The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Rules And Etiquette

Say No to Five Hour Rounds!

August 30, 2015 / / 4 Comments

I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t play golf, but even more than that I don’t understand why some people that do play have no idea how to navigate a golf course. I don’t like five hour rounds. Correction – I hate five hour rounds. I’ve never heard anyone say “That round was way too fast. We need to slow down next time.”

All too often while waiting on the tee I see two carts sitting side by side up ahead. Three of the guys are sitting in the carts, one is on his phone, and one is telling the other guy about the birdie he made on this hole in ‘96 or ‘97. The 4th guy is standing next to his drive doing his best Tiger Woods grass toss, trying to figure out how this 2mph wind is going to affect his upcoming bladed 5 iron. Having decided it’s a two club, wind he pulls the 7. Now the fun begins: practice swing, practice swing, practice swing… no, wait. He’s only 210 out, 2mph downwind. It’s got to be the 8 – he saw Bubba hit this exact shot last week. The fact that he just ripped his driver 190 never enters his mind. Four more practice swings, this time with the 8, then pures it 70 yards. Still not out of our landing area, but on to player #2 where the show begins again then again and one more time. Unless the 2 players in one of the carts are women. Most women hit it then hit it again until they get to the green where they are lining up their putts while watching their husbands toss grass in the air.

Golf is hard, playing golf doesn’t have to be. Golf is a game where you police yourself and call penalties on yourself. Only you can speed up play – unless you are scared of those 90 year old volunteer rangers that most courses use now.

Here are a few easy things that everyone can do to make golf more enjoyable for everybody.

1. Play the right tees. Most scorecards have recommended tees based on handicaps. A better way may be to look at the holes on the card. You should be able to comfortably hit a 6 iron or less to most of the par 3’s and 4’s.

2. Practice on the range, play golf on the course. The only time I take practice swings on the course is when I’m trying to stay loose because I’m waiting, I have a difficult stance or lie, on chips to get a feel for the lie, or if I’m trying to hit a big draw or fade. Three or four practice swings on every shot just wastes time and wears you out.

3. If you’re the longer hitter in your cart, walk to your ball and get ready to hit while your partner is getting ready. Take a couple clubs with you; twenty seconds after your partner hits you should be pulling the trigger. Even if you grabbed the wrong clubs he can drive over and you’re ready to go.

4. Unless you’re playing in a tournament, play ready golf. Common decency tells you an eagle or birdie has honors, but any other time, hit at will. Same goes for around the green. If you have a 50+ foot putt and no one has made it to the flag to tend it, putt it if you’re ready. Chances are it’s not going in. If it does and you’re playing a friendly round, nobody’s going to make you take that penalty.

5. Be aware of your surroundings. Park the cart on the path at the back of the green. If you brought a club with you to chip, lay it at the back of the green after your chip so you can pick it up on your walk back to the cart. Start lining up your putt and fixing ball marks while others are putting as long as you can stay out of their line.

6. Write the scores down on the way to the next tee. No eagles or birdies? Grab your club and swing away.

*This post is a section taken from my “bio page” which is here.

Editor’s note: I had a discussion with some people on twitter yesterday after a 5+ hour round. Here are some ideas we threw around:

Golf courses – offer green fee discounts to people who play in less than 4 hours. Perhaps in rebate form, or in discount on their next round.

Public/private courses with members who don’t pay green fees? Maybe a discount on monthly minimums. Or, how about a rewards program/points card. Every time they play in less than four hours they get points towards money to spend in the pro shop.

Any course – Use your marshals to move people along! Also, implement a “wall of shame,” on which you display photos of players who take more than 5 hours a round.

But, since golf courses are like highways and one slow group causes a traffic jam, only penalize the first group that fell behind. This one’s tricky because you’d need a marshal out there to identify the offenders. And if he’s out there and didn’t speed them up – he’s the one who should be penalized! Offer a drink or something to the groups whose rounds were miserable behind them.

