Golfers and the rules

[tobybarker]

Played today with an old chap (well, older than me) who plays of 33, and he was killing it on the day, 34 points after 14 holes. He proceeds to hit his ball into a penalty area marked very clearly with red stakes. He walks up to it and declares that he's taking his free relief and goes to drop it out on the fairway. We point out to him that this is not the rule and after some argument, he complies and does the right thing, but it's adamant we were wrong and "we've done it this way for years". Makes you wonder how many people get away with similar "mistakes" for so long..... No wonder he appears on the leader boards quite often....jeez.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

I’ve lost count of the number of people who don’t understand that it’s nearest point of relief, not nicest point of relief.
Or who think they are entitled to a free drop from rabbit scrapings when their ball is embedded 4ft into a bush.

 

[Neilds]

This shows why you should have a copy of the rules in your bag so you can educate those who are ignorant of the basics. In a friendly way of course ?

 

[2blue]

Played today with an old chap (well, older than me) who plays of 33, and he was killing it on the day, 34 points after 14 holes. He proceeds to hit his ball into a penalty area marked very clearly with red stakes. He walks up to it and declares that he's taking his free relief and goes to drop it out on the fairway. We point out to him that this is not the rule and after some argument, he complies and does the right thing, but it's adamant we were wrong and "we've done it this way for years". Makes you wonder how many people get away with similar "mistakes" for so long..... No wonder he appears on the leader boards quite often....jeez.

Oh yes, not an unfamiliar scenario at all. As such 'arguments/discussions' can sometimes impact on your own game I now simply give my opinion & if they still wish to go their own way, suggest that they could play 2 balls & we could clarify things later & that may then prevent them from getting a DQ....... so over to them!! Usually concentrates their mind & gives me a 'rest'.

 

[jim8flog]

An argument with one old boy about standing on a path when taking relief from it cost me a win in medal one time. He was still chuntering about it throughout the play of the next hole which affected my game. He refused to be shown the rule in the book after the round.

Some of the things that you here about going on in some of the senior comps leaves one shaking ones head. Rumours about gimmes are not uncommon.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

I can well imagine the gimmes. I played at my FiLs invitation day which was BB stableford. I didn’t have a HC at the time so weren’t in the comp. But the two old boy we played with were and kept giving each other putts.
FiL did try and tell them it wasn’t allowed, but was ignored. They weren’t near enough to the prizes to worry much about it, but it was mentioned to the pro after.

 

[LincolnShep]

He's taking relief from every penalty area but his handicap is still 33?! Was that the only one he hit on the day?

 

[LincolnShep]

He refused to be shown the rule in the book after the round.

This is the bit that winds me up most of all - the players that believe they just know the rules and refuse to even entertain the idea that they might be wrong about something. Probably only a few rules officials know every rule and decision off by heart. The rest of us (well, most of us), need to look something up now and again, even if it's just to satisfy ourselves that what we think we know is correct. Having to look up a rule is not a sign of weakness!

 

[mikejohnchapman]

If I had a pound for every time someone said to me "it's always been in the rules you can do this" I wouldn't have to buy another drink in the clubhouse using my own money.

 

[YandaB]

If I had a pond for every time someone said to me "it's always been in the rules you can do this" I wouldn't have to buy another drink in the clubhouse using my own money.

So long as everyone likes pond water

 

[Orikoru]

You have to wonder who the hell told him you could have a free drop from red staked area onto the fairway. That's all kinds of wrong, how on earth did he reach the point in his life where he adamantly thought that was correct?? It's bizarre.

Getting it that wildly wrong surely can't be that common, but I'm sure there are minor infringements every single week in competitions from people who think they're getting it right. I must admit that I wouldn't typical look up a ruling due to not wanting to slow the play down, but anything I'm even slightly unsure of I check with all the players in the group to come to a quick consensus about what the rule actually is.

 

[BrianM]

This shows why you should have a copy of the rules in your bag so you can educate those who are ignorant of the basics. In a friendly way of course ?

A book, surely you have the app nowadays.....

