Can I Practice After Picking Up?

[bcjim]

Say I blast 2 tee shots into penalty areas. Normal, non-competition round.  My unannounced intent is to accept my NDB for hdcp purposes and move on. May I still drop from my 2nd drive and play to the green, then pick up? Does it matter if I announce to anyone after the 2nd tee ball that I'm "picking up"? If I did that, would I be obligated to play no more shots until the next hole?

[sui generis]

54 minutes ago, bcjim said:

Say I blast 2 tee shots into penalty areas. Normal, non-competition round.  My unannounced intent is to accept my NDB for hdcp purposes and move on. May I still drop from my 2nd drive and play to the green, then pick up? Does it matter if I announce to anyone after the 2nd tee ball that I'm "picking up"? If I did that, would I be obligated to play no more shots until the next hole?

 

Your answer is in 5.5.

 

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=5&subrulenum=5

[ArtMBgolf]

The rules are designed for serious tournament golf, where you either keep hitting or WD.     
In casual play, other golfers will be happy for you to drop near your best drive and play on,
instead of hitting a 2nd or 3rd.   Just say you will drop out there and finish the hole, as you
paid your fee/dues.             
    

[sui generis]

15 minutes ago, ArtMBgolf said:

The rules are designed for serious tournament golf, where you either keep hitting or WD.     
In casual play, other golfers will be happy for you to drop near your best drive and play on,
instead of hitting a 2nd or 3rd.   Just say you will drop out there and finish the hole, as you
paid your fee/dues.             
    

 

I do think that the OP was asking about the Rules of Golf, not about how tourist golf is played in Myrtle Beach.

[antip]

It's common here even in competition rounds (which are mostly Stableford) to play out a hole even though no counting score (beyond the handicap system default) can result. Only qualifier is it is not holding up play of following groups - but if your group is staying in touch with the group in front there is no problem in this. Note, though, this is not dropping an extra ball and playing an extra stroke from the same place - that would constitute a breach of 5.5 and gets a penalty added to the next hole. 

[Mr. Bean]

8 hours ago, bcjim said:

 Does it matter if I announce to anyone after the 2nd tee ball that I'm "picking up"? If I did that, would I be obligated to play no more shots until the next hole?

 To complete the answers you have been given by Sui and antip:

 

No, it does not matter as long as you are truly playing a ball as you would if you would actually want to finish the hole.

[Colin L]

5 hours ago, ArtMBgolf said:

The rules are designed for serious tournament golf,.....
    

To be precise, the rules are designed for the playing of golf.  Clearly, many people disregard rules as suits them in their social games, but given the liberties some take which I have read of in this mighty forum, they are not really playing golf.   Getting a huge amount of enjoyment out of what they do, I'd hope, but what do these liberties  do to the integrity of handicaps if their "scores"  are based on some sort of approximation to the game of golf.  But that's a matter for a different conversation........

 

In this instance, continuing to play out a hole is not,, in my view,  practising in terms of the rules. Say you can't find your ball and decide to give up on that hole. You drop a ball near where you lost the original and play on with that ball.  That means you have substituted another ball for the original in a wrong place (you should have taken stroke and distance).  The likelihood is that this was a serious breach in which case you should have corrected the error by going back and playing  from the right place,  Since you don't do that before starting the next hole, you are disqualified in regular stroke play or get zero points  in stableford.  In match play you just concede the hole and are covered by 5.5a which tells you that "strokes made.... in playing out a hole whose result has been decided" are not practice strokes.  That rule covers continuing to hole out in a four ball after your partner has holed out with a better score than you could achieve.

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Colin L

[Newby]

Re Colin's last paragraph. I would include playing individual stableford in the exception to 5.5a if the player would score 0 points for the hole. 

 

These are not practice strokes:

• Strokes made by a player in playing out a hole whose result has been decided.

[Mr. Bean]

2 hours ago, Colin L said:

 In match play you just concede the hole and are covered by 5.5a which tells you that "strokes made.... in playing out a hole whose result has been decided" are not practice strokes.  That rule covers continuing to hole out in a four ball after your partner has holed out with a better score than you could achieve.