Other ideas? Please share in the comments! :) – Kristen @thegolfchick

 

Warm Your Golf Balls – Great Test on Video

January 10, 2011 / / 11 Comments

The guys at Cleobury Golf Club are putting out some entertaining and informative videos for us all to enjoy (and learn something).

If you’re an avid reader of all things golf, you’ve likely seen studies and comparisons of different golf balls, their construction and performance. If you’re an average (and typical) golfer, you probably ignore most of the data and just think you MUST have the Titleist ProV or ProV1. Well you’re free to spend your clams however you like. I won’t even mock you for it. As you may know from other posts here, I’m a believer that golf is mostly a mental game, and if you THINK you play better with the most expensive golf ball used by so many Tour players, you just might. (Here is an article with lots of information on different golf balls, if you’re interested.)

That being said, if distance is your priority and you’re a mid-handicapper with a slower swing speed (whether you admit it or not), you’re better off with a 2-piece ball. Plus, you’ll save a lot of money. The video here from the Cleobury guys shows the difference in distance of 2- and 3-piece balls by just such a player. But what I found more interesting was the test on the temperature of the golf balls. I’d heard that if you keep your balls warm, they’ll perform better but I can’t recall ever seeing a video test or even reading any research on it (not to say it doesn’t exist). I think I may have even heard it from an LPGA player – Paula Creamer, perhaps. Great to see the distance theory proved here.

These guys obviously have fun making these videos, which you can see more of on their youtube channel.

Another one I particularly like is “How to Repair a Pitch Mark Correctly.” Not funny, just informative. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people do it wrong and correct them. Don’t pull UP (the guy in the vid even messes up his first pull in the “do-it-right” segment but corrects it nicely). I’m a big advocate for taking care of greens.

Keep the videos coming guys, and good work!

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Can I Get a Ruling?

April 9, 2009 / / 20 Comments

Should Tiger have incurred a two stroke penalty on the 13th hole in the first round at The Masters?

Tiger Woods, Jeev Milkha Singh and Stewart Cink all landed the 13th green in two on day one at Augusta. Tiger and Stewart both missed their eagle putts. Tiger walked up to his ball, marked and lifted it, then looked around for Jeev. After getting Jeev’s attention, Tiger pointed at his own marker as if to ask “is that in your way?” Indeed, he ended up moving his marker off the line and Jeev made his eagle. So the question is:

Did Tiger give advice to Jeev by indicating the line of the putt? The USGA defines advice as: any counsel or suggestion that could influence a player in determining his play, the choice of a club or the method of making a stroke. The penalty for a breach of either rule 8-1 or 8-2 is two strokes.

Any rules wizards out there? I’m not trying to be a narc, I just like to understand the rules as best I can.

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Beware the passive-aggressive sandbagger

April 9, 2008 / / 6 Comments

You know the cheating scumbags when you see them. The ones who intentionally post higher scores or conveniently “forget” to post their low scores. The obvious techniques to pad handicaps and gain extra strokes in competitions are easy to spot. But what about the passive-aggressive cheaters?

There is a sneakier behavior I only recently noticed. Perhaps there’s a weasel in your midst. Is there a person in your club who consistently plays better than his or her handicap in tournaments? Maybe you even play casual rounds with them or witness them entering accurate scores after rounds. They can look you in the eyes and be sincere when they say they post every score, count every stroke and vigilantly apply Equitable Stroke Control. You (and they) are comfortable in their honesty because they actually are truthful statements. So where is the sneakiness? Out on the golf course during casual rounds. They play enough to keep their games sharp, so as soon as they realize they’re not setting any personal bests in a round, they get intentionally lazy. They don’t focus or try their best to make putts. Flub a chip here, slice a drive there. Their scores become inflated and the score they post at the end of the round is technically accurate but not indicative of their actual abilities.

