Golf Partner who counts funny

[dd564]

What do you do with a playing partner (all for fun) who counts funny.

 

I've been golfing with someone about my level and a member of his family, and when we play he seems to end up with a better score from:

- Countless Mulligans (and I'm guilty of a couple of these as well)

- Not counting penalty strokes ever

- A stroke not counting after a short 5-yard hit from topping of the ball.

- Calling something that was close as having "holed".  Example, on a par 3 hitting your second shot chip so it just misses the cup, or hits a pin and rolls a couple feet away and calling it a birdie.

- Hitting in the water, then playing next shot beyond the water hazard with no penalty.

 

Just keep it to yourself and not worry about it since it's just for fun, or do you say something and try to change their ways?

 

I'm trying to teach my son the right way to play, but we play with a person who counts funny and it takes a bit away from the game when someone plays a good hole and when discussing scores, the person counting funny ties for the best score on the hole despite numerous difficulties getting to the hole.

 

 

 

 

[YMark]

25 minutes ago, dd564 said:

What do you do with a playing partner (all for fun) who counts funny.

 

- Countless Mulligans (and I'm guilty of a couple of these as well)

 

I'm trying to teach my son the right way to play, but we play with a person who counts funny

 

The irony is apparently lost on you.

[dd564]

19 minutes ago, YMark said:

The irony is apparently lost on you.

 

Yes and no.

 

[Augster]

1 hour ago, YMark said:

The irony is apparently lost on you.

This. 
 

If you don’t have a match or money on the line, why on earth would you care what they say they shot?

 

And if you really want to do some good for your son, cut out the mulligans, play by the rules, and show him what it means to be a real golfer. Not some hacker who is out there to “get some exercise”. 

[7ironDave]

We have one of those. We called him out this year and he changed his ways, we think😀
 

Unplayable lies, no stroke taken. Lost ball, no stroke taken. 
 

We never play for anything other than beers/lunch and he could use the strokes. But he has since gotten better and this year those 5/6 strokes per round were making the matches too close for comfort. 

[2bGood]

I tend to play about 95% of my golf with guys that count everything/ no mulligans, strictly by the ROG. But the other 5% I might be playing with someone for work or maybe family member or whatever. If they have their own set of rules, I just ignore it and let them enjoy the game the way they want to. 

 

If I played with a guy allot that played like you mentioned, I am sure I would make some jokes at his expense - like if his name was Mike - I would call pars that almost go in "Mikey's" rather than a bridie.

 

Of course I would also give you some ball busting over your mulligans.

[dd564]

12 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

I tend to play about 95% of my golf with guys that count everything/ no mulligans, strictly by the ROG. But the other 5% I might be playing with someone for work or maybe family member or whatever. If they have their own set of rules, I just ignore it and let them enjoy the game the way they want to. 

 

If I played with a guy allot that played like you mentioned, I am sure I would make some jokes at his expense - like if his name was Mike - I would call pars that almost go in "Mikey's" rather than a bridie.

 

Of course I would also give you some ball busting over your mulligans.

 

Yeh, I'm not proud of my mulligans, and it's the next step I need to remove from my game.

The reason we typically take the mulligans is avoid playing our 2nd shot on a downhill lie after topping the driver which yielded a 33 yard worm burner.  

 

The idea of hitting 2nd shot on a downhill lie with 400 yards to go, it seems to make more sense to go ahead an rehit.

The group behind us would appreciate us moving along a bit quicker than watching someone top a ball 3 times before we hit our first shot at the start of the fairway on stoke 4 or 5.

 

But having someone call a hole a birdie after missing a green and then chipping close, (and then missing the follow up put or puts), that seems a bit different.

 

The friendly ribbing might be the best option.

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by dd564

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, dd564 said:

 

Yeh, I'm not proud of my mulligans, and it's the next step I need to remove from my game.

The reason we typically take the mulligans is avoid playing our 2nd shot on a downhill lie after topping the driver which yielded a 33 yard worm burner.  

 

The idea of hitting 2nd shot on a downhill lie with 400 yards to go, it seems to make more sense to go ahead an rehit.

The group behind us would appreciate us moving along a bit quicker than watching someone top a ball 3 times before we hit our first shot at the start of the fairway on stoke 4 or 5.

 

But having someone call a hole a birdie after missing a green and then chipping close, (and then missing the follow up put or puts), that seems a bit different.

 

Under the rules of golf, you can always re-hit, but it would be your 3rd shot from the tee. If you made a birdie with the 'mulligan' tee shot it would actually be a bogie - and technically be worse than someone calling a par that came close to the hole birdie. (you are calling a bogie a birdie)

 

That is the issue with mulligans, under the rules they typically are a 2 stroke difference and worse than most other ways golfers take liberties.

