The Imaginary Rules of Golf

[puttnforthe8]

11 minutes ago, sui generis said:

 

Your anecdote is not evidence. Players who play high level competitive golf, generally low handicap players, know the Rules pretty well. High handicap players generally don't. To be sure, there are bogey golfers who know the Rules and referee some, but they're not on TV this week.

 

Maybe you should read before speaking!  It says " Based on the Rules at the time, all answers were false (and apologies for the formatting issues)."

[nsxguy]

26 minutes ago, puttnforthe8 said:

 

Maybe you should read before speaking!  It says " Based on the Rules at the time, all answers were false (and apologies for the formatting issues)."

 

Maybe you should as well ?

 

Dude, take a Xanax, will ya ?

 

The first post of his post you quoted clearly stated they were "myths" - "Below is a collection of Rules myths that I had collected"

 

i.e. a 3 handicapper does NOT (necessarily) know the Rules better than a 30 handicapper (although I expect it's certainly true that the usual case is the 3 DOES know them better)

[puttnforthe8]

48 minutes ago, nsxguy said:

 

Maybe you should as well ?

 

Dude, take a Xanax, will ya ?

 

The first post of his post you quoted clearly stated they were "myths" - "Below is a collection of Rules myths that I had collected"

 

i.e. a 3 handicapper does NOT (necessarily) know the Rules better than a 30 handicapper (although I expect it's certainly true that the usual case is the 3 DOES know them better)

 

Take your own advice.  This is what I was saying.  The person was arguing as if it were fact.  I was pointing out it is not.

 

[nsxguy]

1 minute ago, puttnforthe8 said:

 

Take your own advice.  This is what I was saying.  The person was arguing as if it were fact.  I was pointing out it is not.

 

 

I don't need the Xanax. I'm not the one who's P.O.'d.

[purdy]

“Inside the leather”

[rogolf]

32 minutes ago, purdy said:

“Inside the leather”

To me, it means from the top of the grip to the bottom of the grip, ie,10-12 inches.  In the far past, most grips were made of leather.

Measuring from the clubhead to the bottom of the grip wouldn't meet "inside the leather" and would be a myth.

Edited September 22, 2020 by rogolf

[James the Hogan Fan]

On 9/19/2020 at 2:06 AM, puttnforthe8 said:

 

I can see this one...imagine hitting a ball into the gorse at Bandon.   There is no way to look for the ball....it's lost.  Here in AZ, there are rocks and canyons where there is no way you can get to even look for it.

 

Yeah you can't declare a ball lost de jure, but you can 'declare' a ball lost de facto by taking actions such as: dropping a new ball without calling provisional, not looking for the ball and playing your provisional past the spot you think the ball is in. 

 

The only time the difference ever matters is a horrible shot and excellent provisional, where an opponent wishes to find the first and the player does not. Even then, "I'm not even going to look for that one, it's gone," is usually met with, "ok, let's keep it moving." 

[Mr. Bean]

11 hours ago, rogolf said:

To me, it means from the top of the grip to the bottom of the grip, ie,10-12 inches.  In the far past, most grips were made of leather.

Measuring from the clubhead to the bottom of the grip wouldn't meet "inside the leather" and would be a myth.

 

This is from https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2017/03/06/inside-leather-golf-putting-103499/

 

What 'inside the leather' means in golf

When you hear the phrase "inside the leather" in golf, it means that your opponents or playing partners will give you the next putt (so you don't have to putt it) if your preceding putt finishes close enough to the hole that it's within a circle from the lip of the cup whose radius is the distance from the sole of the putter (or the end of the blade) to the bottom of the putter grip.

 

In the old days, that grip was almost always made of leather. So, if the putt was "inside the leather" then the expectation was the golfer wouldn't miss the next one. "Inside the leather" is a good rule of thumb for conceding putts and keeping play moving on the golf course. It's also good courtesy, particularly for newer players who may actually struggle inside the 2-foot range that typically is "inside the leather," even if putter grips are more now made of rubber or foam.

[rogolf]

23 minutes ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

This is from https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2017/03/06/inside-leather-golf-putting-103499/

 

What 'inside the leather' means in golf

When you hear the phrase "inside the leather" in golf, it means that your opponents or playing partners will give you the next putt (so you don't have to putt it) if your preceding putt finishes close enough to the hole that it's within a circle from the lip of the cup whose radius is the distance from the sole of the putter (or the end of the blade) to the bottom of the putter grip.

 

In the old days, that grip was almost always made of leather. So, if the putt was "inside the leather" then the expectation was the golfer wouldn't miss the next one. "Inside the leather" is a good rule of thumb for conceding putts and keeping play moving on the golf course. It's also good courtesy, particularly for newer players who may actually struggle inside the 2-foot range that typically is "inside the leather," even if putter grips are more now made of rubber or foam.

I know that's the modern meaning, but don't believe that it's the original meaning.

[Sawgrass]

I believe the original meaning is when your ball embedded in the side of a cow.  It was difficult . . . even dangerous to retrieve, so kind opponents would give you the next shot.

[MtlJeff]

Has the leaf rule been fully adopted yet?

 

 

[Mr. Bean]

13 minutes ago, MtlJeff said:

Has the leaf rule been fully adopted yet?

 

 

 

You mean Sweet Leaf ?

[Newby]

2 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

This is from https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2017/03/06/inside-leather-golf-putting-103499/

 

This must be a US site.

