Okay, so I have noticed that nearly everyone that I play golf with except my buddy Tim, and my younger brother do not play by the rules. When we play golf we play by strict rules, no mulligans, OB or lost ball you must drop (or re-tee) and hit again. If we hit to an area where we think the ball might not be found we hit a provisional. We also read up on rules when we encounter different situations or ask the golf pro at the course we play so we can play the ball accordingly.

Most people I play with do not play OB or lost ball as stroke and distance, or play balls into the hazard from the point the ball crossed into the hazard when dropping. Surprisingly a lot don't even attempt a second putt (or count it as three if they miss). I hear nearly every round "I wasn't really trying to make that one" as they slap at the ball and lip out. I just say try to make it next time. We played this last Saturday with a friend who was blasting putts past the whole and made this statement, "Oh I forgot, you guys count everything. I need to remember that because I am used to just going for the first one".

So I was just wondering how many people really play by all the rules. I know some people who say things like "my handicap will only allow me to take a 7 on this hole". Well, the handicap will figure that in for you so you are supposed to put that snowman on the card and not a 7. Also, what does everyone use for generating their handicap? I have been using fairwayfiles.com for about two years now. It uses ESC (equitable stroke control) so you enter your actual score hole-by-hole and it will adjust holes if necessary before calculating your handicap index for the round.

My guess is that people on this forum probably do play by all the rules, but I was just curious to see. Maybe it's just here in Houston, but I can't tell you how many times we play with someone who says they are a 13, then we have them play by all the rules and they are shooting 92-95 regularly. Maybe I am being too strict with my own game, but I want to really know where I stand.

i am like one of two people on my high school golf team who knows the rules well enough and plays by them...everyone else does w/e they want....even outside of golf season i play by them...the way i see it...whats the point in shooting a 39 with dropped balls ....adn you didn't count the stroke?

umm for the handicap i use the computer program at my course to calculate it automatically for me

I would say about 85-90% of the people that play gof regularly do NOT keep their handicap index.

Given that, why would they care about the rules.

And besides, you're not playing them for anything, are you ? And, if you ARE, you have a tremendous advantage because YOUR handicap is correct and THEIR's is "inflated".

Don't worry about it.

BTW, you DO (usually) have to worry about 7 or 8 on a hole because most handicapping organizations only register the TOTAL score, course rating and slope to figure out your handicap so you NEED to know about ESC and when to apply it.

I play by the rules 99.5% of the time. I might take a mulligan once every few rounds, not in a tournament of course

I play by the rules. Stroke and distance for OB, hazards, provisionals, never take a mulligan, everything. I make rare exceptions. Last year I did make one exception, and I remember it because it was the only one I made all year. I hit a drive in the rough, and it was too close to a root to play safely, so I moved it back six inches, essentially the same lie, just not on a root. Yea, I should have taken an unplayable, but I was not having a great round, so I gave myself a break.

I don't take gimme's unless they are within six inches of the cup, but I usually putt it anyway to hear the sound of the ball dropping in. Love that sound.

I don't care what everyone else does. I know what you mean about people saying they shot this, they shot that, and having played with them you know it's probably got a gimme factor in it. Oh well.

I play the rules because I want my handicap to reflect my true handicap, not my ego. I've kept mine online for 3 years, this year I'll be doing it officially, so I can get into some tournaments.

Keep in mind though, that I went years without even keeping score, just playing and not caring what I scored. When people asked me what I shot, I usually said "about X," but I never really cared either. Now that I'm playing with a goal in mind and a purpose, I care enough to keep score and a legit handicap.

I remember one guy I played with, thought he was going to get on the Senior Tour. We played about 7 holes and he asked me where I stood. I said I hadn't a clue, I had not kept score in a couple years. He got kind of annoyed that I was kicking his can and didn't even know it. But he knew it.

For the most part, I like to play by the rules. No mulligans, no gimmes no matter how close, etc. This way, I can be honest with what my real handicap is. The exception I may give myself is if there is a chance to hurt either my clubs or myself. I'd say it's a 50/50 that I take an unplayable lie in this case.

