Fourputt

Out here on the eastern plains, it hasn't been any benefit to be retired, because the weather simply hasn't been conducive all winter for playing golf. Today's forecast is for just 11 degrees - I can't remember the last time it was this cold in March. We aren't even supposed to get above freezing until Thursday, which means that the 2 inches of snow we got yesterday won't even start to melt before then. My first tournament at Foothills is scheduled for April 6... sure hope something changes by then. The way it's been going, I may not get even one practice round in.

I got a copy of our hard card for 2019, and the LR prohibiting the use of audio and video devices during competitions has been included. According to the email I got today, I was not the only one with such concerns. 👍

I emailed the request to my Men's Club board of directors, and got confirmation that they will discuss it at their regular meeting tomorrow and consider putting it on our hard card.

A lucky coin in one's pocket isn't remotely similar to playing music which others can hear. The comparison doesn't even make sense. To say that your music doesn't bother anyone else is a bit selfish and naive. I wear hearing aids, yet I could hear a companion's music from 40 feet away, and it was distracting even though he had turned it down to where he thought I couldn't hear it. He was even playing classic rock, which I like, but not on the golf course. Is it really so unreasonable to expect to be music free for 4 hours while playing?

I think that for most, expense is still the driving issue, especially if you want to do more than just play the local muni. Nice courses here in Colorado go from $100 and up per round. I used to be able to carry and walk 72 holes in a weekend for $15 per round - that same course costs $45 to walk, $60 to ride now. Clubs, even used, are not cheap for anything actually worth buying. Even a decent used driver will run $200. I understand the time factor for anyone trying to raise a family, but that has never been an issue for me. No kids, and my wife has always been happy to get me out of the house for a few hours. Accessibility isn't an issue for most of us. Even out here in the boonies, I have a well kept 9 hole course less than 10 minutes from my house, an 18 hole course 20 minutes away, and a second 18 about 30 minutes away.

First I want to be sure that we are talking about the same thing. A "bump and run" has traditionally been a shot that is "bumped" into a hill or mound short of the putting surface to kill the speed and let the ball roll to the hole. It's been a common shot in links golf, in part because of the design of the courses, and because wind can so often be a factor for any shot that spends too much time in the air. With the proliferation of high loft wedges, the bump and run isn't seen as often these days, but I did see a pro use it a couple of weeks ago in a PGA Tour tournament. It sounds like what you are describing is just a routine chip, using a lower lofted club to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Once again, it's a shot not seen as much in the modern game because of the variety of wedges that so many players carry. Also, the greens are so much faster than they used to be that controlling the roll out from a 7 iron "chip and roll" tends to be more difficult than pitching the ball 1/3 to 1/2 of the distance and allowing for less roll. I used to be an advocate of the chip and roll, and used to use a 8 iron a lot around the greens. I don't carry 4 wedges like so many do these days... my highest loft is 56 degrees. However, I now use my 51 degree gap wedge for about 95% of my greenside chips and pitches.

Not a tough crowd.... we are just golfers. In particular, those of us who regularly participate in the Rules forum believe that the rules exist for a reason, and we believe in playing by those rules even in casual rounds (anything other than a declared "practice" round). We do this in part because we want our handicaps to be a s accurate as possible, and because most of us find he game more enjoyable when we test ourselves under the same rules and procedures every time we play. I play all of those shots by the rules because I don't want to be completely befuddled when I encounter them in tournament play. I've played shots where I had to hit right through a twig more than once over the years - that's one where you really don't have any idea what might happen. Playing through a leaf is insignificant. I've done it often in autumn when leaves are a constant issue,and regardless of whether the ball lies in grass or sand, it makes no real difference. I've played shots where I couldn't even see the ball when I took my stance. Sometimes you simply have to do it, even if it means that you can't make the shot you would have preferred if the object had not interfered. Even after the latest attempt at simplification, the rules are still biased toward playing the ball as it lies in the vast majority of awkward situations that you can encounter. Doing so only when you are in a competition is giving away some advantage to those like me who are not intimidated or deterred by a difficult lie.

I strongly agree with this assessment. I'm having a bit of difficulty trying to understand why they felt that they needed to change the location of the reference point in this situation. What was wrong with the method for establishing the reference point in the previous version of the rules? The reference point was either the spot where the ball last crossed into the penalty area, or in the case of the ball being unplayable, the spot where the ball lies after the previous stroke. I don't see how it could be much simpler than that. As long as you went back on a line from the hole through that point, there was virtually no possibility that the ball could end up forward of that reference point after a drop. Seems to me that this revision has made it more, rather than less confusing, and as Ashville said, it's just set up for abuse.

