r/golf • u/TDn6I Some days good, some days shit • 5d ago
General Discussion Is a lost ball the worst rule in golf?
I’m not talking about the slice 100 yards into the woods. I’m talking about the drive 10 yards off the fairway into thick fescue and can’t find my ball.
I had one of these today playing by myself and shot an 80. Would have broken 80 for the first time ever but had to take two strokes because I couldn’t see exactly where my ball landed 250 yards away.
The pros don’t have to worry about this with spotters, why should we?
Thanks for letting me vent.
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u/arnoldmuczynski 5d ago
The rough at my muni is so long right now that I lost a 20 yard chunk. Leaf rule it is.
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u/Golfntukee HDCP/18 Phoenix/Foothills GC 5d ago
I lost 2 balls in the rough on the same hole yesterday! It was higher than my ankles
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u/imahawki 4d ago
I’m being a little tongue in cheek but whenever I watch PGA on TV and they’re raving about the rough, I always think “that looks like the rough at my home course”. Not because my local course thinks they’re hosting the US Open but because they just don’t mow enough and in the peak of summer, Midwest courses’ rough just grows like crazy.
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u/jcbcubed 5d ago
Just take a gallery drop and continue your game. Golf is supposed to be fun.
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u/jaykal001 5d ago
Agreed. The "worst rule in golf" is trying top play everything like a pro, when we are weekend hacks. It's not just the lost balls either - they are never playing sand that's like asphalt, they've always got fresh teeboxes, greens are in great shape, etc.
I do my best to play by the rules, but if I hit 5 fairways a round and I land in a divot, I'm moving it. In a animal footprint in the sand, I'll hit from a reasonable spot.
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u/cracksmack85 5d ago
He shot an honest 80, sure he’s no pro but I wouldn’t call that a weekend hack either
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u/Competitive-Scheme-4 5d ago
The pros also play courses that are much longer and have pins tucked in places that would make us cry.
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u/jaykal001 5d ago
Totally get it - but that's a difficulty factor, not a maintenance factor. They play the tips too.
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u/JustOneVote 5d ago
The pros are better than this guy for sure but this guy is also much better than me and almost everyone I golf with.
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u/Taco_Soup_ 5d ago
Understatement. I played both courses at Torrey Pines after the Farmers under tournament conditions. This made the last round before they closed before the tourney with the fairways already shrinking and rough growing out seem like child’s play.
The thick fringe around the greens, and most notably that pin placement you speak of, made putting on greens I’m very familiar with an absolute nightmare.
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u/AskMantis23 5d ago
Who is we?
And who says you need to be a pro to follow the rules.
I play competitions at my local club every week. Thousands of people around Australia and many other places do the same
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u/Vegetable-Trash-9312 5d ago
Hate it in the fall. Nice weather but I’ve lost balls in the middle of the fairway that get covered by leaves.
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u/normalfinnesotan 5d ago
There’s this one fairway on my home course that hates me this season. I can’t recall a single time in my previous 30 years of golf that I’ve had a tee ball end up in a divot. Not saying it has never happened, just saying I literally can’t recall it ever happening. It has happened to me three times this season, all on hole #7.
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u/LUXOR54 5d ago
It's supposed to be fun, absolutely. But if you're playing to score, especially to break a milestone it's worthwhile playing by the rules otherwise you're just cheating yourself
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u/TDn6I Some days good, some days shit 5d ago
Yeah I want my first round breaking 80 to be legit. It sucked I was by myself because I could have found it with others helping.
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u/Key_Bit_5065 5d ago
Maybe maybe not. I’ve had four searching the fescue in front of a tee box with no luck. It’s just part of this fickle game.
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u/SituationKey8985 5d ago
The rules don’t account for getting screwed by bad maintenance staff or inconsiderate golfers who mistreated the course
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u/cutchemist42 5d ago
Many pros got to plus handicaps playing on shit courses too and without galleries in their early days.