 

One of the things I don't like about mulligans is it can't be good for your mental game if you have in the back of your head you can just take a 'do-over'.

 

If you played by the rules you would also find that you would want to play that worm burner rather than re-tee as it is likely less penal. Even good golfers hit embarrassingly bad shots, and there is nothing more satisfying then recovering from them to scramble out a par or better.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by 2bGood

[dd564]

3 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

Under the rules of golf, you can always re-hit, but it would be your 3rd shot from the tee. If you made a birdie with the 'mulligan' tee shot it would actually be a bogie - and technically be worse than someone calling a par that came close to the hole birdie. (you are calling a bogie a birdie)

 

That is the issue with mulligans, under the rules they typically are a 2 stroke difference and worse than most other ways golfers take liberties.

 

One of the things I don't like about mulligans is it can't be good for your mental game if you have in the back of your head you can just take a 'do-over'.

 

If you played be the rules you would also find that you would want to play that worm burner rather than re-tee as it is likely less penal. Even golf golfers hit embarrassing bad shots, and there is nothing more satisfying then recovering from them to scramble out a par or better.

 

 

 

 

 

In taking mulligans, one thing that was happening to frequently to me is I would hit a bad shot, quickly re-tee, only to hit an equally bad shot.

So next step of progression is to go in knowing I'll have to play whatever I hit, and concentrate (don't swing hastily to get moving) and just hit a decent shot.

The psychology behind the mulligan is often "well, I tried to hit quickly so it's okay to re-hit".  Probably better to just concentrate on hitting a better shot to start off with no other option.

 

 

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, dd564 said:

 

In taking mulligans, one thing that was happening to frequently to me is I would hit a bad shot, quickly re-tee, only to hit an equally bad shot.

So next step of progression is to go in knowing I'll have to play whatever I hit, and concentrate (don't swing hastily to get moving) and just hit a decent shot.

The psychology behind the mulligan is often "well, I tried to hit quickly so it's okay to re-hit".  Probably better to just concentrate on hitting a better shot to start off with no other option.

 

 

Sounds like you are on the right track. Having said all of this the goal for most golfers is to have a good time and if that means not playing under the Rule of Golf, then that does not bother me one bit.

 

I actually like the RoG and enjoy learning them and playing under them. I get that is not for everyone, but it sounds like you are interested in playing the game under the rules.

[SNIPERBBB]

As long as money isn't involved and the guy doesn't post for handicap purposes. Maybe a few jokes occasionally I won't make a fussy about it unless he's holding everybody up.

[golfandtennisfan]

I just wouldn't play with him anymore, especially with your son. In a casual round, as much as it may drive you crazy when you see people (taking liberties), I don't think it is worth it for someone you may see on the course. Just avoid them. Many golfers are delusional anyway.

[Pepperturbo]

Amazing how many people mistakenly don't count ALL their strokes from tee to cup.  Penalty strokes are the most overlooked. 

 

When we walk off the green someone usually says they got "x", then I say, don't you mean "y."  The way my brain works I naturally keep track of strokes even each person's shots for all players in our group.  They stop, rethink and realize they forget a stroke. 

 

The people I know that do it, don't do it on purpose so I don't concern myself with it.  However, during tournament, it's another story.

[naval2006]

There's two worlds in amateur golf: one of golfers who take it easy and another one of golfers who try to stick to the rules, improve their game.  In this second world you sometimes bump into cheats, especially in tournaments.  But when these two worlds collide problems often arise.  I think it's ok to identify where you belong, and if a golfer only plays for fun make sure to avoid them in a tournament if you can.  Otherwise, it's a good idea not to pay attention to their set of "rules" and just move on.

[Krt22]

On 10/18/2020 at 9:48 PM, dd564 said:

 

Yes and no.

 

No it really is. Just because you are less egregious with your skirting of the rules, doesn't change the fact that you are still doing it. The whole premise of this thread is you are trying to teach your son the right way to play and this guy "counting funny" makes it hard, yet you count funny as well (just less funny).  Let's say you take a mulligan and the take 3 strokes from there, where as your son gets off the tee and takes 4 strokes from there. Do you tell him you had a 4 or a 6 compared to his 5? 

[dd564]

2 hours ago, Krt22 said:

No it really is. Just because you are less egregious with your skirting of the rules, doesn't change the fact that you are still doing it. The whole premise of this thread is you are trying to teach your son the right way to play and this guy "counting funny" makes it hard, yet you count funny as well (just less funny).  Let's say you take a mulligan and the take 3 strokes from there, where as your son gets off the tee and takes 4 strokes from there. Do you tell him you had a 4 or a 6 compared to his 5? 

