Should you be able to get relief from divots in the fairway?

[KenL]

Is this a major issue for people?
You could probably count the number of times it happens over a year using your fingers.

No real issue playing a shot with a 7 iron down. Ball back in the stand at hit down steeply on it.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I already said you can scoot past that conundrum by making it basically the same as preferred lies, but you could restrict to 3 inches rather than 6 maybe. No need to overcomplicate it.

So you want to be able to pick the ball up and place it on a nice lie every time you hit the fairway ?!

Is that not just dumbing down the sport to try and make it easier for people.

Do you not understand the basic principles of golf - that would be like stopping tackling in football.

 

[chrisd]

Nobody would do that would they.

I guess some might if it's a bad divot and there could be a potentially disastrous outcome to a shot. A 1 shot penalty could easily save an additional 2 or 3 shots.

 

[Sats]

Nope - it opens up all sorts of issues , you would end up with people taking relief from the smallest mark on the fairway and it would end up just being pick and place

And realistically how many times have people actually landed in that much of divot that it causes issues -? Once in a blue moon

This ^. Plus hitting out the divot is a skill that one must master, just like hitting out of a bunker/rough/etc

 

[Orikoru]

So you want to be able to pick the ball up and place it on a nice lie every time you hit the fairway ?!

Is that not just dumbing down the sport to try and make it easier for people.

Do you not understand the basic principles of golf - that would be like stopping tackling in football.

Why not? 99% of the time I wouldn't bother because there would be no need. When it's winter and preferred lies you don't pick and place the ball for every single shot do you? So why would you if it was all year round? We're only talking about extending a rule that is already in place for half of the year.

No it would not be like stopping tackling in football.

I guess some might if it's a bad divot and there could be a potentially disastrous outcome to a shot. A 1 shot penalty could easily save an additional 2 or 3 shots.

Not really, you'd just take a pitching wedge out and bunt it 100 yards forward wouldn't you? Far better than taking a shot to move it 6 inches. Even if you duff it and it only goes 10 yards it's better than moving it 6 inches. Unless it lands in another divot but that really would be tremendous bad luck.

 

[Imurg]

If you're entitled to a "fairway lie" for hitting the fairway, does that mean that if you hit it into the cabbage and find a good lie you should have to bury it a bit so that you've got a "rough lie"?

It's a no from me for free relief from fairway divots.

This is as good an answer as there is.

 

[Captainron]

No. Golf is unique in that you are influenced by several factors outside of your control. Divots on the fairways are part of those factors. Deal with it

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Why not? 99% of the time I wouldn't bother because there would be no need. When it's winter and preferred lies you don't pick and place the ball for every single shot do you? So why would you if it was all year round? We're only talking about extending a rule that is already in place for half of the year.

No it would not be like stopping tackling in football.

Not really, you'd just take a pitching wedge out and bunt it 100 yards forward wouldn't you? Far better than taking a shot to move it 6 inches. Even if you duff it and it only goes 10 yards it's better than moving it 6 inches. Unless it lands in another divot but that really would be tremendous bad luck.

Because that’s not the game of golf - it’s supposed to be played from the lie you have been given not trying to find the best lie possible

If you drive into the rough and it’s sat lovely do you think we should then make it a bad lie because you need to be punished because you have missed a fairway ? Or does it balance itself out

You play the ball where it ends up regardless of the lie .

In the winter I only pick the ball up to clean it , then it goes back to the same place it landed

Asking for it to be pick and place all the time is just dumbing down the sport and people trying to make it easier

 

[Mandofred]

I'm against it, but I'd also like to find the people who keep leaving these huge divots....maybe the club could assign them some fairway maintenance work...

This happens to me a few times a month, usually just a minor irritation. I had several divots last year that I was in so deep there was no way the ball was going to go very far and all I could do was play it reasonably safely out of the divot without gouging it another few inches down and still not going very far. What if your ball rolls into a divot like this picture....this kind of a thing happens to me a
number of times a year. Or another one that happens is someone "kind of" put their divot back, but there is a huge space between the divot and the rest of the fairway...ball sits down at least half an inch...all you can do is dig a ditch trying to get it out.

 

[Mandofred]

Asking for it to be pick and place all the time is just dumbing down the sport and people trying to make it easier

Trying to make it easier....kind of like bigger headed clubs? I'd be fine to go back to the old style of clubs.....smaller heads with less help on bad shots. But, kind of hard to put the genie back in the bottle....

 

[Sats]

I'm against it, but I'd also like to find the people who keep leaving these huge divots....maybe the club could assign them some fairway maintenance work...