Honest 22.6 handicap

The only thing I will do is move a ball to prevent damage to me or my club, ain't breaking anything playing a fun round.

I play by the book. No gimmies, which often requires clarification with strangers on the first green, so they don't pick up my ball for me. I just tell them I have a form of mental disorder. I hate it when someone touches my ball, wherever it is. Plus, I feel that no hole is complete until I've heard the ball fall in, and I just love the sound of the ball bouncing in the cup.

As someone else said, what's the use of posting scores if they not real?

I carry a rules book in the bag, have gone through it a couple of times and refer to it in problematic situations.

To me, it's the difficulty in golf that makes the game fun and stimulating. Rules, fairway bunkers, problematic lies, treacherous greens, >7000-yard tracks; they're all about making golf more difficult -- thus fun.

i am a novice so I track everything...i take actual strokes rather than the normal double par or 8 rule most my friends go by.....I track Fairways, GIR, Putts, distance off tee and of course strokes. So my 30+ is a hard earned badge of honor for me....LOL I am seeing improvement as the two golf handicap systems I am using... igolf and golfdigest let me track all my games and show if I am improving anywhere...avg putts per round...etc.

figure all this scrutiny on myself...and seeing how much one or two holes where I blow up and hit a 8 or 9 can affect me overall...

when i review my round and see I hit a couple birdies...a couple pars...primary bogey golf rest of time...and then think that a couple errant shops that require penalty strokes and a few fat approach shots or thin pitches...and I could shave 12-16 strokes off my game.

will make the result of my work all that more satisfying.....trying to break 100 by this time next year.

Play by the rules. One exception: I will not dammage my clubs in a fun round BUT I will make sure that moving the ball will not give an advantage over the "dangerous" lie. I always post actual scores in the GHIN system, no ESC. I may be wrong but the way I see it, there are no ESC scores in tournaments. A handicap is 96% of the best 10 out of the last 20 scores, it's already ESC'ed the way I look at it. Correct me if my thinking is flawed.

my kind of thinking exactly....

I play by the rules whenever possible, or to the best of my limited knowledge of the rules (need to by a rulebook).

Reading this and other golf forums always gives me an inferiority complex... You get the feeling that the majority of golfers out there bomb the ball 300yds off the tee and are closing in on scratch. You just have to take it with a grain of salt... What'd Harvey Penick say? 95% of players don't even break 100 legally...

I always play by the rules, and expect everyone else in my group to do the same. If after a couple rounds I find that someone does not do so, I just make sure that I am not included in any bet with that person.

If someone makes a stink about it, I just say that there appears to be different sets of rules for some people in the group and until we all play by the same set, it seems silly to make any wagers.

That being said, if I am playing customer golf, I could care less what rules my clients play by as long as they have fun and play fast.

Same here. Tourney rounds are one thing, but I play 100+ rounds a year at my club, and I'm not letting my clubs take any unneeded beatings during those rounds--heck, I change up my equipment enough out of hoeing, I don't need to change because of stupidity. Putting the ball a few inches away in a similar lie doesn't change the score one bit, but hitting your 8 iron off a rock will change the wallet, the course of your day, and everything else!

I agree with you guys about moving a ball if you are going to destroy your club, but I really don't run into that myself.

It is good to hear you guys are playing by the rules. This time of year we might play winter rules depending on the condition of the course, but in that case we only move the ball if we are in the actual fairway. Anywhere else and you are SOL.

We keep strict handicaps for a couple reasons
1. We want to know where we actually stand.
2. We like to play skins, ect.. for money. When you play for money everything counts.

I generally play by the rules ("strict rules of golf, Goldfinger"-couldn't resist that!!)-the only other exception that I will make (due to pace of play concerns on some courses) is to treat OB as a lateral (stroke, not distance). Some courses are now specifying this as a requirement because of pace of play issues. Up here in the NW we have the local winter rule exceptions-which I do take full advantage of!!

