Fore! Who's playing golf, yo-

[guroo270]

I'm really not this big of a score, cheating nazi, and don't REALLY care if anyone else does it, but for myself, overcoming such obstacles is more rewarding than avoiding them.

Well, of course you are. You get butthurt if a group of guys who live 1,000 miles from you agrees to a private ground rule for a free lie from a divot in the middle of the fairway in a damn private skins game? Too bad for you pal. The biggest problem with golf is control freaks like you doing all they can to take the fun out of the game.

Really? I don't try to take any of the fun out of the game. I never call any penalties on anyone, which is saying a lot considering my brother in law (whom I'm very competitive with) takes a mulligan on each nine, gives himself every 4 footer in sight, then has the gall at the end of the round to say he beat/tied me. I just go home knowing I didn't cheat. I'm good with that.

[spook]

spook, you seem to be confusing the embedded ball rule with winter rules. The embedded ball rule is always in effect in closely mown areas (unless modified by local rules, I suppose). Winter rules allow you to always pick, clean and place in closely mown areas, embedded or not. Some local courses extend winter rules to the rough. Many course pros on the west side in WA, OR and BC encourage people to play winter rules all year. I don't expect dry land golfers to understand the wisdom of that.

yeah, i just don't know the rules and i'm in oregon. i have the rule book and have read it more than once and keep it with me, but i've also spent so much time reading about other aspects of the game that i am not fluent with all the rules. thanks for clarifying. you already made my life easier.

[TahoeJ]

FWIW, I once walked on the Jubilee course at St. Andrews and played with a local who advised the custom there was to take free lies from divots in the fairway. The horror!

Ha, that's great. I really don't see why an area of fairway that's dried out and bare would be marked and/or considered G.U.R. but a divot wouldn't. The difference of course being that there are a lot of divots and they're small so of course they wouldn't be marked by the crew.

Another dumb rule I can't stand, but always adhere to, is how out of bounds is so much more of a penalty than a lateral hazard. For the life of me I can't figure out how the hell they came up with that one.

[guroo270]

I don't understand red stakes vs. yellow stakes. What's the point in that? 2 club lengths, as far back as you want, or a drop zone. Seems simple enough.

[GeezerSteve]

Yeah, the round with the St. Andrews local was fun. He was a good stick, scratch. I played several second walk-on rounds in Scotland when my buds were drinking after the morning round. IME, Scots really want to make golf fun, don't get hung up on scoring, usually want to play a match game or skins game with inconsequential stakes and think American golfers are a bunch of uptight cart-riding stiffs. (Golf carts are non-existent on 90%+ of Scottish courses.) Plenty of good-good gimmes that day. A 3-1/2 hour round in Scotland is common, even on a busy day. Anything over 4 hours is frowned upon. Hit a ball in the gorse? Don't look for it. Drop one close to where it when in and take a stroke, i.e., play it like a lateral hazard. Some courses let players bring their dogs.

[scotia]

3.5 hours is pretty standard here, any more and it's a slow day.

[Steven S. Dallas]

It's maddening, but doesn't make cheating right.

I guess I'd rather have fun playing golf than go around being pissed off at the lack of consideration of others, because I play golf for fun. To be clear, though, I'd never move a ball in a competitive setting but don't gamble much and have never played in a tournament. I've only been playing seriously- as in, practicing once in a while and not just going out and hacking- for two years or so. I'm hoping to play in some NCGA events this summer, though.

[GeezerSteve]

If a skins game group unanimously agrees to free lies from a fairway divot, then it's not cheating -- except in guroo270's miserable world:

Golf is definitely a battle. . . .

Golf is a four letter word. . . .

[DeathVan]

Re: Gimmees

We always played inside the grips on a regular putter, as a kid.
-My grandma played within sight of the hole, she was a funny bird and couldn't see for crap.

Hell, she actually drove a golf cart into a lake one time. I was about 8, but that image is forever burned into my mind as one of the funnest family outings ever.

[spook]

Re: Gimmees

We always played inside the grips on a regular putter, as a kid.
-My grandma played within sight of the hole, she was a funny bird and couldn't see for crap.

Hell, she actually drove a golf cart into a lake one time. I was about 8, but that image is forever burned into my mind as one of the funnest family outings ever.

i didn't know until half way through my first season that "gimmees" were an actual thing. i never felt comfortable taking them because at my point, almost nothing is a gimme. then i realized that people get pissed off if you don't take gimmees because you're slowing things down.

as many nice people as i met, i also met a lot of others who were constantly pissed off about this or that and i rarely understood why. knowing more now, some of it was legitimate but a lot was just angry people playing golf.

[MotherFucker]

If a skins game group unanimously agrees to free lies from a fairway divot, then it's not cheating -- except in guroo270's miserable world:

Actually it is. See how I made it bold there for emphasis?

Four beaters don't get to overrule the rule book. Sure, they can unanimously ignore the rule, and to them it's all good but, within the real-life game your playing, not the made up skins game you guys agreed to, 'tis cheating. No real two ways around it.

FWIW, I'm down with made up games on a golf course that resembles golf just as much as I dig the game itself. I'm not good enough to enforce the rules like a nazi but you gotta admit that, when you're bending the rules for your (did it again there) foursome, you indeed cheat a titch.

Shouldn't have had those last couple beers out there, shit. Pictures of City Park and the bev-cart chick coming shortly. I fucking forgot the sd card so I need to find a way to transfer them from the internal memory to the laptop. Can't find the fuckin' cord.

[Steven S. Dallas]

i realized that people get pissed off if you don't take gimmees because you're slowing things down.... some of it was legitimate but a lot was just angry people playing golf.