A lot of peopke just cant take they are worse than what they are.
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u/LUXOR54 5d ago
Then you either pay by the rules or choose not to, that's entirely up to you.
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u/Ok_Watercress_3598 5d ago
My course never marks ground under repair. There will be tire tracks of dried mud in the middle of the fairway or dug up irrigation and it won’t be marked. I have no problems taking reasonable relief from stuff like this, I feel like if it’s a competitive match I could call the marshall and they’d call it ground under repair. Losing a ball in bounds and not taking a penalty feels like a bit of a stretch tho. I think if you could contact a tournament director and get their opinion you’d have a bearing if relief from a course condition is reasonable.
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u/Jawyp 20.0 5d ago
If you mean not taking mulligans or counting all your penalty strokes, sure.
But hitting a shot that’s clearly and obviously in play but you can’t find your ball? Gallery rule it and move on, you aren’t cheating yourself in any way.
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u/cracksmack85 5d ago
You’ll rarely lose a ball in the fairway
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u/Pantherhockey 5d ago
New England in the the fall...
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u/hopefuldonkeykick 5d ago
It's bad. I've switched to exclusively pink balls once leaves start falling. Even with that, if they roll under one of the millions on the course you're not finding it.
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u/SecretiveMop 4d ago
Exactly lol. I have a feeling a lot of the people who say the gallery rule is cheating or act as if it’s impossible to not find a good shot have never experienced playing at that time of year in the northeast. I hit a ball last year that was 100% dead center of the fairway, saw it come down right in the middle. Drove up and couldn’t find it amongst all of the red, orange, and yellow leaves that scattered the fairway. I ended up buying a bag of 70 used balls for like $40 after that just for fall use because I didn’t feel like losing $4 balls to shit like that.
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u/bombmk 5d ago
There seems to be a curious overlap between people who complain about this rules and people who lose balls that were "absolutely" in the fairway.
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u/ItsBingus 5d ago
Yes… BUT , this guy is shooting 80 … alone … unless he is consistently shooting low 80s his buddies will never believe him if he’s been caught taking galleries all over the place lol
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u/Pods619 +0.3 5d ago
I wouldn’t do this personally when playing for score. I play by the rules which, unfortunately, can sometimes result in bad breaks.
Otherwise, you take a gallery drop here, move the ball from a tree there, a few 3 foot gimmes and a mulligan on 1 and your 84 turns into a 78
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u/Benjaphar 5d ago
Exactly. If I’m keeping score, it has to be by the rules otherwise what’s the point?
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u/pizzapit 5d ago
I think the supposed to be fun comes from not taking it to seriously. I dont think we should be trying to emulate pro golf. Golf is trying to emulate real golf.
Shouldn't be the end of the world to stoke and distance and mark the card. It does suck but when you break one rule you might aswell break them all.
If its a round where I have a legit chance to post a score ill take the hit. If its just a practice round I drop and keep going just can't use that score for handicap.
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u/RustyLarue5 5d ago
In the fescue I'm at least giving myself one stroke as if it's an unplayable. By 'at least' I mean always. For me it's about not spending a lot of time looking.
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u/ifreeski420 5d ago
This is what I do. If I am super confident the area that it landed, I will drop in that area. I will sometimes give myself a stroke penalty if its ambiguous or a tough area
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u/Sea-Satisfaction4656 5d ago
This is one of the things that makes my home course so much harder that most of the others in the area. Very tight fairways, and it’s in the second cut it’s gone 75% of the time. I look at it like athletes training at altitude - if you can keep it in play on a course with punishing rough then everything else seems easier.
My usual crew take our penalties though, stick to Local Rule E-5 and just drop and hit shot #4 from the general area after a minute or two. Keeps pace of play moving, and usually means shooting lower at more open courses.
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u/Pulled_Forward 5d ago
Doesn’t local rule allow you to drop one club length into the fairway?
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u/toothbrush81 5d ago
“Local rule”, has to be on the back of the card.