 

I'll preface this based on an earlier post where for my own improvement, I'm going to quit taking mulligans.  My hope is I'll concentrate better on hitting decent shots off the tee this way.

 

But the reason I felt the mulligan is different is in the "acknowledgement" of it.

Worm burner t-shot.  Someone says "Go ahead, hit another" or "Ugh, Bad start, I'm going to take a mulligan here".  Even if it's non-competitive, everyone is aware and at the end of a round you know, "Wow DD took a lot of mulligans!".

 

The not counting strokes while off the side of the fairway for topping a ball, not taking a penalty stroke for dropping, the calling anything close to going in the hole as going in. Those are things one is doing without the acknowledgement of the group.  It's not like "Hey, I shot a 10 there, but I'm going to call it a 7 since I only had 7 good shots to get me there".

 

The mulligan to me is essentially a "gift" from the players around you, like you're asking permission, where as the rest of the odd counting is done more covertly.

 

I'm trying to decide why it bothers me since we fall into the category of just playing for fun.

 

I think one is I don't want my son to feel like best scores are achieved by foot wedges and not counting penalty strokes.

 

Secondly, I actually want to be happy for the guy as he improves his game, but I'm going to be skeptical as he tells me he's improved by hitting a few birdies on a round and now I'll wonder, were those legit birdies, or were they holes where he was close and called it that.

 

 

[Krt22]

10 minutes ago, dd564 said:

 

I'll preface this based on an earlier post where for my own improvement, I'm going to quit taking mulligans.  My hope is I'll concentrate better on hitting decent shots off the tee this way.

 

But the reason I felt the mulligan is different is in the "acknowledgement" of it.

Worm burner t-shot.  Someone says "Go ahead, hit another" or "Ugh, Bad start, I'm going to take a mulligan here".  Even if it's non-competitive, everyone is aware and at the end of a round you know, "Wow DD took a lot of mulligans!".

 

The not counting strokes while off the side of the fairway for topping a ball, not taking a penalty stroke for dropping, the calling anything close to going in the hole as going in. Those are things one is doing without the acknowledgement of the group.  It's not like "Hey, I shot a 10 there, but I'm going to call it a 7 since I only had 7 good shots to get me there".

 

The mulligan to me is essentially a "gift" from the players around you, like you're asking permission, where as the rest of the odd counting is done more covertly.

 

I'm trying to decide why it bothers me since we fall into the category of just playing for fun.

 

I think one is I don't want my son to feel like best scores are achieved by foot wedges and not counting penalty strokes.

 

Secondly, I actually want to be happy for the guy as he improves his game, but I'm going to be skeptical as he tells me he's improved by hitting a few birdies on a round and now I'll wonder, were those legit birdies, or were they holes where he was close and called it that.

 

 

So are you telling your son you took a 4 or a 6? It's shaving strokes no matter which you want to spin it, especially when it sounds like it happens more often than just on the first tee (ie the breakfast ball)

[2bGood]

21 hours ago, dd564 said:

 

I'll preface this based on an earlier post where for my own improvement, I'm going to quit taking mulligans.  My hope is I'll concentrate better on hitting decent shots off the tee this way.

 

But the reason I felt the mulligan is different is in the "acknowledgement" of it.

Worm burner t-shot.  Someone says "Go ahead, hit another" or "Ugh, Bad start, I'm going to take a mulligan here".  Even if it's non-competitive, everyone is aware and at the end of a round you know, "Wow DD took a lot of mulligans!".

 

The not counting strokes while off the side of the fairway for topping a ball, not taking a penalty stroke for dropping, the calling anything close to going in the hole as going in. Those are things one is doing without the acknowledgement of the group.  It's not like "Hey, I shot a 10 there, but I'm going to call it a 7 since I only had 7 good shots to get me there".

 

The mulligan to me is essentially a "gift" from the players around you, like you're asking permission, where as the rest of the odd counting is done more covertly.

 

I'm trying to decide why it bothers me since we fall into the category of just playing for fun.

 

I think one is I don't want my son to feel like best scores are achieved by foot wedges and not counting penalty strokes.

 

Secondly, I actually want to be happy for the guy as he improves his game, but I'm going to be skeptical as he tells me he's improved by hitting a few birdies on a round and now I'll wonder, were those legit birdies, or were they holes where he was close and called it that.