I will say this, there has been a couple of occasions where we had no reason to expect a ball lost, however it was. In that event since we can't go back to the original location that the shot was played from we just drop in the area we expected the ball to be (usually this is not good and most of the time we have to play out form there without a shot to the green), but we count it as it was hit from the previous shot.

So, tee-shot goes left, turns out to be lost. We drop near that area and say we are hitting 4. Pros have some advantages in this area because they have a 100 people near where their ball always goes, so it is almost never lost unless it's in the water.

However you score it is up to you, we are not professionals. I guess that every other game we play is by the rules, why is it so hard to adhere to rules of golf.

I think it's because there's no referee in golf but ourselves. I remember a pretty amazing survey in one of the golf rags last year. They asked people if they would cheat to win a tournament if they were sure nobody would know. I think 65% answered yes.

On others not playing by the rules, I don't care either, as long as they don't compare their scores to mine. Last summer I played with maybe 50 other players in all. I can remember only one that also played by the rules.

During our normal Saturday/Sunday choose-up, I play by strict rules except when damage to self or equipment is likely so I will take a penalty stroke for unplayable lie. When playing in a tournament or posting a score for handicap, all rules are followed. About twice a month, a few old friends from school come together for some golf and a little drinking. Most of them would be extremely lucky to break 100. So during these outings very few rules are followed to make it more enjoyable for them otherwise they wouldn't play.

I play by the rules and since about half my rounds are tournament rounds, I don't have a choice on those anyway. The exception would be maybe 5% of the time, if I'm playing with certain friends or relatives and they make the suggestion, then we make friendly rules that are the same for everbody such as bump them in the fairways in the winter or first tee mulligans. It's also pretty common in social rounds to give people putts that are within maybe 12 inches of the hole, but unfortunately this is hard to control and can easily grow to 3 feet which is way too much.

I really don't know why everybody who keeps a handicap index doesn't use the USGA system which is really the only "official" system in this country (USA). It is something like $35 per year and you also get a magazine subscription with it.

As far as ESC to post your score, I think a lot of people get confused on the difference between what you scored and what you posted. For example, I might shoot an 85 but have a snowman on a par 4. For my handicap, I can only post a 7 max on any hole. So I post an 84. But I still shot 85.

My regular group and I play pretty strictly by the rules with two exceptions:
1. We concede putts inside the leather to keep the speed of play and to keep our sanity to some degree. Our inside the leather rule is our STRICT local rule, if there is any question whatsoever with if the ball is inside the leather or not we putt out. No "that's good", No "should we give it to him", you just walk up lay the putter down, if it's inside the leather you just pick it up.
2. 14 club rule, if you have a spare driver or wedge in your bag you want to hit a few shots with no one gets too bothered, you might take a little grief, but that's about it.

I keep my handi through the USGA/GHIN.

If there is one rules violation I HATE, is when we are playing with people for a little cash and they don't get the most important and basic, if not the first rule ever created, in the game of golf, play the ball as it lies. The only exception is if it is extremely muddy, we might play lift clean and cheat like the guys on tour. I swear that some people are so used to rolling it over they can't break the habit even if you clarify on the 1st tee.

I would say that the group of players I am with break two rules on a regular bases. During the off season (non posting period) we will play winter rules(perferred lies) when the course conditions require it. We will generally will give some two footers depending on how people are playing.....

I always try to play by the rules, whatever the game is. I am calculating my handicap using the USGA rules and sports today a 16.3 (playing blades when I really should not, too much testosterone ) . What surprises me is that when I get into games with some guys I know, that are showing 11 to 12 handicaps, if I start to play regularly with them, they refuse to give me any shots if we have a betting game, arguing that I am too good for my handicap. In my opinion, their hcp are completely over-rated. It feels like they are counting only the games for which they've done well. I did not stop me from beating them either. On my side, I integrate any game I play in my calculation.

