Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Not talking about tournaments, just out with the guys, or even in weekly-nine-hole league play. Just wondering how common it is to blow this rule off and just drop near the OB stake or whatever.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

I always play by the rules.

If a player chooses to bend the rules in casual play that is his choice. I don't mind at all. He should keep in mind though that an official handicap requires playing by the rules at all times.

Personally I know too many people who bend the rules, then brag about the scores they shoot. This I find very annoying.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

2 strokes +distance is more acceptable.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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2 strokes +distance is more acceptable.

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???

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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I always play by the rules.

<font color="blue">Triple H, it is virtually impossible to play by the rules all the time in a non-competitive situation. Are you claiming at a busy course, if you unepectedly lose your ball, you are heading back to the tee to hit 3? I have never seen that done unless it was a slow day at the course.
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Personally I know too many people who bend the rules, then brag about the scores they shoot. This I find very annoying.

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Very true. The good news is it actually hurts these people in gambling as well as handicapped tournament situations.

OP, anyone who answers yes always is a liar or mistaken. No one knows all the rules well enough to answer "always". BTW, that includes touring pros and rules officials at PGA events.

Generally most semi serious golfers are pretty good at taking the proper stroke and distance penalty for OB situatons. These same golfers rarely take the proper stroke and distance for a lost ball. I include myself in that, as sometimes it is just not reasonable to be able to do it.

Peace,

KennyBanya

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

If its a lot of effort to play by the rules then i dont...
for example i have to walk 200 yards back as i lost my ball... screw that

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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<font color="blue">Are you claiming at a busy course, if you unepectedly lose your ball, you are heading back to the tee to hit 3? </font>


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What other option do you have?

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Drop the ball near the OB stake and count your next stroke as your fourth.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Playing by the rules is a handicap builder. You only hurt yourself if you don't play by the rules. Hit a provisional.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Hit a provisional if there's any doubt. But yeah, walking back to the tee to hit 3 in a casual round is pretty ridiculous, normally I'll just drop it in the middle of the fairway and assess myself a TWO shot penalty, so I'll be hitting my 4th. So either a stroke+distance or two strokes are acceptable in my opinion.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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2 strokes +distance is more acceptable.

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???

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i just meant 2 strokes and drop by the stake.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

The thing here is if there is some doubt that your ball is out of bounds you should be hitting a provision ball. If you are not aware of provisional ball procedures it is a simple rule that helps out a lot.

Now I understand there are times where you think your ball is in the rough near some trees on the right. You walk 200 yards up to the spot and after searching for two or three minutes, no ball. In a casual round I have no problem with dropping a ball near where you think it should be and taking two strokes(or taking no penalty).

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

If I know or think it went OB I always re-tee/re-hit/play a provisional. If I can't find a ball, I do not go back to the tee or back to my last spot because that slows up the whole group.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

casual rounds are their too improve your game..
by not playing to the rules is hardly ruining your handicap..

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

If I hit a ball that I think might be OB I'll hit a provisional. If I hit a ball that I DON'T think is lost or OB, but I can't find it when I get to where it's supposed to be (happened twice in my last round), I'll drop and take a 2 stroke penalty as opposed to just 1 stroke.

I'll then most likely score a 9 on the hole and it won't matter what I did.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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If I hit a ball that I think might be OB I'll hit a provisional. If I hit a ball that I DON'T think is lost or OB, but I can't find it when I get to where it's supposed to be (happened twice in my last round), I'll drop and take a 2 stroke penalty as opposed to just 1 stroke.

I'll then most likely score a 9 on the hole and it won't matter what I did.

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PERFECT

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Hit a provisional

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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Hit a provisional

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This is the clear winner.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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OP, anyone who answers yes always is a liar or mistaken. No one knows all the rules well enough to answer "always".

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Sorry but you are not 100% correct. I have played 1,000+ rounds of golf without ever being close to infringing the rules. How you may ask? By playing the ball where it lies, not improving lies, hitting a provisional when needed and allowed etc. It does help that in most of Europe your handicap is based on stableford points, so that you have the option of picking up the ball if one hole gets too messy.

As for not knowing the rules in every detail, you don't have to, but if you want to extract every little bit of advantage out of the rules you are right, then only very few people can do that by heart.

