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

[clubchamp98]

I would prefer the option of placing my ball where I thought I was going to hit it, rather than where I actually did.
This would cover all eventualities, and I would potentially be scoring 18 strokes for 18 holes every time I go out.

Yes but you would only tie the course record.

 

[Imurg]

Yes but you would only tie the course record.

I could live with that

 

[clubchamp98]

Easy solution to all this.

Ball in a divot? No problem, move it out and play on.

Ball in a bunker? No problem, move it out and play on.

Ball gone into water? No problem, drop another one away from that pesky water, and play on, no penalty.

Ball in the trees? No problem, throw it back out onto the fairway and play on.

A tree blocking your next shot? No problem, just move your ball to where you have no obstruction with your next shot.....and play on.

Duff a chip? No worries, have another go.

Struggling with putting? No problem, move your ball as close as you want to the hole and play on.

Now if you adopt the above approach and are still crap, then perhaps take up another game!! ?

I'm expecting a call from the R&A very shortly with an offer to be on their rules committee.......? ?

Seen plenty of guys that this is their normal game.

 

[clubchamp98]

I could live with that

Would need a big frame to get 700 cards in on the wall.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I've changed my mind on this & my earlier vote.
I would never have thought I would but, yes, preferred lies all year on the fairway just like New Zealand GC do.
It's played for pleasure & a difficult enough game anyway so why should anyone suffer because someone hasn't replaced their divot or a bird has removed it to get at food. Yes, I'd be quite happy for that to be the rule.

Because a ball can just as easily come to a halt in the middle of the fairway but on top of such as - let's say - a great big sycamore leaf. It's nature - and it's a movable obstruction - but I'm not going to be able to move it when my ball is sitting on it. Is it 'fair' that I have to play my shot with my ball sitting there after a 'perfect' tee shot? Well yes - in the context of golf - that's perfectly 'fair' - and so I just get on with it.

 

[harpo_72]

Simple def is damage by an non natural object such as a golf club. I know when I am in a divot the person who made it went steep, but I will have to go steep to get it and make it worse. May be the solution is a 1 shot penalty for not repairing the damage you make ..

 

[DanFST]

Unless its a card or comp. I'll move it.

 

[backwoodsman]

Golf is played in a big grassy field which is neither flat, level or even. Some of it is cut shorter than the rest. Your ball will come to rest where it will. Just go & hit it.

 

[Pants]

Bob Rotella had it right with his book title "Golf is not a game of perfect". Less than perfect lie? Stop wingeing and man up.

Play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it, and if you can't do either do what is fair. But to do what is fair, you need to know the Rules of Golf.

Having said that, in casual play, if my ball were on a filled divot hole, I would move it (in agreement with others in my group) for course protection purposes.

BTW, for those clever dicks who like to quote dictionary definitions, you are now aware that the divot is the piece of turf that has been moved, not the subsequent depression where your ball may lie which appears to worry you so much.

 

[Orikoru]

Thank you. Now point to the part that says it's unnatural.

*points at whole sentence*

 

[Pants]

May be the solution is a 1 shot penalty for not repairing the damage you make ..

You do come out with some corkers at times

And have you never seen crows move divots, or played a heathland or links course where the "divot" explodes rather than being a lump of turf so there's nothing effectively left to replace?

 

[Deleted member 25172]

Who could've possibly foreseen that this topic would turn out this way, ey?

 

[clubchamp98]

Who could've possibly foreseen that this topic would turn out this way, ey?

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It does every year we just can’t help ourselves.
Plus lockdown hasn’t helped.

 

[SaintHacker]

I have never seen a human digging a hole with a golf club.

You've obviously never played golf with me then...?

 

[Crazyface]

Why would it need to be a whole club length? The most sensible thing would be to just make it preferred lies as others mentioned, so no question about what is or isn't a divot. You could even make it 3 inches rather than 6 in summer if you want, that should still be enough to get out of most divots.

OK. That works for me.

This has raced along hasn't it?????

 

[GB72]

I think that golf should be going in the opposite direction. The rules need simplifying and not looking to legislate for further instances of relief for bad luck. Any sport that needs a book to explain the rule book needs to take a long hard look at itself. It may make the game harder to play, and simpler to understand, but it should be moving more towards hit ball, find ball, hit it again. If you cannot find it or cannot hit it from where it is, take a penalty and move on. Golf is played outside on often busy courses, you are going to get no end of instances of simple bad luck but to try and legislate for every one just over complicates what should be a simple sport of hitting a ball in a hole.

 

[Kellfire]

Bob Rotella had it right with his book title "Golf is not a game of perfect". Less than perfect lie? Stop wingeing and man up.

Play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it, and if you can't do either do what is fair. But to do what is fair, you need to know the Rules of Golf.

Having said that, in casual play, if my ball were on a filled divot hole, I would move it (in agreement with others in my group) for course protection purposes.

BTW, for those clever dicks who like to quote dictionary definitions, you are now aware that the divot is the piece of turf that has been moved, not the subsequent depression where your ball may lie which appears to worry you so much.

The Cambridge dictionary says that he subsequent hole left behind can be classed as a divot.

 

[harpo_72]

You do come out with some corkers at times

And have you never seen crows move divots, or played a heathland or links course where the "divot" explodes rather than being a lump of turf so there's nothing effectively left to replace?

I wasn’t aware crows had golf clubs .. their damage is natural.
yeah I have seen divots explode but some attempt to make good would be appreciated..
and in the end it was a “ perhaps look at the issue another way” it’s a subjective topic so there are no right and wrong arguments

 

[ScienceBoy]

I think if we want to allow this we should have pick and place on the fairway at all times, as long as 100% of the ball is within fairway bounds, any doubt and no pick and place. So it rewards fully hitting the fairway 100% and any edge cases are not rewarded.

I do like golf as “play it as it lies” but I can’t see anything between these two working at all.

 

[SaintHacker]

Simple answer is dont replace divots but everyone takes a bag of seed mix out with them and fills in their damage, these areas are then treated as GUR . Win win from a golfers and greenkeepers perspective. But then if people can't be arsed to repair a simple pitchmark what are the chances if them filling a divot hole??