But why be aware of this when there is really nothing you can do about it? How can you “call out” a person when you have no proof of their intentions out there? All you can hope for is that your handicap chairman recognizes it and audits the person’s index. Adjustments can be made at that level such as attaching more weight to rounds (giving them T-score ratings) or even manually changing a course handicap for tournament play.

Maybe if they know you’re onto them, they’ll be guilted into changing their behavior. Everyone knows an obvious sandbagger and they probably get harassed about it, but the crafty weasels with the passive-aggressive techniques deserve their share of ribbing as well.

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How to Play with a Woman

March 20, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Much of the advertising on golf broadcasts and in magazines already gives the older guys medicinal “advice” for a playing around with a woman, but I’m focusing on playing a round of golf with a woman. And while many of the younger men already seem to have a handle on it *ahem* and I’m targeting this discussion towards the less evolved individuals of the older generations, there are some young lads who have picked up on certain behaviors from the adult males in their worlds and should also have a read.

The main premise of it all is: She’s a golfer, just like anyone else you play with.

The golf game itself

When it comes to her game, there is no need to offer unsolicited pointers. Just like anyone else, she’ll ask if she’s interested. And, just like anyone else, she may know more or less about rules and etiquette than you do. Don’t assume she needs your advice in this area. Just like anyone else, she’ll ask if she wants confirmation that the drop she’s taking is correct. And, just like anyone else, it will be obvious if she is an inconsiderate playing partner. Would you correct a man in that situation or just complain about it with your buddy and never invite them to play with you again (or hope you never get paired up with someone like that again)? Don’t alter your behavior by condescending to her just because she’s a woman. She’s just another golfer; some you enjoy playing with and some you don’t.

Standard behaviors and civility

Think about all the rounds you’ve played with all the different men and their individual styles. Your behavior adapts to certain situations, doesn’t it? No difference here. You might tone down your antics if you played with an esteemed colleague. Think how your behavior would change if you were lucky enough to play with Tiger Woods. You might enjoy a rare cigar if you played with a sales prospect who happens to bust some out. The point is, you’re already applying the following simple guidelines when it comes to playing with different people. If you’re not already applying them to women as well, why not?

1. Assess the delicacy of the situation

When you’re playing with your usual group, you know those personalities and what is acceptable or what is not. When people play together for the first time, it’s courteous for both parties to act in a civil manner and not use foul language. The default setting in golf (and in life) should be polite. Golfers understand that bad shots can cause spontaneous reactions and you’ll be able to take cues from such outbursts or reactions to them to establish one another’s comfort level with language. A woman may have a fouler mouth than you and should be equally attentive to your preferences.

2. Treat the person like a human being who happens to play golf: with respect

If men play from different sets of tees, they still treat each other with respect and appropriate etiquette on the tees. If a woman plays from the forward tees, have the courtesy to give her the same. She may have to trek up 20 yards to tee up, but she can still hear and see you as you fiddle with your clubs or carts and talk about your shots. And just like your buddies, she’d appreciate another set of eyes tracking her ball as well. Also, if you’re riding in golf carts, please remember to always stop at the forward tees if she’s playing from there. You may be excited to go find your golf ball but there’s still another golfer who needs to tee off. If you were all playing from the back tees, you wouldn’t drive off before the last golfer took her shot.

Don’t treat her like being a woman is a handicap (even if you think it is). Just like any other golfer, she may be more or less skilled than you. Women are generally more realistic about their skill level than men and will play from the appropriate length. Whether or not she plays from there, calling the forward tees “the ladies tees” implies that all women should be required to play from that length no matter their skill or distance and is degrading. Plus, it only further cements your unwillingness to play from there even if you should. And if you should, she knows it. She has choices just like you, and if she doesn’t want to sit in the “back of the bus,” she doesn’t have to. If she’s old fashioned or otherwise not offended by this, you should still behave as if it would. It’s a good habit to adopt.