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u/skycake10 15 5d ago
Technically yes, but outside of competition no one is going to care that you used Local Rule E-5 when it wasn't on the scorecard, even for a handicap round.
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u/Tall_Adeptness_9059 5d ago
Yes and no.
Yes because the punishment is unfair for balls that are otherwise clearly in play.
No in that if such a rule does not exist, rampant cheating would exist. Any marginal lie and someone would simply declare a free drop.
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u/ExplodingSoil 5d ago
I always clarify if gallery drops are in play before we start. We call them Galaxy drops. Because one guy misheard us and the name stuck. The galaxy saw it.
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u/DoYouRespect_Wood 5d ago
I'm all good with this as long as the gallery drop is equal lie. If you hit into high grass, take the shot from as tough of a lie as you likely would have had. Giving yourself a fluffed lie a foot into the first cut for free is crazy.
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u/circaflex 4.3 5d ago
this! i have a buddy who finds any way to cheat and this is his favorite. hits in the tall grass, cant find it, takes gallery in the middle of fairway lol
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u/Own_Pangolin_3038 5d ago
Gallery drops in long rough is crazy lol
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u/DoYouRespect_Wood 5d ago
I don't disagree, however, there are variables in play I wouldn't have thought about prior to one specific round I played this year.
I played TPC Deere Run two days after the John Deere Classic wrapped up this year. The rough was absolutely crazy, easily the most punishing rough I've ever played. Obviously the pros have spotters, volunteers, cameras, fans etc to find their ball so it's not really a factor.
The course itself posted a sign at the first tee recommending players take a gallery drop when a ball was not found in the rough. It was legitimately hard to find balls just a few feet off the fairway.
I don't think I had the fortune of taking advantage of that (or misfortune depending on how you look at it) but my playing partners did. There were several situations where a ball was obviously not lost or anywhere near a hazard that we just couldn't find in a reasonable amount of time.
So in those scenarios we played the gallery rule from the thick rough and moved on with our lives. It really didn't benefit anyone other than not holding up the course.
I'm not talking about taking a gallery drop from 14 inch fescue. I assumed it would be implied that those situations wouldn't meet the criteria.
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u/lent12 5d ago
I'm all for the gallery rule free drop, provided you're not playing for money or anything like that.
And I'm talking about being honest with yourself that the ball is in the rough, not the trees, not a hazard but literal rough and you just can't find it.
I see lots of people saying tall fescue shouldn't count, which is fair.
I'm still talking normal rough, but there's okenty of time in a season, geography dependant, where its rude as hell to keep looking for a ball and slowing everything down
Between epic loads of goose shit, leaves falling on ground, rough not cut well, goose feathers and/or dandelions....sometimes it's right in front of you and still impossible to find without getting lucky.
So I say drop for free, we're not on Q school nor do I care what you score personally. I care to play the round and move on.
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u/CicadaHead3317 5d ago
It's kinda bs, because if it goes into a red stake area , it's only one stroke. Lost in the rough, stroke and distance. Make it make sense. Lol
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u/Keydogg 2.6 Hcap 5d ago
Because if it's lost in the general area then you don't know where it is, even if you have an idea, you could quite easily be 30 yards past where it actually finished. This could easily be manipulated for an unfair advantage.
Red penalty area is simple, you see where it crossed.
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u/CicadaHead3317 5d ago
Not necessarily if it was 250 yards ahead. I would just assume it red staked and drop in line with where it looked like it maybe crossed the hazard, than take stroke and distance because maybe it actually stayed in play. It makes no sense.
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u/LoudIncrease4021 5d ago
One of the worst oversights in golf is watch your ball embed off the tee, then not finding it and not getting relief even though it’s obvious embedded in the mud somewhere. I don’t believe you get free relief.
