Lost ball rule and pace of play

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, NM Golf said:

Difference between a lost ball and unplayable is...drum roll please...you know where an unplayable ball is! The highlighted portion of your quote is the problem I have with the whole thing. What if you hit it into the trees? The ball could be anywhere INCLUDING well behind where you think you lost it. Therefor dropping a ball where you THINK you lost it and taking only a one stroke penalty ends up being an advantage over someone who finds their ball and has to take an unplayable. Plus the fact dropping as an unplayable does not even guarantee relief whereas taking some half a$$ed guess as to where you think it was lost will. 

Did you actually read my proposal?  You would be required to drop at or behind the last point where the ball was visible, whichever was closest to the point where the shot was made.  If done as I suggest, that would ensure that no yardage is gained in dropping.  Just as with an unplayable ball, there would be no guarantee that such a location is favorable for the next stroke.

All I'm trying to do is to propose a workable procedure that might allow a player to play by the rules without being required to walk back 300 yards.  It gives a potential reference point to use as a starting point for following the dropping procedure.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Fourputt

[ANDY_UK]

Then again, we could play this wonderful game by the following rules

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Exceptions-Rules-Golf/dp/0679741232

You may hopefully never take the game seriously again!

Unless you are a touring pro!

 

 

[Lihu]

25 minutes ago, Fourputt said:

Did you actually read my proposal?  You would be required to drop at or behind the last point where the ball was visible, whichever was closest to the point where the shot was made.  If done as I suggest, that would ensure that no yardage is gained in dropping.  Just as with an unplayable ball, there would be no guarantee that such a location is favorable for the next stroke.

All I'm trying to do is to propose a workable procedure that might allow a player to play by the rules without being required to walk back 300 yards.  It gives a potential reference point to use as a starting point for following the dropping procedure.

I think he was proposing more penalty strokes than you had indicated. Which I personally think is great!

[NM Golf]

51 minutes ago, Fourputt said:

Did you actually read my proposal?  You would be required to drop at or behind the last point where the ball was visible, whichever was closest to the point where the shot was made.  If done as I suggest, that would ensure that no yardage is gained in dropping.  Just as with an unplayable ball, there would be no guarantee that such a location is favorable for the next stroke.

All I'm trying to do is to propose a workable procedure that might allow a player to play by the rules without being required to walk back 300 yards.  It gives a potential reference point to use as a starting point for following the dropping procedure.

I read yours, did you read mine? Lost ball in itself MEANS you don't know where it went. So I am saying, again, what if you hit a tree, or a rock, or anything else that sends your ball screaming in a rearward direction and you don't see it. You could in theory take a drop and a stroke penalty in an area closer to the green than where your ball actually ended up. Hence the problem with taking a drop and a one stroke penalty you could end up in a better position than someone who sees their ball take such a bounce and finds it. Understand?

[Rulesman]

Such a bounce and selective drop may of course result in a wrong place and serious breach DQ.

[Fourputt]

58 minutes ago, NM Golf said:

I read yours, did you read mine? Lost ball in itself MEANS you don't know where it went. So I am saying, again, what if you hit a tree, or a rock, or anything else that sends your ball screaming in a rearward direction and you don't see it. You could in theory take a drop and a stroke penalty in an area closer to the green than where your ball actually ended up. Hence the problem with taking a drop and a one stroke penalty you could end up in a better position than someone who sees their ball take such a bounce and finds it. Understand?

That can still be accounted for with a rule.  What do you do if you hit your ball into a river which flows back toward you?  You use the point where the ball entered the hazard as your reference, even though the ball will likely end up behind the spot from which you played it.  Rule 26 was written to allow for such an eventuality and let the player continue.  Rule 27 could be rewritten to take such a possibility into account and allow you forward progress in certain situations. 

I'm not saying that it will or won't happen, I'm just making suggestions that could work for the modern game.  That's all the ruling bodies are doing with their 2019 proposals.  Face it.  At the current time, 95% of the players on the course on any given day are just going to drop at a point near where they think the ball should be.  They aren't even going to consider going back to the tee or the previous spot.  This would provide an out for those who actually want to try and follow the rules but can't because of the 2 groups already backed up on the tee.

22 minutes ago, Rulesman said:

Such a bounce and selective drop may of course result in a wrong place and serious breach DQ.

Only if the rules remain as strictly punitive as it is.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Fourputt

[ANDY_UK]

I think that eventually technology will assist in finding lost balls. GPS balls, that sort of thing.

Of course there will be resistance, as there always is to change, but things will change. Probably within 10 years