This happens to me a few times a month, usually just a minor irritation. I had several divots last year that I was in so deep there was no way the ball was going to go very far and all I could do was play it reasonably safely out of the divot without gouging it another few inches down and still not going very far. What if your ball rolls into a divot like this picture....this kind of a thing happens to me a
number of times a year. Or another one that happens is someone "kind of" put their divot back, but there is a huge space between the divot and the rest of the fairway...ball sits down at least half an inch...all you can do is dig a ditch trying to get it out.

Wow, how hard would it have been to 'un-peel' it back into the ground and step on it???
I just hate the divots that you don't see where it went and you spend the next few minutes hunting it, or those ones which disintegrate in mid air!

 

[Orikoru]

Because that’s not the game of golf - it’s supposed to be played from the lie you have been given not trying to find the best lie possible

If you drive into the rough and it’s sat lovely do you think we should then make it a bad lie because you need to be punished because you have missed a fairway ? Or does it balance itself out

You play the ball where it ends up regardless of the lie .

In the winter I only pick the ball up to clean it , then it goes back to the same place it landed

Asking for it to be pick and place all the time is just dumbing down the sport and people trying to make it easier

That's how golf has been up until now, yeah. Again it's stamping your feet and saying 'I don't like change' which is fine if that's how you feel. I'm not lobbying for this change either, I just answered the hypothetical question on here with my honest feelings on it. The difference for me is that you're talking about luck of the draw on a natural landscape, which I agree with, but a divot isn't quite down to nature, it's down to the damage and neglect of a previous golfer, and that's the only reason I don't think it's fair. Perhaps preferred lies all year round isn't the best way to combat it, I'll grant you, it was just the easiest way to avoid grey areas.

There is some small precedent to this in Covid times - generally when you go in a bunker you were expected to deal with however it lies, but once the rakes were taken away, the rule changed to allow you to move it six inches to allow for footprints or whatever. So while I don't think golf will ever change the rule on divots, it wouldn't be completely unheard of.

 

[sweaty sock]

I also want relief from but not limited to, Sudden rain showers, Gusts of wind, unexpected noises, irregular bounces. Fairway lies that are into the grain or down grain, depending on what shot i want to play.... golfs full of luck, thats what makes it a challenge...

 

[SaintHacker]

Play it as it lies for me, however i would add a caveat about playing out of filled seeded divots, purely from a course maintenance perspective

 

[chrisd]

Not really, you'd just take a pitching wedge out and bunt it 100 yards forward wouldn't you? Far better than taking a shot to move it 6 inches. Even if you duff it and it only goes 10 yards it's better than moving it 6 inches. Unless it lands in another divot but that really would be tremendous bad luck.

Not necessarily so easy, divots could be near a lake or heavy rough etc etc so your duffed 100 yard shot could hook into the lake or rough, or another divot, whereas a perfect lie from a drop could give a perfect 8 iron on the green and a one putt. Circumstances which would vary every time might make a drop a perfect answer.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

As Traminator says in post #65, I have been playing over 40 years and can only remember finding by ball in a divot a handful of times.

Find myself much more annoyed by the lazy sods that can't be bothered to rake bunkers properly and end up in their footmarks. Links pot bunkers can be tricky enough without adding in difficulty due to footprints

 

[Orikoru]

Not necessarily so easy, divots could be near a lake or heavy rough etc etc so your duffed 100 yard shot could hook into the lake or rough, or another divot, whereas a perfect lie from a drop could give a perfect 8 iron on the green and a one putt. Circumstances which would vary every time might make a drop a perfect answer.

Err, ok. Or a more perfect answer, drop out of the divot for free.

 

[chrisd]

Err, ok. Or a more perfect answer, drop out of the divot for free.

And just ruin golf as a game?

 

[SteveJay]

When it's winter and preferred lies you don't pick and place the ball for every single shot do you?

Err....yes, if its permitted, i.e. you are on the fairway. Why wouldn't you? Lift, clean and place.

 

[clubchamp98]

Obviously going extreme here but..
An apparent divot, 1-2 inches deep.
Someone has replaced some grass but not trodden around it to smooth the edges.
Ball is sitting down in the "divot" but there's grass, a blade or 2, under the ball....
What now.?

Thats the scenario you're going to get.
Some will look and say it's a divot, some will say it's a depression.....
Who's right?
In your scenario, 1 blade of grass under the ball renders the divot a depression...
There's a reason the R&A haven't defined a divot that you can get relief from.

Yes I get that we’re not all the same thank god.
The problem is most golfers know what a divot is.
But the waters are muddied by all the variations in stages of repair.
My opinion is made of my experience of them ,other opinions are avaliable .
But think a seeded divot should be GUR.