Well it is a battle.

[RockChalk]

Playing San Geronimo tomorrow morning, hoping to get 18 in before the whistle blows at the quarry.

[GeezerSteve]

Actually it is.

Cheating whom?

And, sorry pal, if you deem a skins game group unanimously agreeing to treat fairway divots as GUR to be "cheating," then you are indeed a rules nazi.

ETA: What the fuck does this guy know about golf?

[bushman]

Played a round at Northland CC today, free golf, lunch, beers and stoogies. Other poeples expense Accts. are the greatest. Every young lady working there is very hot, great job HR.

[guroo270]

Dude, it's a belief, not being a rule nazi. If you are playing GOLF, there's a set of rules for it. According to the rules of this game, some things can't be done. If following those rules on our own, and not forcing any penalties to be called on anyone else, we're not being rule nazis.
Do whatever the hell you want. But it's like saying that you and your buddies went out for a pick up game of hoops and said, "for the sake of making this more fun let's make everything a 3 pointer, there are no out of bounds, and we're going to use a four square ball." If you asked you guys, you're playing basketball, but if Kobe walks by and says, "What are you guys up to?" and you say, "Playing basketball." He's going to laugh and think you're a retarded moran.

/end rules discussion on my part

[GeezerSteve]

By your goofy logic, a half court basketball game is cheating, and because Kobe has played hundreds of half court games, he is a chronic cheater with a decades-long history of cheating. Face it, you're a rules nazi. Youre analogies are laughable. A skins game group unanimously agreeing to treat divots as GUR is not equivalent to a square ball and no out-of-bounds in a basketball game. ETA: Choosing basketball for your analogies is particularly absurd because many basketball rules are subject to the officials' subjective calls. Or are you going to suggest that Michael Jordan didn't routinely travel?

[guroo270]

I never said any of that. Your skills at deductive reasoning are pathetic. You are a first class wanker. And I'm not miserable whatsoever. Life couldn't be better right now, except I could be playing golf. A game that you apparently have no idea how to play. No wonder the saying goes, "The average golfer does not break 100... if he counts all of his penalty strokes properly."

[GeezerSteve]

You never said what? Huh? How can I interpret the following as anything other than a claim that a casual (non-tournament) skins game foursome unanimously agreeing to treat fairway divots as GUR is "not playing golf?"

But it's like saying that you and your buddies went out for a pick up game of hoops and said, "for the sake of making this more fun let's make everything a 3 pointer, there are no out of bounds, and we're going to use a four square ball." If you asked you guys, you're playing basketball, but if Kobe walks by and says, "What are you guys up to?" and you say, "Playing basketball." He's going to laugh and think you're a retarded moran [sic].

So, let me get this straight. If my buds and I agree to play a skins game with the fairway divot/GUR rule mod, and Ernie Els walks by and sees us, Ernie will conclude that we are not playing golf? Nah.

So, I have "no idea how to play" golf? None? Uh, well, you might be overstating your case a bit there, sonny.

[MotherFucker]

While I love arguing rule semantics with a skins-beater cheater...

How about a little golf stoke?


Obligatory golf flag/sign shot:



Denver skyline from #5 I believe:



The clubs you sent love the views, Skiballs:



Aaaaaaaaaand Fritz pimpin' it up with the cart girl. Not bad. I win for the first posting of a cart girl, too:

[guroo270]

No, but Ernie will think, "No wonder the average golfer doesn't REALLY break 100."
and yes, I'm probably overstating my case here, bud, but so are you. I've said that the rules I'm speaking of I simply impose on myself and you called me a rules nazi. That just isn't the case. We really should agree to disagree and get back to shit like people playing together and TR's like MF posted. So accept my truce, or fuck off. You even misconstrued my concept of calling golf a battle and a four letter word. Both are either tongue in cheek or are representative of how I try to play golf well, and fairly. I play golf. I love golf. I see it as the greatest game ever. A game that you have to be honest and a gentleman to play. Sure there are other versions like scrambles and made up games where no rules are followed, like the most basic, play the ball as it lies, and drunk fests, that I also play in. I bowl games where you have to either take shots or do push ups after a strike, and I play golf where you have to take shots or shotgun a beer after a birdie. Self inflicted handicap. Whatever, dude, just don't tell me that breaking the rules is not breaking the rules. Keep telling your daughter she can sing after you recorded "Friday" on auto tune. I don't give a fuck.

[GeezerSteve]

No, actually, Ernie would likely say nothing and be delighted that 4 guys are enjoying a game. Indeed, I'd bet that on at least one day in his life, Ernie agreed to play winter rules on a day when winter rules weren't declared on the course. Actually, that probably happened many days and with virtually anyone who has played the game more than a few years.

For the record, you started this when you accused people in a casual game agreeing to a minor rule mod as engaging in "cheating." When you call somebody a "cheater" you should expect to get slapped down.

[hawkgt]

Good playing the round today MF and fritz! Good shit!

[guroo270]

No, actually, Ernie would likely say nothing and be delighted that 4 guys are enjoying a game. Indeed, I'd bet that on at least one day in his life, Ernie agreed to play winter rules on a day when winter rules weren't declared on the course. Actually, that probably happened many days and with virtually anyone who has played the game more than a few years.

For the record, you started this when you accused people in a casual game agreeing to a minor rule mod as engaging in "cheating." When you call somebody a "cheater" you should expect to get slapped down.

Please, please quote me where I called someone a quote, unquote, "Cheater" for doing so. PLEASE.

[GeezerSteve]

You used the term "cheating" twice in post 274. Accusing someone of cheating is the equivalent of calling that person a cheater. Duh.