Cheers!

This is true. Granted I probably should use the USGA handicapping service, but I have been using fairwayfiles.com. On that web site you enter your actual score for each hole. If ESC comes into play it will make the adjustment for you. For example I played a course last year where I shot a 9 on a par 5, the web site adjusted my score before figuring the handicap index for the round.

Equitable Stroke Control Summary
Based on Handicap Index of: 15.0 and Course Handicap of: 16
Hole-13 MaxAllowed-7 Score-9 ESCAdjustment-2
Total ESC Adjustment-2

I would hope that any handicapping service does this for you, otherwise you must know exactly all the rules related to ESC. I don't, it's enough to try and play by all the rules how it is. Is this not the case with the USGA handicapping service?




Well, this is sort of what I am talking about too. I have a friend that has bi-polar golf scores. One day he goes out and shoots a 79, then next day 95. He has such an unorthodox swing that he is either on or off. Well his handicap is about 11 because he generally only puts in his good score, and those rounds of 85 or better are not in the majority. However if we play skins he gives me 5 strokes which is fine with me.

Another thing to think about if you play skins with handicaps (is there another way?), each course is rated differently, so the low handicap could possibly be giving more strokes on some courses than on others. That is another thing I like about the website I use, you can select the players from the group list and the course/tee boxes you will play from, and it will print up a handicap sheet for the round. That is a nice feature.

ms - everything you say above is completely on the mark. The only issue with not having a usga handicap is, depending on what types of competitions you are playing in, it is often required for entry.

It is interesting how some people keep a low handicap index by not posting high scores, for vanity purposes, but when their money is on the line, all of a sudden they want more strokes.

The ESC is actually pretty simple. For example, for my handicap of 12.9, I can't post anything higher than a 7. That's the only thing I have to remember. Nothing else.

Your point is a good one about setting up a friendly competition on courses with different course ratings. There is a specific way to do it which is outlined on any official usga or state affiliated handicap site, but if a service prints you out a sheet, that certainly takes the math chore away from you and makes it easy.

this topic is a little strange for me, because here in europe, only tournament rounds count towards your handicap (with the exception of a previously announced handicapping round, which is a little complicated). this might be the reason, why people from the us often find european handicaps "inflated" (happenend to me a few times).
having said that, "playing by the rules" in a tournament also means: no electronic distance measuring devices of any kind. do you also consider range finders and similar things, when you are talking about playing by the rules?

If I could only count tournament rounds towards handicap then I wouldn't have one. Most of tournaments that I see done are scrambles, ect... There are a few that I do see here but you need a handicap to get in, maybe they just count you as a scratch golfer if you don't have one, not sure about that. Those rounds are also much more pricey. There would be no reason to play a tournament round and spend all that extra money if I was counted as a scratch golfer because I would have NO CHANCE.

As far as electronic distance measuring devices, I need to check and make sure about that. My current understanding is that the USGA allows them for rounds that count towards your handicap. They are also allowed under local rule in tournaments. So basically if the tournament committee agrees then you can use them legally. I have not used one yet, but did order a GPS Golf Guru to try and see how I like it. If I had a Tour caddie with the yardage books they have then I certainly wouldn't need anything else. That is an advantage we don't have. IMO, a GPS, or laser range finder only gives you the same information that you see players in professional events have. That doesn't make it legal, so I need to check and make sure that they are approved for rounds that count towards handicaps.

Range measuring devices (GPS or Laser range finders) are allowed for tournament play by both the R&A and the USGA (and now probably everybody else). The device must only provide range but not slope.
These rules were introduced 2 years ago I believe to give the weekend golfer access to the same type of information as pro golfers, who had access through their caddies and course books they prepare to all the distance info they needed to play.

The same goes for any round played entering into your hcp calculations.

