Not sure if etiquette is where this question belongs. Just wondering about golfers habit of rolling the ball. Some never, ever do it, some in their own fairway, others roll it anywhere and everywhere. I, personally never roll the ball and it really puts me at a disadvantage when I play with a group who does because, as not doing it is so ingrained I don't remember that it's allowed so I end up being the only one in the foursome hitting out of bad lies. Of course I'm not referring to tournament play.

Frankie C
http://overthetopgolf.com
http://iwantcharlesbarkley.blogspot.com

I'm not 100% sure if I know what you mean. I play the ball "down". If it's a natural hazard and I can't play, I take a stroke penalty to relocate the ball.

With the players I golf with, my philosophy is that since I'm not competing agains them, they can do pretty much whatever they want.

A couple years ago I would always improve my lie to let the ball 'sit up' in fairway or even rough. Then I started playing the ball 'as it lies' and interestingly enough I started to hit the ball better. It's funny, now when playing in an outing or whatever I'll actually sometimes tap my ball down just a little so it sits down a bit more.

I have no idea what "rolling the ball" means.

It means to improve your lie. Many people "roll the ball" in their own fairway, for example.

oh, then the answer is no, for me.

I have to agree, in general, that lies should not be improved. I'm not a very good golfer but I learn nothing if I don't learn to play from those circumstances dealt to me.

I play consistently with the same friend and we have a pretty loose structure. However, unless playing the ball as it lies presents some health or injury hazzard, or is just plain unplayable (underwater or in the crotch of a tree), we play the shot as it lies. If we move it, we give ourselves a penalty stroke and move it according to established rules.

Im new to golf, so I tend to play on some "crappier" course that tend to have bad spots on the greens or fairways due to poor maintance. If that lack of proper maintance affects my lie, I always roll the ball.

llducelex wrote:

Im new to golf, so I tend to play on some "crappier" course that tend to have bad spots on the greens or fairways due to poor maintance. If that lack of proper maintance affects my lie, I always roll the ball.

...yeah. I can't remember if Ground Under Repair is supposed to be marked, I'm sure it is but I will take a free drop if I deem the conditions fixable. Especially on good drives and GIRs. I don't feel like I should be punished for a lack of maintenance or conditioning.

If I had a club membership and consistently played the same course I think it's different as things would even out with my opponents eventually.

I play it as it lay, unless the lay will damage my clubs. You won't see a tour player play from car paths or rocks either.

Player rolling the ball on the fairway is just annoying, even if you don't play against them.

Just my 2 cents...

I play it as it lies, even if I'm in a divot in the middle of a fairway, or in a bare spot, etc. Of course, if allowable under the rules of golf, I'll clean & take a free drop (ground under repair, standing water, preferred lies, cart path, etc.).

I've seen folks who roll the ball when they're trying to reach a par 5 in two. In my book they really didn't reach in two under those conditions.

I play it as it lies because:
a. I think it will eventually make you a better player learning how to deal with less than ideal lies.

b. Over the course of many rounds the good & bad breaks even out (like the time last week I completely mis-hit my hybrid directly into a huge tree with tons of branches -- only to have the ball go right through and land on the green 200 yds away -- better to be lucky than good!).

c. Those are the rules of golf. I'd like my scores to stand up and not have that little asterisk next to them.

SingleDigits wrote:

I play it as it lies, even if I'm in a divot in the middle of a fairway, or in a bare spot, etc. Of course, if allowable under the rules of golf, I'll clean & take a free drop (ground under repair, standing water, preferred lies, cart path, etc.).

Exactly, but am I cheating if I and my group determines it's ground under repair or does it have to be marked?

Why short yourself if you don't have to?

I'm sure a lot of us play on medicore or worse courses when it comes to overall conditions.

Ground under repair is only such when it is marked, but sometimes a course will have local rules. For example, I recently played a course that specified that ruts next to cart paths and bare ground also qualifies as Ground Under Repair even if not marked that way.

Here's the USGA's definition:

Ground Under Repair
"Ground under repair" is any part of the course so marked by order of the Committee or so declared by its authorized representative. All ground and any grass, bush, tree or other growing thing within the ground under repair are part of the ground under repair. Ground under repair includes material piled for removal and a hole made by a greenkeeper, even if not so marked. Grass cuttings and other material left on the course that have been abandoned and are not intended to be removed are not ground under repair unless so marked.

When the margin of ground under repair is defined by stakes, the stakes are inside the ground under repair, and the margin of the ground under repair is defined by the nearest outside points of the stakes at ground level. When both stakes and lines are used to indicate ground under repair, the stakes identify the ground under repair and the lines define the margin of the ground under repair. When the margin of ground under repair is defined by a line on the ground, the line itself is in the ground under repair. The margin of ground under repair extends vertically downwards but not upwards.

A ball is in ground under repair when it lies in or any part of it touches the ground under repair.

Stakes used to define the margin of or identify ground under repair are obstructions.

Note: The Committee may make a Local Rule prohibiting play from ground under repair or an environmentally-sensitive area defined as ground under repair.

BTW, golf is a game that is meant to be enjoyed. Most people don't play by rules because they don't know them (and there are very few in the US that know them well).

So if you bend a rule to make it more fun, that's fine by me.

FYI -- the USGA has a rule that if you & your fellow playing partners agree to waive a rule, that in of itself is a penalty.

I play in a couple tournaments a year and will often have a few side bets going in my foursome. In those cases we always play by the rules (to the degree that we know them). Consequently I try to play by the rules in all my other rounds so that I'm used to that type of play.

On the general topic of following the rules (including ball rolling/improving lie), the rule book produced by the USGA is comprehensive and tries to cover every eventuality, and as such makes heavy reading. In such case the casual golfer cannot be expected to know every single rule and the penalty attached.

I follow the rules to the best of my knowledge and add penalty strokes when applicable. On the occassion when I fail to follow the rules I will mark my round as a practice round so as not to skew my Oob handicap.

I also believe that improving one's lie, taking mulligans and gimmies is counter productive to improving the individual's golfing ability and mental ability around the course. "It's ok if I screw up this tee shot, I can hit another one" is not going to improve the golfer's focus on the tee.

As a 36 HC I need all the help I can get to improve my scores but I want to do it honestly with hard work and practice and a little luck now and then.

Golf is a fun sport, and cheating would not make it so much fun for me.