Don’t talk about how important it is to you that your final score be better than hers (even if that’s how you feel). Being a man doesn’t entitle you to play better than she does. Story time:

I played with an older gentleman who thought it was appropriate to keep mentioning how all he wanted to do was score better than I did. Throughout his long life, he never played passionately or developed his game, and only played occasional rounds over the years. He should have been playing from the forward tees, he took (we gave him) all the mulligans he needed to maintain a modicum of pride, and as we kept score, we were quite generous. Even with all of that, he still couldn’t have bested my legitimate score but kept the delusion alive and out loud. Being fond of this man and knowing his style (his position in life has him accustomed to “yes men”), I finally told him that even “if” he didn’t beat me, we’d be sure to tell him he did. He laughed, and was duly appeased. Without that fondness and established relationship, had that behavior come from anyone else, I would have reached a breaking point, unleashed, and brought him down to size.

The point is, no matter how good you are (or think you are) you’re not entitled to play better than anyone else because of their gender any more than you are because of their race or religion. Would you assume you could beat someone just because they’re Latino or Jewish? And if you actually would, would you say so? And if you would, would you please not go out in public?

The vast majority of the men I’ve played with are polite and respectful and don’t need these guidelines. But for those who do, you know who you are. And I can only hope you’ll pay attention. And I’ll leave it at that for now. Yes, it turned into a little of a rant there, but what can I say? I’ve gots me passionate opinions.

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All riled up and groovy at Worldgolf.com

February 26, 2007 / / 6 Comments

Golf chick gets her groove on?

The possibility of a rule change regarding the grooves on golf clubs has me all riled up. Check out my latest column at worldgolf.com and see why the USGA and golf club manufacturers might not think I’m a groovy chick.

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Rules of Golf Animations

January 10, 2007 / / 4 Comments

With the new golf season beginning, some people may want or need to refresh their knowledge of the rules of golf. Some people may just be starting out or still learning the game and want to know more about golf etiquette and the official rules.

The USGA website has a nifty new tool to help. They have flash animations of some of the rules and etiquette.

Here’s a captured image from the animation on “Ball Lost or Out of Bounds“- playing a provisional ball.

There are low and high bandwidth versions of the animations and they’re also narrated to explain the rules. Not all rules are animated, of course, but the more basic ones are.

It’s important to know proper etiquette as well, so don’t forget to check out the etiquette section including animations.

You can also search the rules to lookup something more obscure, or browse the FAQs for the in-betweeners. You know, common enough to get asked frequently but not common enough to animate.

Here’s a snippet of some of the FAQs. Just the faqs, ma’am.

My club’s first tournament is this weekend. Now that I’m a board member, I may be asked by other players to rule on stuff during the round. Dog help us. Luckily, the president of the club is usually in my foursome and he’s been known to call people on minor infractions (how diplomatic am I?) so I guess I can just defer to him.Next post.

Ask the Goose: Where to put the bunker rake?

October 18, 2006 / / 1 Comment

Dear Goose,

We are leaving it up to you to settle a bet for us. What is the proper etiquette on where to leave a rake – in the bunker or next to it?

~Puzzled in Pittsburgh

Poor Puzzled,

Oh, the perpetual perplexing predicament. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this question. I also can’t tell you how many times I have changed my answer. Since you’re the betting sorts, I guess it won’t matter to you that I’m tossing a coin to choose how I’m going to answer it now.

Oh dear, the quarter came to rest on its edge. You know what this means. Pity, Pittsburgh. No one wins your bet because the answer is to put the business end of the rake in the sand along the edge of the bunker leaving the handle just outside the lip.

Yours,
The Goose

[Editor’s note: according to the USGA, “There is no set rule as to where the bunker rake should be placed. It is recommended that rakes be placed outside bunkers and in positions where they will be least likely to affect play. Other considerations, such as golf course maintenance and the size and design of the bunkers, will impact the final decision made at each course.”]