 

 

Colin, are suggesting that the phrase you have quoted from R5.5a would not cover also Stableford? After all, the result (= zero points) has already been decided for that hole, by the player himself.

 

(Newby beat me by a fraction of a second)

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Mr. Bean

[Newby]

Snap

[toc]

If you’re in your pocket on the tee, then yes practice as much as possible.  Kidding aside in a casual round who cares as long as you’re not holding anyone up.

 

[Halebopp]

2 hours ago, toc said:

If you’re in your pocket on the tee, then yes practice as much as possible.  Kidding aside in a casual round who cares as long as you’re not holding anyone up.

 

 

Could it be that the person asking the question might care?

[Wham49]

if your not holding anybody up including the rest of your group you can. If I pick up in our game, I may chip and putt while everybody else is waiting to go, just stay out of the way. When the pros play match play they stay after on the green and practice putting, I dont see anything wrong wiith it, unless you are in the way

Edited September 13, 2022 by Wham49

[Wham49]

5 hours ago, Colin L said:

To be precise, the rules are designed for the playing of golf.  Clearly, many people disregard rules as suits them in their social games, but given the liberties some take which I have read of in this mighty forum, they are not really playing golf.   Getting a huge amount of enjoyment out of what they do, I'd hope, but what do these liberties  do to the integrity of handicaps if their "scores"  are based on some sort of approximation to the game of golf.  But that's a matter for a different conversation........

LOL, that is what I see as the problem with golf, and why I am waiting behind people playing 5:30 hour rounds. 

 

I am glad you get to decide who is playing golf and who is not

[sui generis]

8 minutes ago, Wham49 said:

LOL, that is what I see as the problem with golf, and why I am waiting behind people playing 5:30 hour rounds. 

 

I am glad you get to decide who is playing golf and who is not

 

"There is no 'game of golf' without the Rules, just sticks and balls and grass." - Sawgrass 😉

[Wham49]

29 minutes ago, sui generis said:

 

"There is no 'game of golf' without the Rules, just sticks and balls and grass." - Sawgrass 😉

again, as long as the group playing with each other decide their "local rules" who are you to tell anybody what to do. A tournament is a totally different situation of course but social gambling games who cares. and yes it is golf

[Nixhex524]

Not saying anyone should avoid the rules at all costs, but when the OP asks about a "normal, non competition round", I think we know what is meant.  As the game grows, rules are actively being changed to keep pace of play moving, which for most people here is #1 on the priority list.  The HCP system is designed to work a certain way so taking your NDB (or NTB if applicable) in a casual round is the same as hitting 11 shots on a hole and having the system adjust it for you.  It's a casual round, hit your shots, practice around the green as long as you're not in the way, swing a training aid, I personally dont care what you do as long as we aren't playing a modest money match and you're taking bogey instead of the double you made.  Just KEEP MOVING.

 

I don't really understand why some people fuss about this so much... a vanity cap only hurts the player who holds it and helps their opponents in actual competition.  Let them have it if they want...  I do like that this thread brings out those who have NEVER picked up a putt before though... 🙂

[sui generis]

14 minutes ago, Nixhex524 said:

swing a training aid

 Folks, don't take Rules advice from Mr Nix, as he's forgotten 4.3. 😉

 

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=4&subrulenum=3

[cgasucks]

In casual rounds, you can blast as many OB balls as you want just don't hold up your playing partners or the people behind you.

[Colin L]

4 hours ago, Wham49 said:

LOL, that is what I see as the problem with golf, and why I am waiting behind people playing 5:30 hour rounds. 

 

I am glad you get to decide who is playing golf and who is not

Playing a sport by the rules of that sport is a problem?   That makes no sense whatsoever. 

 

Join me in a social  four ball with a couple of my friends  and you'll be back in the clubhouse having a beer in under three and a half hours - and we're all over 70.  Just remember to play by the rules. We do - without any fuss and without even thinking about it.

 

I'd put money on it that the causes of a five and a half hour round have nothing to do with playing by the rules.

