Hello Everyone

[MoreGolf]

My name is Dan; I have been a lurker of the site for a few months now and didn’t really have a reason to post until yesterday. I was just wondering how any of you have or would handle this situation.

I have my regular 4 some and we play usually once a week. There is this one guy that will take mulligan after mulligan, free drops and even just sometimes just take a stroke off for no good parent reason. It bothered me a lot at first and I would say something and tell him his correct score and even call his shots out to him so he knows I wasn’t lying. I have since quit because my game was improving faster than his and I beat him normally. Lately he as been beating me by a few strokes here and there and it is all because of these extra shots. I just can’t stand losing and hate it even worse when I get pencil whipped.

Any words of advice because this is a friend of mine.

[JEFF4i]

Just tell him you want a fair and square, legit round. Every stroke counts. Winner gets bragging rights, loser buys a beer after.

[Bravo]

I know this is tough, but I'd tell him you aren't going to play with him unless he plays by the rules. Tell him you want to have a rules discussion.

You don't necessarily have to play all Rules of Golf, just decide on a common set and stick to them....

[JEFF4i]

Aye. You can allot so many mulligans, things like that.

The Alabamanamaianan has it right.

[Greydawg]

Originally Posted by MoreGolf

I just can’t stand losing and hate it even worse when I get pencil whipped.

Any words of advice because this is a friend of mine.

What I'm about to say I mean with the utmost respect, so please don't take offence, ok?
Don't let your ego get in between your friendship, if you indeed value it.
You're NOT losing!
You know the truth, so let it be.
I have the same situation with the guys from work that I play with.
Mulligans, moved balls to a better lie, "forgetting" to count drops, switching balls on the green, etc.
Hey, we're there to enjoy the day and have some fun is all.
It's just not that important.
You didn't say anything about any money being on the line,
so you can't eat "bragging rights".
Besides, if he really is that blatant, I'm sure the rest of your foursome notices also!
They too know who beat who!

Just my opinion.

[ezra76]

Play him matchplay. Or better yet play him bestball and split up as partners.

Seriously, don't get too worked up about it if you can help it. Unless $$ was exchanging hands I wouldn't say anything. Just try to have fun and try to concentrate on your own game otherwise.

[limpalong]

[quote=
They too know who beat who!

[/quote]

This gentleman is 'right on'. We have a regular group on weekends. Most of the guys 'roll' the ball. I play the ball as it lies. Sometimes they beat me... sometimes I end up with fewer strokes. I don't let it bother me. They all know I play the ball down and do not claim an 'ego' handicap. We'll have our fun and, at the end of the day, I have the satisfaction of knowing I played the best I could given the rules of golf.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by Greydawg

What I'm about to say I mean with the utmost respect, so please don't take offence, ok?
Don't let your ego get in between your friendship, if you indeed value it.
You're NOT losing!
You know the truth, so let it be.
I have the same situation with the guys from work that I play with.
Mulligans, moved balls to a better lie, "forgetting" to count drops, switching balls on the green, etc.
Hey, we're there to enjoy the day and have some fun is all.
It's just not that important.
You didn't say anything about any money being on the line,
so you can't eat "bragging rights".
Besides, if he really is that blatant, I'm sure the rest of your foursome notices also!
They too know who beat who!

Just my opinion.

I agree 100% with Greydawg's post.

There are two golf games one can play: The game against yourself, and a game against an opponent.

When I play with other people, and we don't have an agreed-upon competition (i.e. we're just out on the course together), I pay absolutely no attention to their game, other than how it affects the speed of play.

You want to break the rules? Doesn't bother me one bit.

You want to take mulligans? Couldn't care less.

Foot wedge? Could be one of the twenty clubs you carry, and I wouldn't even notice.

Take all putts inside of six feet as gimmies? Good for you.

Now, lets play a match for money. I will hold you to every rule in the game. If you can somehow remember what the rules are, play by them and beat me, I'll gladly pay what I owe. But I bet you can't do it.

So forget about it. Like Greydawg said - you know the truth, and that's all that matters.

[Pa Jayhawk]

I would see no problem with simply saying you do not want to play competitively unless you play by the rules, assuming you are not taking away from your own fun in doing so. While I prefer to play solely by the rules, I have mentioned on here already I have no problem with playing by prior established rules for the entertainment value. I would not play competitively if we were not all on the same page as far as the rules, to me that is just a casual round and I could care less what my playing partner scores at that point.

I see no problem with people who take Mulligans. However when I play with guys that take 2-3 on a hole, or take one every single hole it just becomes frustrating to me more as a matter of the time consumed rather than the disregard for the rules. Unless I am out for a practice round and doing the same, and that is pretty much established in the beginning, I would likely either say something or simply not play with the guy if it is taking away from my enjoyment of the game.