I agree though that most players in general have no idea of the most basic rules and how they work, so they are in fact inable to play every round by the rules.

How I can be sure of the statement above about me always playing by the rules? I have a certification in the rules, and I know how to spot a situation where there can be doubt, and how to avoid it. (ie if your ball is under a low tree where you will not be able to take a stance fairly without breking branches, why not get a better lie by dropping according to the rule about unplayable lie? Or playing backhanded sideways?).

Whenever I am refereeing a golf match, I will need to look into the decisions to find the right answer as any PGA tour official always will do. Why make a mistake when you might find the right answer in your book?

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

"casual rounds are their too improve your game..
by not playing to the rules is hardly ruining your handicap."

And when you play in tournaments your only respond is "everyone is a sandbagger". One or two shots is big.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

I've played at least 1000 rounds probably. Except for the professional tournaments I've played in, I have NEVER seen someone drive/walk back to the tee after OB/lost ball. And if I did, I'd be like, wtf are you doing?

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Thats why you hit a provisional or take a two shot penalty for your casual rounds. Its pretty simple. For major local/club amateur events, "No provisional, you walk back". If you don't, its DQ.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Who are you people, and what courses do you play? No one walks or drives back to hit another tee shot.

For those who are worried about handicap calculation, if you're dropping, and taking a 2 stroke penalty, hitting 4 from near an OB stake, chances are you're going to max out and take a maximum score based on your equitable stroke control number.

Are you the same people who complain about slow play? If I saw someone search for a ball for 3 minutes, then walk back to the tee, hit 3 off the tee, and then go back and hit 4, it would really be frustrating. Which is why no one does it outside a tournament.

JavaNut, i'm glad you're a rules savant and know every courses local rules well enough that you have never even been close to violating a rule. Even on the PGA tour rules officials aren't that confident over every ruling. You must be a joy to play with.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

In casual rounds I don't go back to the tee ever. I always hit a provisional if there is any chance the ball could be lost or OB. If I get to where the ball should be and cannot find it for some reason, I drop a ball there and hit my 4th shot.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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Whenever I am refereeing a golf match, I will need to look into the decisions to find the right answer as any PGA tour official always will do. Why make a mistake when you might find the right answer in your book?

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I realize that this above can be read as I stake that I am a PGA tour official, far from it. Not US, and only lower level tourneys, mostly 3rd/4th division of national golf club championships.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

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JavaNut, i'm glad you're a rules savant and know every courses local rules well enough that you have never even been close to violating a rule. Even on the PGA tour rules officials aren't that confident over every ruling. You must be a joy to play with.

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A lot of people has called me savant but they put another 5-letter word in front [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

I am not that bad to play with, as I help people with the rules, like suggesting they play a provisional, I don't hit anybody over the head with the rule book.

But as I have been the go-to guy on rules in my former club, I have made it a deliberate habit not to get into trouble. And anytime you see a tour official in doubt, it is always a case where the rules are pushed to the limit, which is ok, you have the right to take advantage of the rules if you can. And the local rules on the PGA tour is several pages, not 3 lines on a scorecard.

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

Well, I'm a former greens committeeman, ranger and a bit of a rules nit myself but, in casual play, if money's on the line in one's regular game, this stuff tends to sort itself out equitably in the interests of timely play. Handicaps are seldom a bother; if you're OB, a double bogey or worse is likely anyway.

That said, a provisional is always the best available option and I've never cared much for the lads who decline to play one because they're still in a snit over their previous poor stroke. (But God help us when they jack one or two more over the boundary...)

On my tree-lined home course in the States, there was an unofficial "leaf rule" in the fall -- a lost ball in the near rough, all present agreeing that it "should" have been found, was deemed to be under a leaf, and replaced with no penalty in the most likely spot. (The stakes tended to go down under these strange conditions.)

I find that Europeans, in contrast, know the rules, abide by them, ostracize those who don't, and assign handicaps by committee based more on competition results than pure daily scores. Much better...

Re: Who plays stroke-and-distance?
 

I know when I lived in Sault Ste. Marie alot of my friends would play all the trees as red staked hazards for speed of play reasons and the fact that some of the mosquitos in there could take a litre of blood in about three seconds. I hated it but eventually gave in. Really everyone should realize it only takes 30 secs to hit a provo and then you don't have any problems.