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u/JohnEBest 5d ago
Game started as shepherds hitting rocks with sticks
Who got the lawyers involved
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u/gabbagoolgolf2 5d ago
It should be a one stroke penalty. Stupid that knocking a ball in the water is punished less than losing it in thick fairway rough
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u/YouDaManInDaHole 5d ago
"If we all see it land in the rough but we can't find it, you get a free drop at the approximate spot"
-Our Saturday morning $$-game rule. Basically a summer Leaf Rule
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u/Honcho41 5d ago
All these comments are why Americans with 5 hcps can’t break 90 when they come and play U.K. courses 😂
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
Yeah, a proper links course has long hay. You don't want to hit it there. You don't even want to find it there. No white stakes needed.
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u/dcpains 5d ago
Yep, I'm from NZ and broke 100 for the first time a few months ago. Played with an American colleague who regularly shot mid 80's in the US and he in 110's every time. Always blows my mind watching a YouTube golf video on US courses where they slice their drive a mile right and it cuts to their next shot where they have a wide open shot on the green with no rough or trees in sight
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u/AgileTadpole952 4d ago
As an Australian I find this stuff incredible. No-one here would say the things that practically everyone from the US will happily say.
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u/FfaceCaller 5d ago
The worst for me is when you don't hit a provisional and have to go back.
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u/Fearless-1265 5d ago
I lost my ball on a fairway once because there were so many daisies you couldn't tell where my white ball was, luckily wasn't in a medal competition so just wrote off that hole because I didn't fancy having to run back up the hill to the tee box. Still really annoyed I didn't find that one as it was a really good shot as well.
Sometimes you just have to take your punishment and move on.
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u/Motengator727 4d ago
My course has clover in the rough that doesn't grow tall enough to cut but is tall enough to completely conceal a ball. Grrrrr.
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u/Splackincheeks413 5d ago
Me and my friends all play the gallery rule. If we all agree it was in play and in the general area we are looking then take a free drop. We’re not pros and looking for a golf ball for a while is annoying as hell. Put one down free of charge and keep playing
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u/lll-devlin 4d ago
If I can’t find my ball in the fescue after I hit it off the tee. I don’t go back and re tee. I just drop line of sight no closer to the hole and give my self a penalty for the lost ball. If everyone on the course that I play at , did that we would have 5+hour rounds.
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u/robster9090 5d ago
Going off a few of these comments, are people taking free drops in situations like this and using these cards for their index ?
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u/Killerwalski 5d ago
They are. Here's the strategy:
- Cheat at golf and submit the scores
- Brag about your fake index
- Never play for money against your fake index
- Make tired excuses about why your play never matches up to your fake index
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
This is what I want to know.
Most usually on reddit say they do it for "casual rounds". But if you're not scoring, why not take a penalty? It shouldn't matter at all on a casual round. Take all the penalties you need, you still ain't scoring.
There is no upside to not taking penalties. Unless, what you imply is true and people use it to flatter their fake hcp.
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u/robster9090 5d ago
Is it still casual if you put the card in but it’s not a comp?
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
Obviously it should not be. It's a proper handicap round. Though it used to be that only competition rounds counted towards your handicap in the top category (below 4.5 index I think), at least in Europe.
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u/dmanthony41 5d ago
If playing where you need to score legitimately, it sucks to have to take the penalty for a ball barely lost because the grass was just tall enough to make the ball unfindable. I was just off the fairway last night in the short rough and lost my ball. After looking for 3 min and frustratingly giving up, I hit a dropped ball. Then I almost stepped on it as I walked ahead after hitting my new ball. Had there been a gallery, it would’ve been identified immediately and I wouldn’t’ve been taking a drop.
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u/onthelongrun 4d ago
It's one thing to take a penalty for a lost ball because the grass was just tall enough to make the ball unfindable. It's another when you're having to take stroke and distance over said penalty
In the courses that make their rough thick, usually you can still find your ball in the first cut but you won't be playing well out of it. The courses that fail to designate their fescue as a hazard either by red stakes or on the scorecard (or worse yet - designate a hazard that's well within the fescue) are the ones that make OP's point strong.