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The “Line-of-Flight” Debate

July 26, 2005 / / 4 Comments

There is so much to learn about golf aside from just how to hit the ball. There’s a lot of etiquette to know, but there are just so many rules it’s mind boggling. One situation that most of us experience frequently is hitting into a hazard, so one might think that the rules that go with that situation would be widely known and accepted. Over the course of my golf education so far, I have been given a few different explanations of how to take relief from a water hazard and a lateral water hazard. Most people I talk to about it are absolutely certain they are correct, but they don’t always agree with one another. This difference of opinion caused me to look up the official ruling, after which I thought I had it all sorted out in my head. However, it came up again after my tournament this past Saturday, and a spirited discussion followed. I stated how I understood the rule and how I took relief accordingly on a hole during the course of play. My foursome agreed with the ruling but none of them were there for this discussion. The longer we discussed it and the more alcohol that was consumed, the more certain we all were that I was wrong after all. They’re the experienced ones and they seemed so sure — I must have misunderstood the rule I read or looked up the wrong thing. They changed their bylaws to allow women and let me in their club — who am I *blink-blink* to make waves when they want to instruct me in the rules of golf? Especially after coming in and immediately starting to win tournaments. As long as the rules are followed correctly out on the course, right? So to that end, I looked up the rule again and I’m convinced I had interpreted it correctly after all.

Here’s the debate: How should one take relief when a ball is lost inside a water hazard? Same question for a lateral water hazard?

Everyone agreed on the penalty of one stroke.

Everyone agreed that in either scenario you could go back and hit from the teeing ground or the place from which the ball was originally played.

In this debate, everyone agreed there was a two-club length rule for the lateral hazard, and for the most part, we agreed on where that could occur.

Based on past discussions, some people think there’s a one-club length rule for a water hazard and two-club lengths from a lateral.

Most people agree that from a water hazard you could take the ball back any distance, but here’s the most widely accepted idea that seems to be dead wrong: the line you take that ball back is either the line of flight the ball was on when it crossed the hazard or between the point where it crossed and the point from where you originally hit it.

I understood that when you take it back to whatever distance, it had to be on the line from the hole and the point of entry. From a water hazard it’s from behind the hazard and from a lateral, it’s along that line from the side far side of the hazard.

Here are the rules and even an illustration copied directly from http://www.usga.org:

26-1/15 Procedures for Relief from Lateral Water Hazard http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/books/decisions/dec26.html#26-1/15

In the above illustration, a player has played a ball from the teeing ground (Point A) into the lateral water hazard at Point B. It last crossed the margin of the hazard at Point C. He may play the ball as it lies or, under penalty of one stroke:

(a) play another ball from the teeing ground – Rule 26-1a;

(b) drop a ball anywhere on the far side of the hazard on the dotted line from the hole through Point C, e.g., Point D – Rule 26-1b;
(c) drop a ball in the shaded area on the near side of the hazard which is all ground within two club-lengths of Point C, but not nearer the hole than Point C – Rule 26-1c(i); or
(d) drop a ball in the shaded area on the far side of the hazard which is all ground within two club-lengths of Point E, but not nearer the hole than Point E – Rule 26-1c(ii).

The player may not drop a ball on the so-called “line-of-flight” at Point F or anywhere else on the line the ball followed from A to B, except in the shaded area on the near side. Nor may he drop a ball within two club-lengths of Point G, the point on the far side of the hazard directly opposite Point C.

26-1. Relief for Ball in Water Hazard

http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/books/rules/rule26.html#26-1

It is a question of fact whether a ball lost after having been struck toward a water hazard is lost inside or outside the hazard. In order to treat the ball as lost in the hazard, there must be reasonable evidence that the ball lodged in it. In the absence of such evidence, the ball must be treated as a lost ball and Rule 27 applies.

If a ball is in or is lost in a water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:

a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); or

b. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped; or

c. As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.

The ball may be lifted and cleaned when proceeding under this Rule.

(Prohibited actions when ball is in hazard – see Rule 13-4.)

(Ball moving in water in a water hazard – see Rule 14-6.)

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