I played my first 9 holes in the summer of 1961. I didn't really play more than 3 or 4 nine hole rounds from then until 1974, when I suddenly caught the disease. For the next 15 years, I estimate about 25 rounds per year on average. Some weekends we'd play 72 holes in 2 days, but it averaged out to about 1 round per week from March-October. In 1989 I joined the Men's Club at my home course and then I started playing more often. I worked a lot of swing shifts and played often in the morning before work. My play bumped up to 40-50 rounds per year until I retired in 2006. Then I started working at the course as a starter and for the next 5 years I played around 100 times per year. Altogether it puts me somewhere over 1500 rounds, but it could easily be an error of +/- 300. I never really considered trying to keep track, and for most of my life, there was no electronics or cloud storage to help with that.

A quick answer to the OP: I'd recommend getting either a 56 or 58 degree wedge and call it good. 70 is just too extreme - you don't even see the pros carrying anything like that.

I bought a 64 degree Slotline wedge back around 1990 - never could hit it on the course, but it was a kick on the chipping green. Once I'd hit a dozen balls, I got a feel for it and I even dropped a few shots into the cup. I never could make myself swing hard enough to hit it as far as I needed to because I was afraid of thinning it right off the golf course. Any mishit, even just a hair off, would cost at least a stroke. I don't remember what I did with... I think it went away with a set of Lynx irons that I sold to a buddy. I've mentioned before that I have never really been able to find consistency with even a 60 degree. I tried off and on for more than a decade. Once I did some testing and recording, I found that while I executed a good shot with it a couple of times in a season, those were countered by far more misses, and the misses were often disastrous. I decided that it was more help when taken out of the bag and stored in the garage. The highest loft in my bag now is 56.

As far as I know they have never felt the need to define what a pitch mark is. From the way it's used in the rules, it's obvious that a pitch mark is the depression in the the ground made by the impact of the ball when it lands after traveling some distance in the air. We all know what a "pitch" is, so by extrapolation, it isn't difficult to grasp the concept that a "pitch mark" would be the mark created in the ground after making a pitch. A ball may bounce out of the depression and then roll back into it and still be "embedded" under the rules. The rules also do not define "shot", nor as far as I've been able to tell do they ever use that word. We have to assume by the way it's used in the rules that a "pitch" is the result of any stroke that initially causes the ball to leave the ground and then travel for some distance through the air. The depression it creates when hitting the ground is the pitch mark. The rule book states that the ball must have been airborne, creating the pitch mark when landing, to qualify as "embedded" under the rule. A ball driven into the ground by topping the ball does not qualify for relief without penalty, nor is a ball considered to be "embedded" if it creates a depression when dropped under a rule. Therefore, just because your ball rolls into a sand filled divot, it has not created a pitch mark just by settling as it stops rolling.

I've only seen this one time on properly cut hole. If the lip of the liner is at least one inch below the level of the green, it's pretty hard to make the ball do that. I've played courses where they don't really understand the principle, and only set the liner 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and that can be an issue. On the one course I play most often with that situation, I'll definitely be leaving the flagstick on the hole for all putts.

If the weather allows play, it's on dormant grass. The greens are a bit trickier, because they get "nappy", like the bristles on a brush when the blades dry out. I don't play as much winter golf as I once did, and currently we are actually in a winter weather pattern. This is our yard 2 days ago:

Since I've only played 2 rounds in my life on Bermuda, I don't really have any thoughts on that. I know it hat it was certainly different. The course I played back in the mid '90s in Ft. Myers, FL (San Carlos Golf Club) was very grainy, but I spent a half hour on the practice green and didn't really have any issues with putting once I learned to adjust for the grain effect. Trying to chip and pitch out of Bermuda rough was a nightmare for me. Most of the courses I play don't have bent grass either - I'm most used to rye, sometimes with poa annua mixed in. I'm not an agronomist, so I don't know all of the strains used for putting greens, but as long as they aren't Bermuda, I don't see that much difference between them. Bermuda is the only turf I've putted on where I had to really consider and figure out the grain on every putt.

As a 72 year old with a handicap that's moving in the wrong direction, I'm not sure I can help the OP, but I carry 3-5-7 (distances about 205, 190, 180) woods, but my 3 wood is a weaker than normal 15 degrees, almost a 4 wood. I just put the 3 wood back in my bag halfway through last season. Every year I seem to lose a little more distance. Like the OP, I have had to drop hybrids from my bag because when I miss with them, they go far left, and usually dead. Since my "normal" shot is a fade, anything that turns unexpectedly left is going to be a problem for me.

