Yesterday during the final round of coverage we saw DJ hit a ball OB. This of course leads to a different penalty than that of the water hazard. One ball was playable, one was not.
There was a social media firestorm with tweets such as this and many others like it.
Now clearly this tweet forgets that sometimes OB is set in place, because it means no longer on the property of the golf course. Retrieving one’s ball might not be applicable in these instances.
Yet that still brings many questions regarding the rules. Should they be changed? Sound off below.
I could entertain that, too. That’s close to the currently available local rule to drop in the fairway equidistant to where it crossed the OB with 2 strokes.
I’m just against altering the RoG to make the game easier for no other reason than to make the game easier.
Two great ones.
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I don’t study the rules of golf and in a casual/regular round with my buddies we all just agree on what to do in certain situations, fast forward to a tournament/event round, "irregular", and it makes it hard to remember exactly what to do in certain situations, especially when everyone might disagree on exactly how the rules is applied or what steps you need to complete for the drop.
In every other sport/game involving a ball, when the ball goes out of bounds, it’s out of play. The play is stopped, and there is a penalty associated with it. Sometimes that penalty rewards the other team with possession of the ball. In this instance you could say that "O.B." was awarded the ball. (I’m not talking about Keeler here)
Golf is no different. Rules are rules, and as such, they must be followed. Arm chair QBs don’t count. Just the ruling bodies.
The current OB rule is a good rule, as it usually protects property not designed for flying golf balls.
It could be worse. Just think that for health safety reasons, the ruling bodies made fan galleries OB?
– hazard rule: play out if you can. If you cannot, stroke penalty. Drop as per current rules – drop along path of ball.
– oob: no playing put of OoB. Take 1 stroke and drop along lines of hazard rules.
Done.
Nothing more needed.
The hazards are on the course property/part of the course. Out of bounds is off the boundary of the course, whether its in right-of-way or adjoining property owner or just deemed "not part of the golf course" by the course.
Not always true, some courses use OB to protect adjoining fairways/greens.
I don’t give a hoot about the rule on tour or USGA qualifiers or tournments.
The lost ball rule is a bit a joke though, but that can be played just like the adjusted OB rule.
Yellow, white, and red stakes, lines painted on the ground, the goat tracks I play seldom have any of these. Yes I agree everything should be played like a red stake….if I can find a red stake.
I’m with you on this, but everyone probably already knew that from Episode 10 of the Off Course podcast .
Isn’t losing a $3.75 golf ball is penalty enough?
I say the rule is fine as it is. Casual golfers don’t follow the proper rules anyway and just throw a ball down where it went out. When your ball leaves the property of the golf course I believe you should be penalized heavier than if you simply find a creek next to the fairway.
However, a few things I’d like to add:
1) Internal OB needs to be outlawed. So stupid.
2) If we are going to change any rules, I’d first like to change the current "lost ball in play" rule. Stroke and Distance penalty is way too harsh for a disappearing golf ball, especially when all these podunk half-ass lean budget golf courses don’t even bother to mark their 5 ft tall fescue grass as a penalty area. Hitting a massive block slice bananarama into Aunt Rhonda’s backyard is a terrible shot and I deserve everything I get. Hitting a solid 6i that just barely misses the fairway and somehow disappears off the face of the earth is not a bad shot, and should not be punished equally.
The rule is irrational. The bottom of a pond is also off any playable property, and can be unsafe. The two situations should be treated equally. One penalty for one bad swing, not two penalties.
Two strokes for a lost ball makes much more sense than two penalties for OB, which makes no sense. If the ball is lost, you can drop it in a place more advantageous than wherever the ball actually is. That warrants the two strokes. Treating OB worse than hitting the ball into the bottom of a pond is illogical and unfairly punitive.
The local rule allowing a drop in the fairway is still a two-stroke penalty.
OB is OB, and the bottom of a pond is the bottom of a pond. Neither one can be played. So the penalty should be the same.
If the ball is over the red line, but in the grass and you can still hit it, you have that option with no penalty. The red line shows the place you measure your drop from if you do have to take a drop.
But no one is saying OB should not have any penalty. It just doesn’t make sense to give it two penalties.