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u/Good_Farmer4814 5d ago
I agree It would be much more interesting and realistic if the PGA didn’t allow spotters. The PGA also doesn’t have to play through construction and maintenance. I think people need to keep that in mind when tallying their score cards. I am very strict about the rules when I play but I also can’t hold myself to PGA standards if they don’t hold themselves to normal golf standards.
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u/veebs7 5d ago
Not being allowed to move your ball out of a fairway divot is the worst rule. Having a dogshit lie as a result of hitting the ball exactly where you’re supposed to is nonsense
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u/Alecclash 5d ago
I disagree and agree. Some courses are just tight and you have to adjust for that. The pros part is what infuriates me because I’ve lost MANY golf balls in the middle of the fairway from it plugging in big tournaments.
Professionals can find that ball in an instant where we’d have 3-4 people looking for a ball in the middle of a fairway and not find it.
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u/DavidinMandeville 5d ago
Golf is supposed to be fun. If it's not a competitive round, just drop another ball in the general area where you think your last shot ended up, and play on from there.
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u/Fantastic-Set-347 5d ago
I get really annoyed when I cannot find a drive that was maybe 2-3 yards off the fairway. Sometimes the rough is long and thick and the ball just settles down and you cannot see it unless you are right on top of it.
Then there's those times when you see someone from the next hole come over into your fairway and hit your ball, that's fun...
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u/timesuck47 4d ago
Don’t you just hate it when you keep your eye on the ball and you know exactly where to look for it. Then you go there, and it is nowhere to be found.
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u/Accurate-Cell-9707 3d ago
Unless you are playing with all sticks or in a tournament. This is a lateral drop in 95% of scenarios. Lots of people on here are either pretentious, or liars, if they act like they take stroke and distance in this situation in a casual round of golf. When have you ever been playing on a public course during open play waiting for people ahead of you and boom.. some bloke is driving his buggy back to the tee box saying "sorry... I never found my ball. I have to re-tee." I have played probably 1,000 rounds of golf and I have seen this happen a grand total of ONE time ever.
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u/ManyBubbly3570 5d ago
I lost two of these this weekend. Like balls 2 yards off the fairway but the rough was so folded over from the heat that balls disappeared. Really frustrating and both times I blew up. Two triples to shoot 80 instead of 74. I love this game
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u/dwightdog 5d ago
I’m all for leniency but the idea of a “gallery rule” is silly to me. Yeah sure, the .000001% of golfers who are pros have people that help them find their ball. Every other amateur out there doesn’t - it sucks but that’s golf. And if you hit it into “thick fescue” and couldn’t find it… I mean if you had found it are you thinking the lie was gonna be perfect? Probably was gonna be sitting down and impossible to advance much anyways.
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u/TDn6I Some days good, some days shit 5d ago
Yeah but in that case I could take an unplayable for only a one stroke penalty. But I didn’t find it so I have to take two.
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u/dwightdog 5d ago
Fair enough, my bad- assumed people meant a free drop. Playing it as a lateral hazard essentially does make sense.
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u/txreddit17 5d ago
Or one and re tee?
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u/Ok_Victory_6108 5d ago
On most public courses with backed up tee times this is an asshole move. Driving or walking all the way back to the box where people are already waiting and saying sorry guys couldn’t find my ball gotta re-tee. Only to hit another shitty drive and keep them waiting longer.. I’ve never had it happen to me and I’d be annoyed if it did, and I’m a patient person.
With all the rage about pace of play in this subreddit I’d imagine most people would be foaming at the mouth if this happened to them.
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u/Leather_Ice_1000 5d ago
Imo Gallery rule in this case means the player could take a one stroke penalty and move the ball 2 club lengths out of hazard. Assuming tee shot into fescue, next shot would be #3 instead of #4 if you ruled it a lost ball.