 

And, by the way, I don't decide who plays golf.  But I do have a clear understanding of what constitutes golf.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Colin L

[Colin L]

8 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Colin, are suggesting that the phrase you have quoted from R5.5a would not cover also Stableford? After all, the result (= zero points) has already been decided for that hole, by the player himself.

 

 

No, I wasn't.

[Abh159]

1 hour ago, Colin L said:

I'd put money on it that the causes of a five and a half hour round have nothing to do with playing by the rules.

 

Agree with you on this. I think a lot of people assume that "playing by the rules" is what those groups who mark and read every 18 inch putt from 10 different angles are doing.

 

Do me and my playing partners putt everything out 100% of the time? Nope, but if we did it wouldn't slow us down at all. You can play at exactly the same speed playing by the rules as you would not playing by the rules as long as you aren't dumb about it.... Go ahead and putt out instead of marking it, hit a provisional instead of trying to find the first ball before going back to the tee, throw "honors" out the window and play ready golf, and so on...

Edited September 13, 2022 by Abh159

[Wham49]

1 hour ago, Colin L said:

Playing a sport by the rules of that sport is a problem?   That makes no sense whatsoever. 

 

Join me in a social  four ball with a couple of my friends  and you'll be back in the clubhouse having a beer in under three and a half hours - and we're all over 70.  Just remember to play by the rules. We do - without any fuss and without even thinking about it.

 

I'd put money on it that the causes of a five and a half hour round have nothing to do with playing by the rules.

 

And, by the way, I don't decide who plays golf.  But I do have a clear understanding of what constitutes golf.

 

 

lol, so we should defer to you on all such matters in the future, 

 

and by the way when somebody is putting out for there 10 for a crisp 62 on the front becasue he "putts everything out" or goes back to the tee to reload instead of playing a "lateral local rule" becasue thats what the pros do, while people are piling up at the tee box, that has evrything to do wth the rules of golf getting in the way of a fun round. 

 

I am glad you play fast though, to each his own, whatever you want to play in your group as long as you keep pace is great, but why do you think that you can tell everybody how to play, as much as you think you know "what constitutes golf"  you do not. You only know what YOU think golf is. 

 

Oh and golf is a game not a sport, so your first sentence starts out as if you may not know what constitutes golf

Edited September 13, 2022 by Wham49

[Krt22]

The main point to pick up to is if you are holding up play. If you are not holding up play and going to ESC the hole anyway, by all means play your ball as you see fit. You paid to play the course, so play it. Go drop in the fairway next to your playing partner and finish out the hole

 

If you are a mid to high cap and tend to blast a few balls OB, I would simply play under the E-5 local rule.

[Nixhex524]

4 hours ago, sui generis said:

 Folks, don't take Rules advice from Mr Nix, as he's forgotten 4.3. 😉

 

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=4&subrulenum=3

 

I didn't forget about it, thats why I mentioned it.  I don't actually care what someone else does during their non competitive round.

 

How come you didn't quote the part I said about never picking up a putt??  🙂

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Nixhex524

[DaveLeeNC]

For the sake of completeness, this post is closely related to this recent post 

 which was in the context of Handicap Rules rather than RoG. 

 

dave

[Mr. Bean]

It seems some of the posters are mixing up handicap rounds and casual rounds. The former means "go by the book" and the latter means "do what you do but do not hold up the group behind you".

[Newby]

2 hours ago, Wham49 said:

Oh and golf is a game not a sport,

 

As is Snakes & Ladders.

Is that the game where you choose to go up the snakes as opposed to the rule which says you go down. Perhaps it is to save time? 

[Newby]

It never ceases to amaze me when posters in a Rules forum tell us that they don't play by the rules.

What is the point?

[DaveLeeNC]

1 hour ago, Mr. Bean said:

It seems some of the posters are mixing up handicap rounds and casual rounds. The former means "go by the book" and the latter means "do what you do but do not hold up the group behind you".

 

I think you know this, but in the U.S. most 'casual round golf' is "handicap round golf".  dave