 

 

 Golfer rationalise for themselves which rules are okay to break and which ones are not. I think the most common rules golfers feel it is 'okay' to break are mulligans, giving themselves a good lie and giving themselves putts. Out of all of these taking a mulligan is the one that would deflate your score the most. Taking a mulligan saves two strokes ( ROG option -stoke and distance), taking a better lie, saves one stroke ( ROG option - unplayable), given yourself a short put might save you  .2 to 1 stroke depending on what distance you are giving yourself putts from etc. (ROG option - making the putt).

 

I think it is pretty tough in golf to partly play by the rules. It is way easier, to not worry about the rules, or play be all of them.

Edited October 23, 2020 by 2bGood

[MtlJeff]

Calling a chip "holed" that doesn't actually go in the hole , and rolls by it?

 

I've seen all sorts of stuff but that might take the cake! LOL

[2bGood]

5 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

Calling a chip "holed" that doesn't actually go in the hole , and rolls by it?

 

I've seen all sorts of stuff but that might take the cake! LOL

I love telling this story, so sorry if you have heard it before.

 

When I was first learning golf the 'best' golfer I knew was my brother in law as he was a 'scratch' player. He lived in a different city so we never played together, but I would call him for advice on clubs to buy and all manor of things golf. A few years pass and I manage to learn the game and get down to about 18 and I now had some friends that golf that are all about the same calibre as me. We end up organising a golf trip and my BIL agrees to join us as we needed an 8th guy. We are all a bit impressed/intimidated to be playing 4 or 5 rounds with a player so much better than us and looking forward to seeing his game. 

 

So he gets into town and we decide my wife, he and I should go play the local pitch and putt (60yard- 100yard holes). It got UGLY fast for him. Bad shot off the tee, so he takes a mulligan and misses the green,  stub his chip, take a mulligan and then two putts. No big deal - he just got off a plane, it is silly golf and  figure he was just trying to get loose. BUT on the next hole and the next hole and the next hole it the same sort of thing. At one point he leaves himself a 2 footer and I give it to him. I say - I'll put you down for a 4? (ignoring the mulligans) and he says no that was a 3... I am like - what? and that is when I find out in his very unique 'rules of golf ' given putts don't count as a stroke. 🥺 Yes you read that right, a putt anyone near the hole is considered holed in the rules he plays by. And it turns out 'near' was about 6 feet and you could give yourself putts. He and his friends also played unlimited mulligans. 

 

So I had to have the 'talk' with him and let him know that my buddies and I played by the ROG and none of his crazy rules would be allowed as we had pre-arranged betting games. His lowest score under the RoG was over 110 that trip. It was a very rude awakening for him as he actually did think he was good golfer as his regular foursomes all played that way. 

[dd564]

6 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

Calling a chip "holed" that doesn't actually go in the hole , and rolls by it?

 

I've seen all sorts of stuff but that might take the cake! LOL

 

Yes. It happened one of the last times out and was part of the inspiration for this post.

We were on a par 3.  I'm still not very good, but I hit the green and am happy about it.  Maybe 10-12 foot put.

He hits off to the side and is 30 yards off the green.

 

He hits a great chip and it hits the pin on flight or on a bounce for is second shot. I say great shot and he says, "I'm calling it a birdie!"

I'm like "You're taking a birdie on that?"

"Yep, it hit the pin. Birdie."

I proceed to watch him "tap it in" despite already calling it a birdie. It's laying maybe 2-3 feet from the hole. He misses, so real score would have been a 4 at best.

 

I of course three putted (that's a hole other story).  Good part about this is I realize I need to up my putting game to compete with golfers like this should we ever wager.

 

In previous matches he would have a close putt that would rim out or narrowly miss leaving a ball less than a few feet away at which point he would say "I'm taking that".

 

In the past I had assumed he meant he's taking the resulting lie as a gimmie for one more stroke, but it appears he's taking the near miss as it going in.

 

So essentially it's like he's playing straight up rules if the hole was the size of an gallon bucket. or if the ball flying directly over the hole also counted.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by dd564

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, 2bGood said:

I love telling this story, so sorry if you have heard it before.

 

When I was first learning golf the 'best' golfer I knew was my brother in law as he was a 'scratch' player. He lived in a different city so we never played together, but I would call him for advice on clubs to buy and all manor of things golf. A few years pass and I manage to learn the game and get down to about 18 and I now had some friends that golf that are all about the same calibre as me. We end up organising a golf trip and my BIL agrees to join us as we needed an 8th guy. We are all a bit impressed/intimidated to be playing 4 or 5 rounds with a player so much better than us and looking forward to seeing his game. 