[Fourputt]

I'm on PA Jayhawk's side here. If you are playing for any sort of wager, then he is locked into playing by whatever set of rules you have agreed to PRIOR to the round. If he chooses not to go along, then all bets are off, even if it's just a beer after the round. Some people just have to pushed harder before they learn that when there is something at stake, all competitors have to play by the same rules. If he decides that the game isn't fun when he has to count all of his strokes, then he just drops out of the wager. And when he brags about beating you, ask how many penalty strokes he gave himself for those mullies. At some point he might start to see a light in the distance.

[IrishGolfer]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

he is locked into playing by whatever set of rules you have agreed to PRIOR to the round.

I can't help but imagine what all you guys get up to. I thought there was only one set of rules for golf. Am I missing something here?

Folk play other sports by rules and they don't go making 'em up as they go along, do they.

Buy this dude a rule book and tell him to read them and start playing by them. Otherwise tell him to find someone else to play with.

You can do this in a positive way if he is a beginner or a social golfer, but if you are trying to play seriously then so should he. Especially if you are competing against eachother.

(sorry a bit of a rant!)

[Libre]

My opinion:
I agree w/IrishGolfer.
If my score is being recorded on the same scorecard as others, then it IS a competition of sorts - whether for bragging rights, beers, money, whatever. Everyone competing should abide by the same rules - the rules of golf. I'm not going to even pretend to compete with people if I see them taking 3 foot gimmies, shaving strokes, or taking mullies. I just won't do it. I'll keep my own score, they can keep their own score, and they can enjoy themselves and have a good round. But honestly, it would STILL irritate me to see such blatant infractions. The soul of the game is in the rules. Forget the rules, and the game looses its soul. An honest mistake is one thing, and you can cut a guy a break here and there - as well as ask for one yourself, but I won't play with or against people that habitually cheat.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Pa Jayhawk

While I prefer to play solely by the rules, I have mentioned on here already I have no problem with playing by prior established rules for the entertainment value.

Originally Posted by IrishGolfer

I can't help but imagine what all you guys get up to. I thought there was only one set of rules for golf. Am I missing something here?

For the sake of not wanting to turn this into an identical thread as at least IMO it is very closely related if not the same topic, this was the prior thread I mentioned.
I called the Cheaters bluff.....

Although I do not believe that was the initial intent, it was more or less a 6 page debate about what you mention. Is it O.K. to play by your own established rules for the sake of having fun when others choose to roll the ball or not follow the rules to a tee? Really comes down to what you are trying to accomplish with Golf I guess.

[ezra76]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

I'm on PA Jayhawk's side here. If you are playing for any sort of wager, then he is locked into playing by whatever set of rules you have agreed to PRIOR to the round.

I personally don't see anything wrong with this. When I've played with my boss, his son and Twofast we play bestball matchplay. It was stated the 1st time we played by my boss that each player will be allowed 1 mulligan for the round, only on a tee shot. Since I don't even keep a score, only the match score when we play, I've used none of these rounds towards my cap.

My dad likes to play "preferred lies" since we used to play a dogtrack with bare spots and often rocks in the fairway. He was a lot more shall we say generous with his picking of spots. Often I'd catch him proping one up as high as he could to hit a FW wood off the deck. I rarely moved my ball unless there was a rock that would damage my club imbedded in the ground. I treated it similar to a sprinkler head situation.

I always make sure to read the local rules now too. I stupidly hit a ball out of a drainage ditch in the fairway and put a massive ding in my 7iron last year. (it was a nice shot too, lol) Low and behold the local rule is a free drop from those drainage ditches.

[cypressperch]

issue. I am leaning strongly towards the follow-the-rules-in-the-book group. I would certainly object to the mulligan-etc-faction using any of their scores for handicap purposes, though I doubt if they are. In fact, that might be a solution. Tell them that the group will keep an average score for these rounds and create a handicap from that average. Now play using a net score using those handicaps! Of course, they will lose until they start giving themselves mulligans on every shot. Then you walk away and don't look back.

Some courses in certain areas have rocky conditions that are not marked ground under repair and also have no local rule giving you a drop from lies that are actually dangerous to man and equipment. If you followed the rules, you would probably average 4-5 penalty strokes a round to protect yourself and your equipment. When everyone agreed on getting relief from such dangers, I had no objection. A purist might argue against this, but the conditions were so severe that luck had far more to do with outcomes than skill.

For the really pure purists: You hit a shot on a really long par three that hits a tree, and you do not see where the ball bounces off to. You hit a provisional ball. You look for the original ball but do not find it. You play the provisional ball from a position closer to the hole than the point you thought the orginal ball should have been. You then find the original ball in the cup! What is your score? Did you make an ace? Your score is whatever you made on the provisional ball and you absolutely did not make an ace. Yes, following the rules strictly does breed honesty, integrity, and character. It is more than just a game. For all of these reasons I do lean very heavily in the direction of the purist who probably derive far more from the game than mere enjoyment.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

(Question: Should courses be allowed to have local rules that do not adhere to the Rule Book? How do local rulings get such authority?)