Ceers,
Easy

i understand the note under rule 14-3 a little differently. measuring devices are still illegal under rule 14-3 b, yet the committee may make a local rule that allows them. at least in austria there are no such local rules. on the contrary, the austrian golf federation explicitely states in rule 16.3. i of its handicapping and competition code, that the use of such a device makes a result void and it must not count towards your handicap.

well, the us system is completely different, because you have all those public golf courses, which is great. in continental europe you have to join a club, which will then keep your handicap. nowadays there are cheap ones. and if you are a member of a club, any club, and have an official hcp, you can play on the courses of all the other clubs as well. there is no such thing as completely private clubs, at least not that i know of. all the clubs need the green fees for their budgets. and in my area, i can usually choose between 10 to 15 different tournaments (stableford usually) every weekend.

Then you ARE playing by the rules.

How is this possible ? Doesn't seem to make any sense......

Honest 27.4 here. Play by the rules, no mulligans, take an unplayable if there's a chance of injury or club damage from the lie. I hit it there; it's my penalty.

When I played with my salespeople in outings, most of them wanted a bet going. I did the "Strict Rules of Golf, Goldfinger" bit in that case. Most of them couldn't play to their handicap, and had no idea how to hit out of a divot or even out of a bad lie in the rough. I stood there and watched as they got all bent out of shape. (Sniggering like Muttley, inside.) Was a good way to take a couple of bucks off them.

Yes, I suck, but I can play to my handicap.

I'm not really concerned with people playing by the rules in most situations. Now if they want to say they beat me, or if we had money on it, I would insist on following the rules.

Anyone who wants an honest assessment of their game, and a true comparison of their skill level to others will follow the rules, and it seems like that is the majority of people on the forum here (although the rule breakers probably aren't posting).

I do find it amusing when I play with fairly decent players that don't even come close to following the rules. I played most of my round with a couple guys last summer who were clearly better than me. At the time, I probably played to a handicap in the low 30s. I would guess from watching them that one was around a 15, and the other about a 25.

They both seemed a little rusty, and probably not playing particularly well for their ability that day, and from watching them play, I suspected that the better golfer probably shot in the low-mid 90s, and the worse one around 100. I didn't keep track of their strokes, but I was watching. Well, to my surprise, with about 3 holes left, we were all waiting for the group ahead to tee off, and one guy is adding up the scores and says he is 7 over, and the other guy is 10 over and needs to pick up 3 strokes!!

From my observations, if these guys were scoring by the rules, there is no way either one did better than bogey golf. Now I don't really care, but I bet the better golfer there plays some rounds where he 'breaks par'. In reality, he is much closer to a bogey golfer than a scratch golfer. People just like scoring low, and if it takes breaking the rules to do it, that's ok by them.

And does it really matter? If that makes the game more fun for them for a casual round, I don't think it matters at all. But don't go and say you beat me by 20 strokes ...

For the most part I follow the rules fairly strictly. I don't keep an official handicap, so I don't feel bad about a few 'indiscretions' such as taking a practice shot once in a while after a bad chip, leaving the pin in for a putt on a super cold day to save time, or not taking that 2 stroke penalty last month when I hit my fairway wood so bad it dribbled over and touched my foot. I'll also occassionally use the lateral WH rule rather than the OB rule when a ball I thought was in play ends up being OB when I get up to it (USGA actually recommends this when the course is busy to speed play).

The only time I make a big exception to the rules is in late fall when there are lots of leaves on the course. I could spend 5 minutes looking for a ball 10 times in the round, but instead use shag balls and if I don't find it in a minute, drop as close to where I expect it to be (but if there is a good chance it is in a hazard or OB, I take the appropriate penalty).

I also find the 'preferred lies junkies' extremely amusing at times. One time last year, my buddy and I were about to tee off, and a guy had hit a shot into the rough near the tee box from another hole. He had about as perfect a lie as you could hope for in the rough, but placed the ball 3 or 4 times to get it as perfect as possible, then took his stance, still wasn't satisfied and moved it again before taking his shot. And some people just can't resist moving the ball even with a perfect lie in the fairway ... they might as well just use a tee for every shot.