 

So he gets into town and we decide my wife, he and I should go play the local pitch and putt (60yard- 100yard holes). It got UGLY fast for him. Bad shot off the tee, so he takes a mulligan and misses the green,  stub his chip, take a mulligan and then two putts. No big deal - he just got off a plane, it is silly golf and  figure he was just trying to get loose. BUT on the next hole and the next hole and the next hole it the same sort of thing. At one point he leaves himself a 2 footer and I give it to him. I say - I'll put you down for a 4? (ignoring the mulligans) and he says no that was a 3... I am like - what? and that is when I find out in his very unique 'rules of golf ' given putts don't count as a stroke. 🥺 Yes you read that right, a putt anyone near the hole is considered holed in the rules he plays by. And it turns out 'near' was about 6 feet and you could give yourself putts. He and his friends also played unlimited mulligans. 

 

So I had to have the 'talk' with him and let him know that my buddies and I played by the ROG and none of his crazy rules would be allowed as we had pre-arranged betting games. His lowest score under the RoG was over 110 that trip. It was a very rude awakening for him as he actually did think he was good golfer as his regular foursomes all played that way. 

 

Given putts don't count as a stroke LOL....that is definitely the best one yet!

 

Geez and i thought getting 8/20 rounds instead of 10/20 was good for my index!

 

 

[2bGood]

2 minutes ago, MtlJeff said:

 

Given putts don't count as a stroke LOL....that is definitely the best one yet!

 

Geez and i thought getting 8/20 rounds instead of 10/20 was good for my index!

 

 

The wilder part of the story is he played golf for 6 or 7 years at that point believing he was a really good player. It still kinds of blows my mind that, that could occur. 

 

Having said that I went a couple of years thinking there was rule that double par was the worst score you were allowed to take. Not quite the same thing, but I guess we all learn the norms of the groups we golf with. 

[Hawkeye77]

On 10/19/2020 at 1:18 PM, dd564 said:

 

Yeh, I'm not proud of my mulligans, and it's the next step I need to remove from my game.

The reason we typically take the mulligans is avoid playing our 2nd shot on a downhill lie after topping the driver which yielded a 33 yard worm burner.  

 

The idea of hitting 2nd shot on a downhill lie with 400 yards to go, it seems to make more sense to go ahead an rehit.

The group behind us would appreciate us moving along a bit quicker than watching someone top a ball 3 times before we hit our first shot at the start of the fairway on stoke 4 or 5.

 

But having someone call a hole a birdie after missing a green and then chipping close, (and then missing the follow up put or puts), that seems a bit different.

 

The friendly ribbing might be the best option.

 

 

LOL, 2b is right, you can always rehit - you just have to add the stroke, nothing to do with saving time for anyone behind you, you're still hitting another shot.

 

Will never understand what the big deal is with shooting 104 instead of 105, or 82 instead of 84, etc.  Seriously.

 

Having said that, I don't really care how anyone else plays if it isn't some kind of competition.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Hawkeye77

[Hawkeye77]

18 hours ago, dd564 said:

 

Yes. It happened one of the last times out and was part of the inspiration for this post.

We were on a par 3.  I'm still not very good, but I hit the green and am happy about it.  Maybe 10-12 foot put.

He hits off to the side and is 30 yards off the green.

 

He hits a great chip and it hits the pin on flight or on a bounce for is second shot. I say great shot and he says, "I'm calling it a birdie!"

I'm like "You're taking a birdie on that?"

"Yep, it hit the pin. Birdie."

I proceed to watch him "tap it in" despite already calling it a birdie. It's laying maybe 2-3 feet from the hole. He misses, so real score would have been a 4 at best.

 

I of course three putted (that's a hole other story).  Good part about this is I realize I need to up my putting game to compete with golfers like this should we ever wager.

 

In previous matches he would have a close putt that would rim out or narrowly miss leaving a ball less than a few feet away at which point he would say "I'm taking that".

 

In the past I had assumed he meant he's taking the resulting lie as a gimmie for one more stroke, but it appears he's taking the near miss as it going in.

 

So essentially it's like he's playing straight up rules if the hole was the size of an gallon bucket. or if the ball flying directly over the hole also counted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just make sure you give the guy a scorecard when you play and he understands it's his individual scorecard and he is free to write down anything he wants, lol. Everyone else can be on the "communal" card (assuming you aren't taking those mulligans). 😉

[SophieWaggner83]

Try not to forget that golf is not only a sport but also an entertainment. So don't take everything too literally, add a little humor, laugh.
And in a situation with a partner who is always laughing, sarcasm should help you. indeed, it will lift your spirits and calm your partner a little.