I never hit a putt off center on purpose. Good putting depends so much on good technique that I have found that using the same routine for every putt is key for me to get the ball rolling on the right line. What I do for those slightly longer (10-15 feet) downhill putts is to take my read, then pick a point on that line somewhere short of the hole (how far short depends on just how slick that putt actually is), then I try to hit the putt with the speed that my brain feels is needed to reach that spot on a flat green. With the new rules, on a 4-5 footer I'll just try to pick a line to hit the center of the hole, then try to hit the flagstick, like I'd do if I was on the practice green. That doesn't mean that I'll bang it in...but it does let me be a little more aggressive and take at least some of the break out of the putt. But above all, I'll focus on making a smooth stroke, hitting the ball squarely, and following through. For me, short putts are all about the takeaway and the follow through. A slight wobble at the start or a stab with a short follow is almost always going to result in my failing to execute almost any putt, but it just increases that potential on those short fast downhillers.

I've played with a watch on my left wrist for 40 years... why is that weird to you? I also don't mind having a bit of stuff in my pockets. My wallet always stays in my hip pocket, and I'm only about 50-50 whether I put my keys in the bag or leave them in my pocket. It has never made one iota of difference in my scoring where my keys are or what else I might have in my pockets. You clearly play under different conditions from what I do. Most of the courses I play at, if you stop for lunch at the turn, getting back out for the back nine is going to be an issue - could take an hour or 2 to get a break in the traffic. It's even possible at times to lose your place just grabbing a hot dog at the snack bar. To answer the topic, Until this season, my phone has always been in my bag, set on silent. Near the end of last year, I lost my second Garmin GPS, so from now on, I'll just use an app on my S9 phone. It will be mounted on the roof support pole on the golf cart.

I still find it quite amazing that professional golfers would feel that they need help in lining up for a shot. In my opinion, proper alignment and aim is part of the swing, and since assistance in making a stroke has always been against the rules, this extension seems appropriate. When I first saw it on the women's tour years ago, my only thought was "That looks weird!" But it seems to be getting more popular, which may have something to do with why they added the prohibition. One or two random players probably would never have been noticed, but it seemed to become a crutch for many of the Korean ladies, and has spread quite a bit beyond that.

This one was in the USGA version of the Decisions when I bought my first copy back in the 90's. The Tiger incident replaced this one shortly after that very well televised ruling (with Ken Venturi swearing up and down that there was no way that Tiger was allowed have a bunch of patrons help him move that boulder).

The rules can't be applied in a haphazard fashion. They have to be applied in the same manner in every case or they cease to be valid. It's one thing to fudge them in a casual round, but in a competition, they are the law.

After losing my second Garmin GPS last summer, I gave up and started trying GPS apps for my Android phone. So far I've only tried a free one (Golf Pad) in actual play, very simple and works well, but no info on hazards and such. I've installed a second one called Golf Frontier, that gets good reviews, $2.99 so if I ultimately don't like it, it's not going to break the bank. As soon as weather permits, I'll take that one out and learn it here on my local 9 holer before I try to use for tournament play. For a couple of years I carried both laser and GPS. I decided that I prefer the GPS for the features and speed of use. As with most amateurs, I have no need for 1 yard accuracy with a laser... The 2-3 yards I get with GPS is fine for me. Even back when I played to a 10 handicap, the GPS was plenty accurate for me.

I just see experienced players using a logical process once they get used to the idea. I'd go for something like this: Try having one member of the group that hangs near the hole to remove or replace the flagstick as desired for each player, just as someone tending the flagstick has always done but having to step a couple of paces a way when the player wants the stick in the hole so as not to be deemed as "attending". I'm guessing that most players will want it in the hole for longer putts, but there will be varying opinions on shorter putts. For me, I'll almost always leave it in for long putts, and probably for most short ones too, unless it's a situation where the flagstick is leaning toward my line. If it has already been removed after I'm within about 10 feet, then I may not worry about it either way. Like so many other shots in golf, a lot will depend on the situation.

If 12 years in retirement hasn't completely eroded my right triangle solving skills, It appears that for each degree that you are off your aim, you would miss your mark by 17.5mm per meter of distance. The longer the putt, the more total error, and the less useful such an aiming assistant would be. I agree that such a short line is more of a mental help than physical. If it helps make a more confident stroke, then have at it, but it really doesn't do much as an actual physical asset.

This appears to be an "intent" situation. If the intent is to mark the ball, then no issue. If the intent is to assist with alignment, then there might be an issue with the new rule. First, in the definitions the rules no longer appear to differentiate between line of play and line of putt. Line of putt no longer seems to exist in the new rules. Everything is based on line of play now, which is not necessarily a straight line as it once was deemed to be. The rule has also changed to expand the prohibition for indicating line of play. The entire green is now off limits for placing any object for the purpose of indicating the line of play. Taking that at face value, it seems to me that placing a ball marker which has an alignment feature on it, and orienting that feature with the line of play could be construed as in opposition with new rules 10-2b(2). The ball seems to be the only object that is exempted from this prohibition.