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KSB2424

How does your golf group play by the rules?

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I'm sure 99.9% of amateurs don't play strictly by all the USGA golf rules.  I was just curious how some of the Geek golfers did it.  For us we play by all the USGA rules except:

1. Two off the first tee (Breakfast Ball) - Half the time nobody has time to warm up.  Sometimes coming in on two wheels after work just to make the tee time.

2. We roll it in the fairway - Unlike the PGA Tour we don't always play on perfectly manicured fairways.  If it goes in a dead patch or even a divot we roll it to a decent fairway lie.  Just in the fairway, you hit it in the rough tough shitt.

3.  Do not hit off rocks or roots - We are amateurs, we are not going to break a club or a wrist.  Eff that.  You are allowed to roll it  off the rock or root.

4. If the course is backed up and you hit it out of bounds on your tee shot, we don't want to drive the cart all the way back to meet up with the group the behind us standing there, we just treat it like you hit it in a hazard.  Drop 2 hit 3.

5.  We do putt every thing out

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Rule has changed on your #4.  That is what is allowed now.

 

 

For us...

 

Mulligans on hole 1 and 10

Rake and place in the trap.  Traps in northern Minny suck.  Not well maintained.

Fluff in the ruff

Within putter length is a gimmie. 

 

 

and we still suck.  :cheers:

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Roll it in your own fairway is the only thing we do. We also putt everything out. When it’s early in the year and the weather and the course is crappy we roll it everywhere until we start posting scores in the computer. Then it’s the fairway rule.

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Beer per hole. If you fail to finish your beer before the next tee box you are penalized 1 stroke. 

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1 minute ago, bostonlager said:

Beer per hole. If you fail to finish your beer before the next tee box you are penalized 1 stroke. 

Nice  :cheers:  

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This is also the worst time of year. I have had the fever to get out and play since before Christmas. Until I retire and move to the south I do what I can to promote more global warming to my neck of the woods. 

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Depends on who I am playing with.  For most rounds if there is a little money on the line:

- Breakfast ball on 1 if you don't have time to warm up.  We declare it in advance and, if you hit the 2nd ball, you must play that one.  You don't get to choose which of the 2 is better.

- roll in the fairways, not in the rough

- we play it as it lies if you are on a rock.  You can take an unplayable.  If I am playing against someone, I will tell them they can move it without penalty.

- If you tee off and hit it close to OB or you are unsure, we have them play a provisional before you leave the tee.  If you don't play a provisional, the new rule is that you are hitting 4 from the spot where you think your ball went OB.

- gimme in the "circle of friendship".  If it is close, then we give it to them, unless they are a d!ck, and then we make them putt everything out

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Speaking of entering your scores into the computer. The Grint app is now hooked into all that USGA stuff if you do a yearly subscription. 

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19 minutes ago, KSB2424 said:

I'm sure 99.9% of amateurs don't play strictly by all the USGA golf rules.  I was just curious how some of the Geek golfers did it.  For us we play by all the USGA rules except:

1. Two off the first tee (Breakfast Ball) - Half the time nobody has time to warm up.  Sometimes coming in on two wheels after work just to make the tee time.

2. We roll it in the fairway - Unlike the PGA Tour we don't always play on perfectly manicured fairways.  If it goes in a dead patch or even a divot we roll it to a decent fairway lie.  Just in the fairway, you hit it in the rough tough shitt.

3.  Do not hit off rocks or roots - We are amateurs, we are not going to break a club or a wrist.  Eff that.  You are allowed to roll it  off the rock or root.

4. If the course is backed up and you hit it out of bounds on your tee shot, we don't want to drive the cart all the way back to meet up with the group the behind us standing there, we just treat it like you hit it in a hazard.  Drop 2 hit 3.

5.  We do putt every thing out

So basically you don't care about the rules at all?  

Me and 3 buddies used to play every Sunday..Full PGA tour rules.  Play it where it lies..No mulligans --ever--for any reason.

Even casually I don't take mulligans..I don't want to shoot an 85 then go..well.....besides that mulligan.

