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Winter Rules - Yay or Nay?

golfinnut

golfinnut

DANNY LE! WHAT A GUY!
Albatross 2024 Club
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HEAT!
I know at this time of year, we all tend to play Winter Rules. My question is during the "good weather" months, do any of you still play Winter Rules?? I know what some people are thinking ... "Never! I play by the rules all the time!" Now I will admit ... I don't, unless I am playing in a tournament. And here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. NONE of us (or very few) are going to be on the PGA Tour and NONE of us are good enough to play from 4-5" high rough
2. Why make the game harder for you than it has to be?
3. In the essence of speeding up play, roll the ball over to get a good lie to give yourself a fighting chance
4. Some are saying that it is not a true picture of your "real" handicap. I say just inflate it a bit to compensate for that. Most all of you inflate it anyway to get more strokes ... especially if you are a decent player. Your card might say you are a 15, when in reality you are probably an 8 or so.
5. Why make your day miserable because you are having the worst luck with bad lies? You stripe one down the middle, and low and behold, it is in a divot! That shouldn't happen to your every day hacker. Especially with the condition of the courses most of us play anyway.

What is everyone's thought on this? Just curious. I guess you can say that this has originated from when I played golf in high school. If you hit the fairway, you could move it to a preferred lie within one club. Just not in the rough. I think this is what screwed my game up from the git-go. Then when I got to college and wasn't allowed to move it at all, I struggled to say the least. Plus playing with my father for years, he always said "it's ok to move it, get a good lie."

Thoughts??
 
We can't post scores during that time anyway, so I have no issue modifying the rules in some ways. Leaves are really the biggest issue around here.
 
It depends.

I usually play the ball down, but if I'm just playing a casual round I'll move the ball if it's in a divot that's not properly sanded or if it's sitting on rocks or roots. In fact, unless I'm in a tournament, I'm more than likely moving a ball that's on rocks or roots.

Even in a money match that's something that I would follow for anyone. No sense in injuring yourself or really damaging your clubs for a few dollars.
 
Personally I just choose to play the ball as it lies. I really don't mind if someone wants to improve their lie, but for me, I just don't see the need. I think playing from difficult situations makes me a more well rounded golfer. I also feel that luck is part of the game and therefore I take the good with the bad. Winter rules are fine, but consistently improving your lie, that's pushing it.
 
Oh ... I should add that if we were playing for $$, my father was allowed to move it but I wasn't! That was considered my handicap since I was so much better than he was.
 
I've been known to give my ball an extra roll in a friendly round. Everyone I play with does it too.
I will say this though, it is not going to help my game going forward when/if I'm in a competitive round and have to hit from a bad lie that I'm not used too.
With the plan for a THP event and NYSGA tournaments this year, I'll be playing it from where it lies in all my rounds this year.
 
I play with guys who do, and we play for money. I try not to, but I am not going to give away money. I am not in a position to change the game they have had going for over 40 years.
 
I will move the ball whenever it is in a position to damage a club, like on a rock or root. I usually roll the ball out of fairway divots because I feel its right.
At the end of the day I'm only lowering my cap giving me a disadvantage in any tournament. I also clean the ball if it is covered in mud in the fairway as my 8i has permanent damage from the one time I didnt .
 
Skim on my part. Nope, I don't play differently in season unless there's a big course issue to deal with. Example was last year at Weaver Ridge. The course was so soft that balls were plugging and it was a muddy mess. No problem with playing LCP in those conditions.
 
We play winter rules up till around April 1st. With all the water, mud and poor maintenance that usually exists up until then....We are just trying to get out there and have some fun. I think in general, if it's b/c of conditions, we will say move it or whatnot. But if it's b/c of dumb luck (divot, hardpan, burned out areas etc..), it's play it where it lies.
 
I've done it in the past when playing from roots or rocks or something but I don't anymore, I play it as it lies.
 
In the winter I lift clean and place everywhere on the course. I only move the ball if it's in standing water, besides that I try to play the ball how it was before cleaning.
 
I try to play it as it lies always...unless that would damage my club.
 
During season its pretty much play it as it lies......during the winter when things are dormant then we will roll the ball to get some grass...but that's about it.

I have played with one group at my home course that plays improved lies all the time....they even rake and drop in bunkers
 
Hawk said:
We can't post scores during that time anyway, so I have no issue modifying the rules in some ways. Leaves are really the biggest issue around here.
Click to expand...
Same here, if I'm not posting scores, the rules can be what the group wants them to be, otherwise I'm following the rules as the scores are going to be inputed for GHIN anyway!
 
Most course here we play winter rules until last week of April. Some of the cheap courses though just don't have consistent fairways or rough, so there's some moving there, even in the heart of summer. We just play those places as GUR.
 
I don't know about "winter rules", but we play "lift, clean and place" in the fairway all year long whenever it is "cart path only". That means that the course is very, very wet. Just like the pros, we do that in club tournaments as well.
 
I was playing in a PAT a few years ago and a tee shot landed in a drainage ditch that crossed the middle of the fairway (marked RED). This guy in my group said "Go ahead and move it out and hit it, I won't say anything." "Uhh no pal, we play the ball down as it lies until I hear otherwise from tournament officials." A few holes later, he hit into a divot in the fairway and he asked me if he could move it. "Sorry pal ... we are still playing it as it lies."
2 holes later the tournament official came out and said that they were calling the PAT "because so many players were complaining about the course conditions." Damn ... and I was only +1 thru 8! :angry:
I haven't played in a PAT since.
 
Hawk said:
We can't post scores during that time anyway, so I have no issue modifying the rules in some ways. Leaves are really the biggest issue around here.
Click to expand...
This. Where I live very soft soil challenges leaves as the biggest reason to play WRs.
 
v.man said:
I don't know about "winter rules", but we play "lift, clean and place" in the fairway all year long whenever it is "cart path only". That means that the course is very, very wet. Just like the pros, we do that in club tournaments as well.
Click to expand...

This is our local ruling too. Other wise you play it down .
 
If in a casual round, I will correct the lie if it plugs in the fairway or something gross like that. But otherwise no.

Now, in the winter like now, I'm gonna lift clean and place if I get a mud ball or if it plugs, which is frequently (a la my last round on Sunday). But the scores don't count in gross conditions like that, so I don't worry about it too much.
 
It depends who I'm playing with. In my 55+ league the league rules allow you to move the ball anywhere within the "tree" line - rough or fairway. This has kept a lot of the older guys out on the course enjoying the game. When I play with my "weekend" buddies, we always play the ball down, except in extreme conditions (snow, mud, standing water, etc...).
 
I'm not going to ruin my clubs on a tree root or rock, so I'll move it for those. Otherwise I try to play it as it lies because that's the only way I'll get better (by getting out of the messes I've just placed myself into).
 
At our course we have a bad root problem. If it ends up in the roots, you can move it a score card length anyway but no closer to the hole. In winter it is lift, clean, and place.
 
Depends on the round. In league we roll everything except in bunker so I do that there but in our competitive group trips, you play everything as it lays unless the group deeper conditions to warrant playing up. Friendly rounds in spring and fall we play it up.
 
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