 

[FuzzyDuck]

One of our seniors stated it was OK to take a 2 shot penalty when OOB. I pointed out that a) it had to be enabled by a local rule (which it hadn't) and b) it was not allowable in qualifiers. He insisted I was wrong until the club secretary put him right.

 

[NearHull]

I played with a player who believed that playing another player’s ball ‘was not a penalty because I didn’t mean to’.

 

[Neilds]

A book, surely you have the app nowadays.....

I actually have a handy flipchart booklet thing (from amazon) that is really handy and quick to find the answers
Golf Rules Quick Reference 2019: A practical guide for use on the course - for stroke play and match play https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/3906852156/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_VVKW5X5HECYEPEYH4DTV

 

[Swango1980]

Played today with an old chap (well, older than me) who plays of 33, and he was killing it on the day, 34 points after 14 holes. He proceeds to hit his ball into a penalty area marked very clearly with red stakes. He walks up to it and declares that he's taking his free relief and goes to drop it out on the fairway. We point out to him that this is not the rule and after some argument, he complies and does the right thing, but it's adamant we were wrong and "we've done it this way for years". Makes you wonder how many people get away with similar "mistakes" for so long..... No wonder he appears on the leader boards quite often....jeez.

I'm a little confused. I can understand golfers being ignorant of rules if they just play with the same people all the time, who are equally ignorant or willing to turn a blind eye.

However, you say he appears on the leader boards quite often, which implies he plays competitive golf and has done for quite a long time. Therefore, I assume he will have played with many many different people. This particular rule is not exactly one that is encountered rarely. It is about as basic a rule as anyone is ever likely to come across on a frequent basis. I can understand some still get a little confused as to WHERE to drop, although had he dropped it miles away on a nice piece of fairway, that seems to be pushing it big time in terms of anyone's understanding. But, to also think it is a FREE drop is bonkers. I'd have though more than 90% of golfers would have told him that is wrong in the past, probably way more than 90%. So, how can he use this as an argument? Unless you can generally pick and choose your partners for every comp, and it has allowed him to get away with it for years.

Also, what was his final score out of interest?

 

[chrisd]

Like, I guess most clubs having a large, new influx of new members I'm finding that they pretty well all play in the various competitions but their rules knowledge is pretty well non existent. The last knockout matchplay I played a guy said " I marched up on the tee and tonked a 2nd ball, surely it was obvious it was a provisional"

That was the last of several rule issues we "discussed " during the match ??

 

[Swango1980]

Like, I guess most clubs having a large, new influx of new members I'm finding that they pretty well all play in the various competitions but their rules knowledge is pretty well non existent. The last knockout matchplay I played a guy said " I marched up on the tee and tonked a 2nd ball, surely it was obvious it was a provisional"

That was the last of several rule issues we "discussed " during the match ??

I've mentioned this before, but I played a fourball matchplay game once.

On the 9th hole a chap put his ball to within 6-8ft and marked his ball. He had the next putt for a half or win, depending on what we all did next. Whilst we were putting out, he went to the far side of the green, put his ball down, a tee peg 6-8 ft away and started practicing his putting. I politely told his partner that he can't do that, and he is out of the hole. Three holes later, on the 12th, he was adamant he had a 6. With a shot, that halved the hole. I told him it was a 7. We continually went through every shot, yet he still said it was a 6. After a while I caught on that he wasn't counting the air shot he had. I told him, and he said it doesn't count because he didn't hit it. Yet again, I had to explain it to him.

To be fair, he never ever played in individual comps, he just played every weekend socially with his brother (partner). The knockouts were the only thing he entered.

 

[D-S]

The ones that annoy me are those that always proclaim they ’are not good’ with the rules as if this is something which enables them to make up rulings (always in their favour) whenever a question arises. They almost seem to deliberately not want to learn or know the rules as this would be to their disadvantage as if ignorance is a perfectly acceptable way of gaining an illegal advantage.

 

[srixon 1]

Free drop from a road is the one that gets me. I’ve lost count of the times that I have had to hit full shots from roads with a tarmac surface because the free drop would put me in the ?. FCs always say afterwards, why didn’t you drop over there away from the road. And I say because my relief area would be in a bush/knee deep rough etc. Some folks will just never understand this rule and always opt for the best drop.