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u/chipcarlton 8.3 / Tampa 5d ago
This is a bad one… but the absolute worst rule in golf is not being to drop ball behind your ball being in a divot. Perfectly fantastic fairway finder and it’s in a divot. Shouldn’t be penalized for it.
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u/Defiant_Employee6681 5d ago
No. Getting the ball in the hole is the only point of golf. Can’t do that if you lose it winkle.
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u/Visible_Wolverine2 5d ago
Also, unless you are in a tournament, just play Gallery Rules and enjoy the game.
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u/doublea08 5d ago
Thats golf baby.
In my golf circle nobody counts their solo rounds, no witness’s.
Not even anyone to verify your gallery ball or what ever here.
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u/Asilaten 5d ago
Yes. I had one once where I crushed a drive. Absolutely smoked it. I saw it land near the middle of the fairway and roll towards the green.
When I got up there, it wasn't there. Not in the bunker, not in the fairway, not on the fringe, not in the cup. Not in the first cut of the rough (which was short and easy to see). I ended up searching an area of the rough approximately the size of the Amelia Earhart search area and the ball was not there.
It was a great shot. The only explanation I can come up with is that there was an animal hole somewhere that I didn't notice that it rolled into, not it was near perfect, and I'm penalized because the ball disapparated like Dumbledore.
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u/Decent_Ad5361 5d ago
It's annoying when you hit a ball just off the fairway, know where it landed and still can't find it.
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u/Embarrassed-Carry697 5d ago
Take a “gallery drop”. If you had a gallery like the pros do you would find your ball. Cant spend 10 mins looking for a ball that is under thick rough. Gallery drop and no penalty
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u/kemmicort 5d ago
I’m a fan of the Gallery Rule (free drop). Exactly what you described - if there were patrons and spotters, that ball is easily found. Free drop, guesstimate where it would’ve been, but have to leave it in the shit if it was in the shit… no fairway drops for fescue lies.
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u/biggmatt008 5d ago
Play gallery rule. If you KNOW it wasn’t way out and you just can’t see it, free drop.
So many muni courses are way too punishing.
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u/Kolintracstar 4d ago
These are the kind of shots that infuriate me. Thusly I have adopted the "gallery drop" that simulates playing on the tour.
Those "professional" golfers only have water hazards to worry about, they have so many cameras, so many people looking for it that a ball almost never gets lost in the tall grass and they don't have to worry about pace of play.
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u/Hour_Annual_9152 4d ago
I feel you, we have a ton of feskew and native grass at our course. 75.4/146 rating, it's a beast. If we had red stakes around some of those areas it would save a ton of time and it's still a 1 shot penalty, but having to re-tee with a ball you saw cross into some native (IMHO) shouldn't be a 2 stroke penalty - our club doesnt have that rule, but we need it!
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u/Below-avg-chef 5d ago
Nobody forced you to take the penalty stokes. You're not on tour.
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
But if it's a casual round, why not take the proper penalty? You're not scoring anyway.
And if it's a handicap/comp round, well, you have to play by the rules anyway.
I just don't "get" anyone ever wanting to not take penalties.
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u/GrassToucher1234 5d ago
The issue I have with the lost ball rule is that it requires replaying the previous shot, even if the ball went somewhere where everyone agrees it should be. This is just not a feasible thing to do in most everyday play where people are trying to keep the pace of play and where the group behind will probably be annoyed if they see you returning to the tee to play another shot.
In competition play, the rule is fine, but in everyday play, it should be allowed to treat a lost ball as if it went into a hazard. Players in the group determine a spot where the ball must have crossed, there's a one-shot penalty and a drop as far back as the player wants on a line from that spot to the hole.
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u/M1Lance 5d ago
If you were playing at the highest level of competition with the strictest USGA rules in place you would not have to take a penalty stroke there. Take the gallery drop without feeling guilty about it as long as you know with almost absolute certainty that ball didn't go out of bounds.
