Lift and Place all year round.

[D-S]

If you’re going for this, why not move your ball away from footprints in a bunker, not my fault that some muppet didn’t rake them.

By the way I won’t sign your petition either.

 

[CliveW]

Why not just ask for fairway mats all year round? That way there wouldn’t be any divots to worry about!

 

[Crazyface]

How do you define a divot?
The R&A cant, and the USGA cant.
My divot might be your scuffed tuft of grass.

If it was definable then there would have been a rule change years ago.
It isnt, so I wont be signing.

A divot can be anything the player says is a divot. You get one drop and that's it. No problem from me.

 

[Billysboots]

I see far worse examples of bad luck on a golf course than landing in a fairway divot. An awful bounce from the middle of a bone hard summer fairway seeing a good drive disappear behind a tree or, worse still, into a savage second cut never to be seen again. Hitting a sprinkler head with an approach and seeing a ball fly the green into a bunker or water hazard. Finding a plugged lie in a bunker.

All of those have happened to me this year - multiple times I have seen good shots punished by the rub of the green, bad luck, call it what you will. I’ve not found a single divot in a fairway, although I have done a number of times in the first cut.

Whilst I do understand the OP’s frustration, I don’t support any campaign to change the current rules to accommodate it.

 

[IanM]

A divot can be anything the player says is a divot. You get one drop and that's it. No problem from me.

And that's exactly why there isn't a free drop from divots!

 

[rulie]

As referees say often when examining a tough spot, “It’s play hard.”
I understand that perfect lies are available in billiards and even indoor golf.
Playing outside is different (and loads more fun).

 

[chrisd]

Sign the petition ? ................ absolutely a ridiculous idea

And for that reason I'm out !

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Maybe you should send your luck of the draw to all the other sports that have changed with the times. Maybe asking an England Supporter whether Maradona's Hand of God goal to be ruled out. Telling him it would be detrimental to the sport to use video evidence to change the outcome and tell him that Maradona was playing to the spirit of the game. This is just trying to make the game fairer for everyone including you.

I get my fair share of good luck…I can therefore happily accept my share of the bad - especially as everyone else is in the same boat as me when it comes to good and bad luck.

 

[Colin L]

Thank you for your comments but once again you are missing the point. I am not talking about a National Tournament or a Professional one. I am about Joe Public. They will tell you that getting a committee to do something like this is like asking the sun not to rise in the morning. Like you I would love the Committee of my golf course and many others to make a common sense decision but I won't hold my breath.

I am not missing any point. The rules are the same for everyone and local rules which can be adopted to deal temporarily with adverse conditions are available to and have been used in my knowledge by regional and national associations, the R&A for its competitions (including the Open), the USGA for its and my own club down the road. I can't answer for other clubs and you obviously must have a very wide experience of clubs (worldwide?) to support your generalisations. I can only answer for the one I belong to which most certainly makes use of the local rules for adverse conditions. It does seem odd to want to petition for a change in the worldwide rules of golf because some committees don't make use of available and approved local rules.

By the way, I would appreciate it if you could edit out "Like you" in your last sentence. I have said no such thing not least because I don't have the knowledge of many other golf courses/clubs.

 

[Orikoru]

I've signed it. Why the hell not? Last year after the heat wave preferred lies were needed in summer on loads of courses. Why not have it all year round if it's just on fairways? I'm not really seeing a down side.

 

[clubchamp98]

Can see the logic for a seeded divot that the green keeper has filled.
there is no divot to put back.

 

[rulie]

I think that we all know what the outcome will be, and most appreciate it - no Rule change. Casual golfers already do what they want wrt the Rules - follow some when it's an advantage, disregard some when its a disadvantage.

 

[Neilds]

8 signatures in 3 days
If , as I suspect, the OP has gone on other forums to try and drum up support, he isn’t doing too well and maybe this should be a sign that the idea isn’t as good as he thinks it is

 

[IanM]

Interesting post though. Demonstrates how we can all have a view, which is not as widely shared as we might think.

 

[Captainron]

Hard no from me. The vagaries of golf. Will you ask folk in the rough to take a drop if they have a decent lie and aren’t “punished” for a bad shot.

 

[cliveb]

One of the most beautiful things about golf is that it teaches us to be accepting of bad breaks in life. Changing things so that you don't suffer from bad luck would remove this very valuable lesson.

Society is seeing an increase in self-perceived victimhood. Let's not add to that.

 

[Captainron]

Society is seeing an increase in self-perceived victimhood. Let's not add to that.

This!

Life isn’t fair and it should never ever be!

 

[Backache]

Yet another thing to slow play up. I can just imagine being behind a four-ball who on every shot are trying to place a ball on a little tuft to get optimum launch.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

I have just started a petition regarding the lift and place rule in golf. I would like to change the rules to allow golfers who hit good shots not to be penalised by rub of the green. I am fed up of hitting a ball down the middle of the fairway only to find it in a divot or covered in mud and there is nothing I can do about it. Other sports are trying to remove bad luck from their sport , so why not golf. My petition is on Change. org . https://chng.it/q77xY7SMGH. Please sign up if you think it's a .good idea. Await any constructive comments.

My constructive comment is delte your petition, and go and play Bowls or snooker

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Maybe you should send your luck of the draw to all the other sports that have changed with the times. Maybe asking an England Supporter whether Maradona's Hand of God goal to be ruled out. Telling him it would be detrimental to the sport to use video evidence to change the outcome and tell him that Maradona was playing to the spirit of the game. This is just trying to make the game fairer for everyone including you.

This is a load of nonsense. Maradona broke the rules, VAR would have fixed it.

playing from a divot is in the rules, you play the ball as it lies. As already said, how about bad lies in bunkers when someone hasn't raked properly? A lip out from a badly cut hole? Do you throw your ball back in the woods if it hits a tree and bounces into the middle of the fairway?