Play the ball where it lies?
Sometimes the rules need to be bent so that your golf clubs won't be
We play this game because it’s fun, right?
I only ask this because I think sometimes we need to be reminded (I know I do) that we’re not getting paid to play this game (at least I’m not), and as such we should maybe take it a bit less seriously, in some ways.
This discussion could go a ton of directions from that statement, and I will likely be examining different aspects of it again in the future (controlling one’s temper, for example), but this particular piece is about the concept of free drops.
I know the rule about “playing the ball where it lies,” just as everyone who grows up learning the game does (it’s basically the core principle, after all), but when you’re out with your buddies having what’s supposed to be an enjoyable afternoon on the links, I don’t think you need to take that rule quite so literally, sometimes.
If you want to waste your time going through all 210 pages (or however long it is) of the Rules of Golf to figure out when, exactly, you’re entitled to free relief from a bad lie, go ahead. I encourage people to learn as much about the rules as they can. Personally, however, I’m going to propose to my playing partners (and accept it if they propose it to me), that we are entitled to free relief (a drop) whenever making a play on the ball as it lies will do either of the following things:
- It either creates a physically dangerous situation or will damage your equipment.
- If I’m right behind a big fat tree, and making a play on my ball will cause that tree to be in close proximity to my golf club (on the follow through, for example), I should be allowed to move that ball back from that tree. To not do so is bound to damage either my equipment or myself. (Anyone else remember Tiger Woods warning the gallery at the 2012 AT&T National at Congressional that he thought his shaft was going to snap when he hit that tree with it on the follow through, so they should move out of the way?)
I’m not talking about giving myself a better line by kicking my ball back out toward the fairway to be able to play around a tree that’s in my way here, or anything. If I put my ball in a crappy place, I should be forced to play from (approximately) that crappy place.
But precariously perched on the edge of a cliff? No, thank you.
Ball at rest on the top of a boulder? Nope.
Guaranteed to cost me a six iron? I think not.
Let’s just say this: I feel that as long as you’re not obviously improving your chances at scoring lower on a given hole by taking relief from a situation, that relief should be free in non-competitive situations (we’re not talking about sanctioned events here). Give yourself an even crappier shot or something to compensate for the fact that you’re moving your ball from its position to avoid physical danger or needing to replace equipment after making your stroke or heading home because you hurt yourself.
I don’t personally know anyone that gets their equipment given to them for free. If Mizuno sponsored me for playing their irons, or something, maybe I’d feel differently about being willing to strike giant rocks with them. But for now I’ll take relief from situations like that. If my playing partners don’t like my theory, I’ll take a penalty stroke for “unplayable lie.”
Because as seriously as I take this game, it’s not as important as my health (physically or financially), and a stroke here and there added to my score won’t wreck any day I get to golf, as it obviously will for anyone who feels like enforcing the rules by the letter of the law when I’m offering a reasonable workaround for the good of my health and that of my equipment.
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