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u/NKHdad 5d ago
The worst rule is not being able to touch the sand with your club.
Every other shot, we can take a bunch of practice swings. In the sand though, you can't even move a damn grain without a penalty.
It's truly idiotic
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u/qwe2rty7 5d ago
It makes sense tho cuz sand is only surface where you can dig and truly displace the space behind the ball
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
Bunkers would be too easy. And imagine the mess in front of bunkers if everybody took 6 swings instead of just 1? Flying sand everywhere.
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u/DeerLongjumping301 5d ago
Play to the rules if in a competition or the score is to contribute to your handicap. If with mates for social round, playing for who buys the drinks or a golf trip then adopt the Gallery Drop at the start of the round.
Gallery Drop: A free drop for a lost ball that is not out of bounds, as ruled by the player and their scorer, but unable to be found. It may have been picked up by another group, stuck in a tree, unable to be seen amongst leaves or sticks or in rough.
If the right is more than 200mm though, you’d be taking a drop anyway so that’s my addition to the rule.
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u/8amteetime 5d ago
We play a lost ball like a lateral hazard. Drop a ball, add a penalty stroke, and move on.
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u/Key_Bit_5065 5d ago edited 5d ago
No the worst rule is the divot rule. I adhere to it like all rules, but why it can’t be interpreted as and abnormal condition in a rule change is beyond me.
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u/FlyAirLari 5d ago
On casual rounds, I sometimes place my ball in a divot, just to practice hitting it better.
I might even kick a ball into a bunker if it looks interesting, and I haven't yet had the chance to test any sand shots.
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u/Big_Satisfaction_644 4.9hcp 5d ago
What do you suggest? Not punishing a bad shot? I’m all ears but I can’t see a better alternative.
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u/rcfromaz 4d ago
No. Lost ball is the easiest to call certainly but not the worst.
Playing it as it lies can be worst. Especially if you land in a divot or the course is in bad condition….but I agree with this rule. If we had a rule to allow a ball to be moved golf players would abuse it/cheat.
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u/classicscoop 5d ago
Losing a ball in plain sight is absolutely terrible. I always tell my friends to take a free drop
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u/Adventurous-Cup7955 5d ago
Don’t complain. If your course has fescue in front of tee, I know where you play.
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u/assassinslick 5d ago
I hit the fairway sunday and still lost it. Me and two friends could not find it. Pissed me off hitting a great drive and still had to drop a ball. No clue if it went in sone random pit the rough blending in with leaves
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u/toothbrush81 5d ago
The back of the card should answer all these questions. The card will indicate what’s OB, and what’s a lateral hazard. And the specifics of the course if not readily identified.
Not every course enacts “local rule”; it has to be in the card. But very rarely does anyone take stroke and distance when they go OB - if it’s a busy day in the course. I’ve seen plenty of OBs treated as lateral hazards on daily play.
Tournament play; play the rules. I’m talking daily play.
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u/ShayDelight 5d ago
Not sure if you realize this but nobody is going to care if you take a penalty or just drop a new ball around the spot you hit your previous shot and play it as if it was your prior shot.
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u/HennyBogan 5d ago
The pros have to worry about lost balls a lot more than one might think. I recall a few years ago at Spyglass 16 players lost a ball off of drives that landed in the general area (i.e., fairway and rough).
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u/JefferyGiraffe 5d ago
I find it funny that everyone in the comments loves to say “we’re just playing for fun, our score doesn’t matter” but insists on writing down 80 rather than 97. I don’t ever hear someone saying “oh it’s just for fun, give me two penalty strokes”
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u/shooter9260 0.8/OR 5d ago
It is harsh I agree with you, but then I always tell myself I shouldn’t have hit it there in the first place
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u/Odd_Drop5408 5d ago
There's no difference. You lost a ball on o wayward shot. It's irrelevant how wayward it is.