We'd even do things like watch to make sure the guy teed it up behind the tee box...in front--  PENALTY..14 clubs--all of it.

You wanna take a drop off the rocks or whatever to protect your clubs?  Absolutely..just call it unplayable, take your penalty and move on.

Rolling in the fairway?   Did you tee it up there too?

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Rarely take a mulligan on a horrible first drive although I don't care if others do.  I'll hit 3 off the worst tee shot length.

I don't expect anyone to hit off dirt (ground under repair) in the rough, find the closest patch of grass.  Same with roots, rocks, cart path or divots in fairway. Gimmes depend, but they are generally given for 24"+\-.

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What about highest score on a hole.  We play double par.  If you blow up on a hole pick your shitt up and if its a par 4 you get an 8.

I recently started keeping my handicap in the USGA app and a buddy of mine told me you should not have more than triple bogey on a hole so he plays triple bogey max.

 

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We also play animals.

 

In the trap you get the camel

In the water you get the frog

OB you get the gorilla

three putt you get the snake

throw a club you get the mad cow

don't make it past the wimmens t-box you get the puzzy

 

end up with any or all of the animals, it cost you a buck to each player for each animal you end up with.  Animals change hands as someone else does the same thing after you.  Pay after each round.  

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In my big money game/group - we have some wiggle room, but mostly by the book.

* No mulligans

* Roots, trees, rocks - play it or take an unplayable drop/penalty

* Play it down most of the year..... up after the 1st freeze, thru the last freeze of the year - or when wet.

* Can change brands of balls thru a round - rarely happens, maybe only when a guy runs out of his normal ball.

* Not uncommon to see a guy try another guy's driver mid-round, or use his putter if he didn't bring his to green (to speed up play) - all okay.

* Play gimmies, within a putter grip. (most groups are 5, helps keep on pace)

* If you've got bets with a guy in your group - okay to both read putts or ask advice.

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19 minutes ago, KSB2424 said:

What about highest score on a hole.  We play double par.  If you blow up on a hole pick your shitt up and if its a par 4 you get an 8.

I recently started keeping my handicap in the USGA app and a buddy of mine told me you should not have more than triple bogey on a hole so he plays triple bogey max.

It's dependent on your handicap - which kind of makes sense the more I think about it.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/maximum-score--form-of-stroke-play.html

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53 minutes ago, Cruzer said:

 

* Play gimmies, within a putter grip. (most groups are 5, helps keep on pace)

 

My grip would cover the whole shaft.  

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52 minutes ago, Cruzer said:

It's dependent on your handicap - which kind of makes sense the more I think about it.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/maximum-score--form-of-stroke-play.html

Yup.  We often will play a modified Stableford tournament and max is triple bogey.  Once you are at double bogey, pick it up.

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1 hour ago, TimmySmith said:

Rarely take a mulligan on a horrible first drive although I don't care if others do.  I'll hit 3 off the worst tee shot length.

I don't expect anyone to hit off dirt (ground under repair) in the rough, find the closest patch of grass.  Same with roots, rocks, cart path or divots in fairway. Gimmes depend, but they are generally given for 24"+\-.

Mulligans don't bother me either when others take them.  However when they say wow I shot a 90...I say  "No you didn't"

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1 hour ago, Cruzer said:

In my big money game/group - we have some wiggle room, but mostly by the book.

* No mulligans

* Roots, trees, rocks - play it or take an unplayable drop/penalty

* Play it down most of the year..... up after the 1st freeze, thru the last freeze of the year - or when wet.

* Can change brands of balls thru a round - rarely happens, maybe only when a guy runs out of his normal ball.

* Not uncommon to see a guy try another guy's driver mid-round, or use his putter if he didn't bring his to green (to speed up play) - all okay.

* Play gimmies, within a putter grip. (most groups are 5, helps keep on pace)

* If you've got bets with a guy in your group - okay to both read putts or ask advice.

THIS sounds more like people trying to follow the rules and speed play.  I could subscribe to this.

