Looking for opinions on playing by the rules but also being “fair”

You aint going to the tour buddy. Enjoy the game its already hard enough. Tournament setting its a different story

Move it to the nearest spot of relief not nearer the hole, for all the situations above. Try to find a good spot in the bunker, if not, play it from behind the bunker. Even my country club tournaments uses that rule to avoid all the situations above

I'd say it's fair to determine areas that are ground under repair between your group. I wouldn't consider that cheating or a dishonest handicap. You're out there on the weekend to have fun anyway

quote:

---

I would move my ball in all of those situations. Now where you are up against the lip of the bunker, you shouldn't be allowed to move it backwards and same if you are behind a tree you shouldn't be allowed to move it sideways. Those are situations where you have to take your medicine.

---

Sounds like I’m going to start moving my ball in those spots and not feel like I’m cheating my handicap.

And yes against a tree or in a lip I’m playing it as it lies, that’s just part of golf.

Unless of course I’m just fricking around with buddies and slamming beers. Then I’m moving that ball behind a tree to a nice fluffy spot of grass and taking a rip at it

I played in a BREC tournament one time at Webble and it was lift, clean and place within a club length. If the tournament directors are going to play the ball up in competition, makes sense to play it up when the conditions dictate.

Just be reasonable.

I play in a money Sunday round and we play municipal courses. The sand traps are stipulated at the beginning of the round.

Sand traps are always a mixed bag. Some of them are rocky/ hard packed/ not maintained. Generally, if you're in a footprint buried they're a little more lenient on allowing you to move it to a different lie or rake and drop. But sometimes they're a little more wishy washy about it. I don't like that much.

I really wish the rules around playing out of a divot would change on the PGA level and trickle down to local tournaments. Especially if you're in a fairway. There is no skill level that you can achieve to avoid divots. It's a complete luck aspect of the game.

What is the rule for playing out of a crack in the ground on local tournaments? Is that not considered an embedded lie?

quote:

---

- hit into a bunker and there is no sand, it’s basically a rock hard dirt pit

---

I'll rake and replace the ball if I can.

quote:

---

- miss the green and the ball ends up on a dead spot that is either rock hard dirt or wet mud, no grass

---

- move to nearest grass

quote:

---

- hit the fairway but you’re ball is on dirt or worse on a crack in the ground

---

- move to nearest "fairway" grass

quote:

---

- hit into a bunker and the person in front of you didn’t rake it, you’re in their footprint or where they swung

---

- rake and replace

This is what my father always told me. If you're out there playing golf to have a good time and to relax, then if you need to use the hand wedge or the foot wedge, by all means use it.

Leslie Nielson once said, "There isn't any ground that couldn't use a little repair."

In pretty much all of those situations in casual rounds, the best way to think about it for me is don’t punish yourself for a good shot (bare and cracked fairway, mud in the fairway, rocks, etc.), and don’t put yourself in a situation where you can hurt yourself or damage equipment on the bad shots.

Bunkers usually have rough around them. If it’s rocky, a hard pan, etc., just pull it out and drop no closer to the hole, and that usually leaves you in a situation where you’re in the rough and have to carry a bunker. Seems reasonable.

Bare fairway, muddy pothole, etc. I mean, you hit the fairway, it’s a casual round, I go no closer to the hole on some grass that looks like it belongs there.

Unraked bunker, lift, rake, replace.



The only time I kind of struggle with this is when there’s a shitty bare spot on the green and you are in that spot. Where I play these spots are usually only a couple feet wide, but can be 20-30 ft in length, and run perpendicular to your putting line. Usually, they cut the holes away from those spots, but we’re not snipers here hitting into greens, so being in one is a reality. You shouldn’t be punished for hitting the green, so you shouldn’t have to putt out of or through it, so what do you do? It’s either move it laterally until you get to grass, or move it off the green and chip over it? But if it’s a situation where you can move it closer to the hole and have a 49 ft putt instead of 50 footer on the same line, is that totally egregious?


This is all assuming it’s a casual round, and you’re just wanting an honest handicap, like OP said.

I will say this.

Golf course management has been declining for years and it has become an epidemic since covid. It's not just Muni's.

Ground under repair should be marked and bunker maintenance a lot of times is poor drainage.

I played at Blackhorse in Houston a couple of weeks ago and a lot of thier bunkers were substandard and they charge 90 bucks a round on weekdays...