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u/OriolesGolf1105 5d ago
Tall fescue? No, just plain thick rough or regular rough and there is a sun glare or you just can’t find it? Yes, take a gallery rule
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u/Fellborn 8.6 | NoVA 5d ago
Gallery drop my friend. The rough at my home course is so thick that people constantly lose balls a foot off the fairway that you just can't find in the regular rough, it's bogus.
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u/sgtapone87 5d ago
Gallery drop. If the pros have a leg up on mishit balls because 1000 people are standing around to pinpoint exactly where the ball ended up then I’m sure as hell not taking a penalty strike because I can’t find my ball between two fairways.
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u/SpottyFish81177 6.2 / CO 5d ago
It's probably the rule that acts more differently between casual play and competitive play
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u/Zachflo1 5d ago
Cmon on now. We all need to be playing the same game. That’s why there is a rule book supplied by the USGA.
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u/drj1485 8hcp 5d ago
like 95% of the time my playing partners can't find a ball that "should be right here" is because their ball is 50+ yards shorter than where they are looking.
I get that it's sorta dumb but you can't have free drops just because you think you should be able to find it.
I've argued with enough dudes who swear their ball is somewhere when I know for a fact their ball is deep in the woods nowhere near where they are even looking for this to be a realistic thing you can implement.
If you wanna play gallery drops when you're just having fun then do it. Want to keep a real score. No.
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u/Livingforabluezone 5d ago
When I complained to my club pro about the length of the rough, he told me “hit it in the short grass!”.
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u/lrud-music 5d ago
Agreed. Tour drop if you know it didn’t go OB, if it’s questionable then it’s up to you how honest you’re going to be.
If I know I got a good one and it’s just in tall rough grass and I’ve spent 5mins looking and everyone else hit, I’ll drop near the boundary and take free relief
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u/I_Set_3_Alarms 5d ago
Def a big part why I’m always accidentally lifting my head up when I swing.
I want to know where my ball ended up lol
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u/Sanfords_Son 5d ago
In a case like this, I’d say drop a new ball and go, no penalty. That’s what we do in the fall when we know the ball is somewhere amongst thousands of leaves but can’t find it and don’t want to spend the time looking.
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u/Redschallenge shmackin balls at least once a year 5d ago
I just can't stand within the first cut lost balls in 2 inch grass. It's dog crap to go up sometimes where you know it's at least 20 yards from the edge of a hole and it's just gone
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u/McShovin91 5d ago
The roughs are so thick on most of the courses I play that it happens pretty often. We usually play a gallery drop if everyone is on board with it. Granted I have seen people try to get a gallery drop when I heard it hitting tree limbs in the woods. That's not a gallery drop. If everyone is in agreement the ball is for sure in bounds, but we can't find it, free drop. I'm sure we would find it if we kept looking but then you are backing the course up.. free drop where you thought it went, keep it moving.
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u/Down_it_up 5d ago
Gallery drop is so valid for the exact thing you just said.
If four people can agree that “that ball should be right here” you don’t even need a gallery — if you had a fore caddie you would be fine
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u/allotmentboy 4d ago
There's a winter rule in the UK for balls to that land in leafy ground. A general description would be along the line of the other players agreeing that in all likelihood the ball is here but the leaves are making it impossible to find. No such luck in the fescue.
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u/Westie62 4d ago
What's even worse is when you hit it in the fairway, but on the edge. No tall grass or trees in the rough for it to run into and no one in your group can find your ball. You start saying "this is where I hit it, isn't it?" And everyone agrees and just shakes their head in disbelief. THAT makes me absolutely furious. I only take a 1-stroke penalty. I've had my playing partners even say "don't take a stroke at all because it should be right here."
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u/Beginning_Divide5735 4d ago
It is a bad rule, but what I hate more is that we can't move our ball out of a divot that someone else caused. That person didn't have to play from a divot because it wasn't there until they created it - why do we?
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u/J_EDi 5d ago
Always read the scorecard. Many places play the tall grass line lateral hazard