Also perfectly fine to 

Cept gimmies....We always make people putt out.   If nothing else than to take out any hard feelings when someone thinks it should be a gimme but others don't. 

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15 minutes ago, supermike80 said:

Mulligans don't bother me either when others take them.  However when they say wow I shot a 90...I say  "No you didn't"

We all know the type.  There is one guy we play, and when we keep our own cards, we never tell our score to him until he tells his first, that way he can't magically beat you by a stroke. Anyway, while I am not a great golfer, I learned a few years ago that if you aren't properly keeping your own score you'll never know if you are improving. 

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1 minute ago, TimmySmith said:

We all know the type.  There is one guy we play, and when we keep our own cards, we never tell our score to him until he tells his first, that way he can't magically beat you by a stroke. Anyway, while I am not a great golfer, I learned a few years ago that if you aren't properly keeping your own score you'll never know if you are improving. 

Agreed..Like I said...I cant say I shot a score when there were mulligans I didnt count

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1 hour ago, supermike80 said:

Cept gimmies....We alwa0ys make people putt out.   If nothing else than to take out any hard feelings when someone thinks it should be a gimme but others don't. 

Yea for sure, I personally wish we'd putt them out too....... But I do admit, it speeds up play for sure too.

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Pretty much all the rules we try to play by other than a root or rock.  If you are on a root or rock usually the guy will say "hey so and so...im on a root care if I move it?"  And it is always met with "yea go ahead".

Absolutely no muligans of any kind if we are playing for a score.  Nothing worse than a pack of candians hitting 2 or 3 balls a piece.  It is ridiculous.

But I cant believe some of you putt everything out but then are loose with several other rules  I mean someone has to give you the putt in our group.  Some are more generous than others.  We arent giving 3 footers.  I cant stand being behind a group who is spending half their time on the greens.  Putting and marking every single putt.   You have to give putts right? Or so i thought...

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We play skins and you can only win a skin with par or better. We only allow gimmes on putts that are for bogey or worse since at that point, you can’t win the hole. We also play closest to the pin on the par 3’s and your tee shot must end up on the putting surface and you must validate it by making birdie or par. If more than 1 person hit the green and the closest to the pin does not validate, the next closest can win by validating and so on. 

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we have a funny rule.

if your drive doesn't pass the ladies tee, you have to finish the hole with your manhood exposed.

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10 hours ago, sderk said:

Frisbee golf is better. 

we play dogs are part of the course.  if a dog moves your disc, play it where it lies.

 

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9 hours ago, KSB2424 said:

What about highest score on a hole.  We play double par.  If you blow up on a hole pick your shitt up and if its a par 4 you get an 8.

I'm relatively new to golf. My friends told me to pick up the ball after double par.... that was "the rule" in order keep from holding up the course.

Using the double par rule, I recently reached my new all-time world record.... 114.   :banana:

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My normal game with my dad‘a group is pretty casual at this point.
 

- You can move it in the fairway.
- You can move it off of rocks or a root or whatever. 

- 1 mulligan per side, but can’t be on a par 3. 
- Gimme inside the leather, but nobody is really measuring.
- We play OB like water. Drop 2 hit 3. 
- Double par is max score.
 

We used to be more strict when we would gamble, but the current group doesn’t bet, so it’s kind of whatever. 


All that being said, my goal each time out is to break 80, and while that’s still in play, the only thing I do is move it off rocks/roots/etc. And I guess I’ll take a gimme when it’s literally a tap in. 

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The only rule we have is no one tells each other's wives when we flirt with the hot college beer b!tch.

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11 hours ago, cbfalcon said:

My normal game with my dad‘a group is pretty casual at this point.
 

- You can move it in the fairway.
- You can move it off of rocks or a root or whatever. 

- 1 mulligan per side, but can’t be on a par 3. 
- Gimme inside the leather, but nobody is really measuring.
- We play OB like water. Drop 2 hit 3. 
- Double par is max score.

The exact way we play so I would guess most people play this way. Gimmes alone can easily subtract 1/2 hour from a round. 

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