Quote Button – This is how to multi-quote. You can click as many quote buttons as you want across as many pages, and even threads as you want, and then when you go to the reply box at the bottom of the page. You will see on the bottom left it says Insert Quote, click that and all your quotes will be there and you can click quote messages, or delete some of the quotes if you didn’t want to quote them anymore or clicked it by accident. You can also de-select a quote you previously selected by simply clicking the quote button again for that post.
I was on board with your post until here.
No way should I be penalized if I land in a red-stakes hazard. I saved Par 1 round recently out of a hazard. Now you want me to be hitting my 3rd and grind to make Bogey? No thanks.
There’s an OB line in play on hole 16 at one course I regularly play to protect the 11th fairway. Are you saying, it shouldn’t be there and just let the players on the 11th fairway deal with the danger of incoming balls?
Like other sports, there should be one penalty for OB, not two penalties.
That’s exactly what I’m saying. The magical white line doesnt stop a golf ball mid flight.
Are you suggesting that players would actually aim for the adjacent fairway? Nobody is trying to hit it there.
I still don’t see that as a valid reason for the extra penalty. Whether OB or the bottom of a pond, you can’t play the ball.
I’ve never heard anyone say "the penalties for OB are stroke and distance". It’s one penalty. The penalty for OB is stroke and distance.
That is how the rule worked for most of the first 60 years of the rules. Then it alternated back and forth for a few years until around 1960, when we got this irrational OB double penalty rule.
That is two penalties. A stroke penalty and a distance penalty. If you hit into the bottom of a pond, you get one penalty, a stroke penalty. You don’t get penalized the distance by having to go back to your original spot.
If there was no OB designated, more people would certainly try to cut the corner. It’s why it’s designated as OB from 16, but not from 11.
multi quote is an amazing thing…………and very easy to use
Well, to be accurate, you’re still penalized the distance from where your ball lies in the pond, if you don’t elect to hit it out, to wherever you drop.
Calling it two penalties is like saying a ham and cheese sandwich is two sandwiches. Nope. Just one sandwinch. What kind of sandwich? A ham and cheese sandwich. What kind of penalty? A stroke and distance penalty.
No, it is two penalties. Stroke is one penalty, distance is one penalty. You are doubly penalized than if you had only a stroke penalty.
If there was a pond there instead of OB stakes, more people would try to cut the corner? No way.
Maybe, maybe not. That wasn’t even part of the discussion. He simply said that OB within the boundaries of the course should be removed. I pointed out a scenario where it made sense. I’m not sure how you’d get water to say between those two fairways, though, since it’s on a incline. All the water would run down into the 11th fairway.
Plus, it just makes sense for OB. I’m sure white stakes are cheaper than constructing a pond.
What if you hit a tree and bounce backward into the OB area? At that point, you’d be awarded distance and not penalized distance!
Pro golf is a different entity, and they can handle it as they see fit.
Why not? I’ve done it before. Besides, it’s a moot point if you just hit a provisional.
I see where you are going with this. However, the usga says the "penalty" is stroke and distance. They don’t say "penalties". They, the ruling body are not designating it as two penalties..
On another note. Sometimes a golfer can use "stroke, and distance" for relief even if the ball is not out of bounds. Should the golfer get "two reliefs"?
it’s the only way I can think of to merge the 3 types of penalties. I think stroke and distance is stupid. and the yellow stakes still confuse the hell out of me. but the points about not hitting from ob make a lot of sense. maybe it’s in private property or property unrelated to the course, and you shouldn’t hit out of there let alone trespass. maybe it’s unsafe for some reason even if you can hit. so if we merge the 3 penalties, disallowing you from hitting the ball solves that.
I feel the ability to hit the ball out of the hazard is not by design. in my area, it’s more often due to drought or abnormal weather conditions. e.g. a water hazard that is dried out is still marked red stakes because it was supposed to, well, have water in it! cool, now you can hit out of it, but that wasn’t the intent.
Ok. So let’s be clear as I feel everyone is getting caught on the syntax.
On straight par 4 with a pond on the left and OB on the right, you play 2 balls. 1 you pull left and trickles into the water. The 2nd you push right and it trickles into OB. Both go the same distance.
My next shot for the first is at the hazard and I am hitting 3. If I take the stroke and distance rule for my push out if bounds, I drop rough the same distance and now I am hitting 4.
Why? Because the rules say so. But besides the color of the stakes, what’s the difference?
You aren’t really trying to argue that stroke and distance is not a double penalty? This is a joke?