more than anything.

Winter rust??  In Long Beach???  Don't let the East Coasters and Northerners hear you say that, or they're liable to give you a good smack!

[cipher]

Winter rust??  In Long Beach???  Don't let the East Coasters and Northerners hear you say that, or they're liable to give you a good smack!

'nuff said.