Golf's Most Craziest Rule???

[MashieNiblick]

I'll probably get 'flamed' for this but I'll put it out there anyway. OOB/lost ball and replaying shots. In this day and age of avoiding slow play at all times, changing this rule would speed things up a lot. If your ball goes oob, instead of walking back to the tee/wherever you hit it from drop within two club lengths of where it crossed the line. Same with a lost ball, lower the time to 3 minutes and if no luck drop in a mutually agreed place where the lost ball was likely to have been.

Hmm. It's a practical problem. Where did it cross the line? If you saw it then you know it's OOB and you replay. If you didn't see it then you don't know where to drop.

If you find it just OOB and have this option then you are getting an advantage over a player that goes OOB and can't find the ball and there shouldn't be different options on that basis. OOB is OOB.

 

[guest100718]

I'll probably get 'flamed' for this but I'll put it out there anyway. OOB/lost ball and replaying shots. In this day and age of avoiding slow play at all times, changing this rule would speed things up a lot. If your ball goes oob, instead of walking back to the tee/wherever you hit it from drop within two club lengths of where it crossed the line. Same with a lost ball, lower the time to 3 minutes and if no luck drop in a mutually agreed place where the lost ball was likely to have been.

I you think there is a any chance you may not find your ball then play a provisional.

 

[woody69]

Hitting a power line and you HAVE to play your shot again. Why not get the choice?

Is that an actual rule? I thought that was just a LR if decided by the club?

If your ball hits a power line or overhead cable, and the Local Rule covered in Decision 33-8/13 is in effect, you must cancel the stroke and replay it without penalty, as close as possible to the spot of the original stroke. If such a local rule is not in effect, you must play the ball as it lies.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I struggle with not being able to repair pitch marks in the fringe of a green that are directly on my line of play. Does seem particularly unfair.

 

[Akie]

I agree on the rule about playing again if you hit the power cables, I hammered a shot on the par 3 7th at ours which was going to fly through the green but hitting the underside of the cables meant it landed on the green. Might just be that I'm bitter that made that rule annoy me

 

[Val]

No relief for a plugged lie in the rough, for me thats the one that annoys more than most.

 

[ger147]

No relief for a plugged lie in the rough, for me thats the one that annoys more than most.

We have a local rule that allows relief in the 1st cut, not in the deep stuff though.

 

[stevie_r]

We have a local rule that allows relief in the 1st cut, not in the deep stuff though.

All year round LR for us, any ball buried in its own impression anywhere through the green.

 

[Region3]

No relief for a plugged lie in the rough, for me thats the one that annoys more than most.

I agree that you should get relief from a plugged ball anywhere through the green, but the reason it annoys me the most is that I KNOW that half of the club will think it IS the rule so the rest of us that know the rule are at a disadvantage.

 

[JezzE]

I agree that you should get relief from a plugged ball anywhere through the green, but the reason it annoys me the most is that I KNOW that half of the club will think it IS the rule so the rest of us that know the rule are at a disadvantage.

Cannot tell you how true this is!

Played a knockout match a few weeks ago with a guy who wouldn't believe me when I said you only got relief if there was an LR in force to that effect, and that I'd forgotten to check and see although I thought it probably was. 'I always take relief if it's plugged,' he told me angrily, then proceeded to drop, before accidentally on purpose treading down a tuft behind his ball when the drop didn't go too well... and when he thought I wasn't looking!

 

[JezzE]

I struggle with not being able to repair pitch marks in the fringe of a green that are directly on my line of play. Does seem particularly unfair.

Surely that doesn't happen very often? Can't remember the last time it happened to me...

 

[JezzE]

Bounce games fine, but I could see a mutually agreed position being potentially very difficult to achieve in a competitive game; eg 'I'm sure it was probably around here, in the cabbage but with a view to the green/ easy out' versus ' I'm sure it wasn't, I reckon you were the other side of that large bush'.

... is exactly why the Rule is the way it is, and The R&A have certainly looked at it over the years. Too open to overly generous interpretation sadly and likely to cause the odd on-course argument or two especially in tight matchplay games.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Hitting a power line and you HAVE to play your shot again. Why not get the choice?

No, that's the ONLY way to make it equitable.

 

[Val]

I agree that you should get relief from a plugged ball anywhere through the green, but the reason it annoys me the most is that I KNOW that half of the club will think it IS the rule so the rest of us that know the rule are at a disadvantage.

Absolutely spot on, it would amaze who many don't know the embedded ball rule, ive had peiople say all ypou do is roll it out it's plug mark and play it to others demanding you have to play it as it lies.

My last 2 medals have seen me have discussions with playing partners on lost ball and NPR, lost ball where he was ready to penalise himself as he thought that by being in the act of walking back his ball was lost and the usual one of NPR not being best point of relief.

 

[duncan mackie]

good to see such a solid understanding of why many of these rules have to be as they are, although it would be 'nice' if some of them simply didn't happen; ball in divot, unrepaired pitch marks, flooded bunkers not marked as GUR or powerlines at all!

I agree that it would be fundamentally better if embedded ball relief under 25-2 was extended to TTG - the rule is no more open to abuse than most others; if people are going to cheat in that way, as improving their lie etc, they're going to do it anyway.

FWIW I believe that in related situations, ball in CW in hazard, and ball that won't remain on a spot not nearer the hole when replaced (after moving MO), it would be better if the player was permitted to drop at the nearest point in the hazard in the case of the CW, or drop at the place the ball should be replaced but won't stay in the latter - and if the ball's do end up nearer the hole it doesn't matter. Having to take a penalty drop outside the hazard isn't appropriate - it should remain an option, but it should become compulsory when circumstances beyong your control create such situations. When you ball gets trapped at the back of a bunker by a carelessly left rake this becomes a 'double whammy'.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Crikey

Relief from divots
Repair ball marks on the fringe
Relief from plugged balls in the rough
Relief outside bunker when filled with water

Whatever happened to playing the ball as it lies and the course as you find it?

May be an indoor version of golf on a carpet would be fairer.

 

[Foxholer]

Having to take a penalty drop outside the hazard isn't appropriate - it should remain an option, but it should not become compulsory when circumstances beyong your control create such situations. When you ball gets trapped at the back of a bunker by a carelessly left rake this becomes a 'double whammy'.

Inclined to agree with this in this case (MO preventing ball from moving in bunker) - and the correction.

But the equivalent one, completed flooded bunker, is debatable. I accept the current method (treating it almost like a water hazard) but agree it's rather harsh. There does need to be some cost to going the 'bunker' though.

Crikey

Relief from divots
Repair ball marks on the fringe
Relief from plugged balls in the rough
Relief outside bunker when filled with water

Whatever happened to playing the ball as it lies and the course as you find it?

May be an indoor version of golf on a carpet would be fairer.

And add my 'ability to repair spike marks' - without undue delay.

Just trying to be fair to all and have course playing as it was intended.

 

[duncan mackie]

Inclined to agree with this in this case (MO preventing ball from moving in bunker) - and the correction.

thank you for the correction - absolutely right.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Bring back Stymies in match play......that will liven things up a bit.

 

[wull]

Greenkeepers should mark those as GUR. Problem solved.

Certainly seen that at Senior's Open Final Qualifying after 2 days of horrendous downpours!

When the weather was horrendous last year a lot of our bunkers were badly washed down and full of puddles and we marked them all as gur.