That is not the understanding in the UK where it originated.

 

https://www.liveabout.com/inside-the-leather-1564056

 

https://en.mimi.hu/golf/inside_the_leather.html

[Mr. Bean]

1 hour ago, Sawgrass said:

I believe the original meaning is when your ball embedded in the side of a cow.  It was difficult . . . even dangerous to retrieve, so kind opponents would give you the next shot.

 

But what was the cow doing on the green in the fist place?? Maybe it was a sheep, they were abundant on the courses some centuries ago.

[Mr. Bean]

2 minutes ago, Newby said:

This must be a US site.

That is not the understanding in the UK where it originated.

 

https://www.liveabout.com/inside-the-leather-1564056

 

https://en.mimi.hu/golf/inside_the_leather.html

 

In the US everything is bigger ?

[antip]

10 hours ago, Sawgrass said:

I believe the original meaning is when your ball embedded in the side of a cow.  It was difficult . . . even dangerous to retrieve, so kind opponents would give you the next shot.

I'm really glad the R&A removed that old rule, how you must retrieve your ball from the inside of a cow.

[rogolf]

Is this a digression and off topic - something out of Monty Python?

Edited September 23, 2020 by rogolf

[antip]

13 minutes ago, rogolf said:

Is this a digression and off topic - something out of Monty Python?

Most of the "imaginary Rules of Golf" are decidedly Pythonesque.

[HappyGilmoresBoots]

A ball marker must be placed directly under the ball on the green, and used for (more or less) a putting tee.

 

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, antip said:

Most of the "imaginary Rules of Golf" are decidedly Pythonesque.

May be Pythonesque to us, but the collection was gathered from real questions being asked about the Rules!

[antip]

36 minutes ago, rogolf said:

May be Pythonesque to us, but the collection was gathered from real questions being asked about the Rules!

Precisely, therein lies the humour. Up there with car insurance claim submissions, eg (and I saw an English comedian called Jasper Carrot doing these many years ago) "I saw a sad-faced old man bouncing off my windscreen....."; "the sheep seemed to jump left, so I tried to swerve, then it jumped right and I tried to swerve again, mounting the kerb, hitting the fire hydrant, then the bus stop and coming to rest in the front of the post office....".

[LeoLeo99]

On 9/22/2020 at 12:29 PM, Newby said:

This must be a US site.

That is not the understanding in the UK where it originated.

 

https://www.liveabout.com/inside-the-leather-1564056

 

https://en.mimi.hu/golf/inside_the_leather.html

I'm American and inside the leather always meant the length of the putter grip to me.  This new fangled definition seems mighty generous.  

[oikos1]

2 hours ago, LeoLeo99 said:

I'm American and inside the leather always meant the length of the putter grip to me.  This new fangled definition seems mighty generous.  

I'm American as well and learned it as Mr. Bean presented.  It doesn't really mater though as you are the one doing the "giving", so it can be at whatever generous distance you decide. 

[Nels55]

Speaking of low handicappers I had a one handicap tell me that he got stance plus two club lengths when dropping under penalty from a penalty area.  I said that he got 2 club lengths from the red line when dropping under penalty and he asked when they changed that rule.  He also mentioned something about going to rules seminars.  I have seen a good number of single digit guys who have no clue how to do things like find the nearest point of relief when dealing with a cart path including the above mentioned one handicap. 

 

I did golf with a guy who had played on mini tours a few years ago and he did know the rules very well, a lot better then I do LOL.  The fact is that the majority of golfer that I golf with in tournaments are pretty much clueless when it comes to the rules.  Or I do sometimes wonder if they may pretend to be clueless in order to get a break like dropping one the wrong side of a cart path.  LOL I fear that I may get punched in the mouth some day for making other golfers play by the rules...

[Mr. Bean]

12 hours ago, LeoLeo99 said:

I'm American and inside the leather always meant the length of the putter grip to me.  This new fangled definition seems mighty generous.  

 

Not as generous as the one described in the handicap rules ?

[Sawgrass]

3 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Not as generous as the one described in the handicap rules ?

It's worth noting that the "generosity" afforded by the handicap rules serves to lower, not raise, your handicap.  

 

I'm not sure how generous that really is.

[Mr. Bean]

53 minutes ago, Sawgrass said:

It's worth noting that the "generosity" afforded by the handicap rules serves to lower, not raise, your handicap.  

 

I'm not sure how generous that really is.

 

Doesn't a (too) generous gimmie lower your score..?

[rogolf]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Doesn't a (too) generous gimmie lower your score..?

Recall that the previously posted table from the USGA handicapping manual is merely a way to have a score for handicap posting purposes only, and is only applicable when determining the "most likely score" for a hole which was started but not completed.  It is not a license for gimmes as some have interpreted.

 

[Sawgrass]

15 minutes ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Doesn't a (too) generous gimmie lower your score..?

I'm not sure if you're kidding.  You surely know that once a putt is conceded, your competitive "score" is thereby set.

[Mr. Bean]

30 minutes ago, rogolf said:

Recall that the previously posted table from the USGA handicapping manual is merely a way to have a score for handicap posting purposes only, and is only applicable when determining the "most likely score" for a hole which was started but not completed.  It is not a license for gimmes as some have interpreted.

 

 

In that case I certainly misunderstood it completely. I certainly thought that if you have a 4-footer you may pick it up and add one more stroke to your score. Naturally I thought that is a gimmie. Silly me.