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How do you handle OB close to the green?

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picardyThird

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Watch any tour event, and you'll see that these guys never have to deal with OB, or in the extremely rare cases where they do then its really far away from the fairways and greens.

I played my home muni yesterday after watching the US Open and I was struck by how close the OB stakes are to greens. In a few cases the OB starts less than 30 feet off the green! For a public muni this is ridiculous.

Personally I feel that these should instead be penalty areas, with a one stroke penalty drop either within two lengths of the point of entry or back on a straight line no nearer to the hole. Two strokes seems like way too much for missing the green or fairway by 30 feet.

Thoughts?
 
This is the view from the edge of the green on the first hole at my course. Over the edge is a hit of a cliff into the valley. I don’t like the OB rule, but I also reeaaaally try not to go left here because I don’t want to re-hit.
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I have a par 3 on my home course that plays 160-185. The OB fence line is is 5-10 yards dead right all the way to the hole and the trees on the left that will turn a cut/fade into a absolute disaster if it is is pulled any more than 3-4 yards left.

Some days I will intentionally under club and pitch on if it's windy out.

4 is a OK score on that hole.
 
Knot Right said:
I have a par 3 on my home course that plays 160-185. The OB fence line is is 5-10 yards dead right all the way to the hole and the trees on the left that will turn a cut/fade into a absolute disaster if it is is pulled any more than 3-4 yards left.

Some days I will intentionally under club and pitch on if it's windy out.

4 is a OK score on that hole.
Click to expand...
We must have the same course set up!

Hole 11 is the same way - maybe a bit further away but 10-15 yards it's a corn field and white stakes. Sometimes the trees will keep it in bounds but usually you need to hit it left in case you pull it right and it goes OOB.

We have another one, 16 that has OOB stakes to the left of the fairway and green by maybe 5 yards and it goes into another corn field.
 
I shade my aim a little away from any OB, no matter where it is.
 
Home course has OB adjacent to greens (within 10 yards) on #3, #5, #6, #7, #12, #13, #15. How do I handle it? I try not to think about it. As soon as it gets in my head, I'm sunk.
 
Yeah that's extreme... Undoubtedly, via proper course management, I miss the green on the safe side, then skull the chip OB... Isn't that what everyone else does?
 
On my home course, along the 13th fairway there's OB 15 yds off the left all the way down to the green and then it's 15 yds behind the green with bunkers in front. You don't want to hook your tee shot. You don't want to be long on your approach shot either. The homes along the left have some "modifications" made to them.
 
Well, another issue with (for example) those cliffs, is that in a tour event that would not be OB, but rather red stakes penalty area (such as at the WGC Dell Match Play event). Marking these as OB seems unfairly punishing, compared to what pros are afforded.
 
It all depends on the course. If it is OB because there is a house there then I think the white stake OB is fair. If it is just part of the course or a ditch or something then red stakes are in order I think.
 
Most cases of OB near a green I can think of have to do with roads, boundaries, hard constraints. And those constraints come with trying to fit a golf course onto a piece of property. No big deal, just part of the character of that course. Some courses have lots of space, and not much OB. Others have to make the most of the space they have.
 
Hole 16 at my home course. Behind the cart path is OB. The cart path is 4' lower than the back of the green. It's basically death to hit over this green or even roll off the back.Screenshot_20220621-192830_TheGrint.jpg
 
On my course the OOB are due to roads.
On the 7th I'll play a tee back, which gives me another twenty yards.

The OOB on the other side of the course is the Par 3 4th. Not only is there a road but there is water on the other side.
As well as a small stream on the course side of the OOB near the green.
I pulled my brand new (for me) 8H and stroked it down the middle of the fairway. A little short of the green but exactly what I intended.
There are lots of golf balls in the unplayable rough behind the green. I bought the 36* 8H because it has very little rollout.
I was behind a two slow players so I watched the guys behind me. First time I saw someone pull a ball retriever!

On my course I normally hit to predetermined spots. That is all I think about. Hitting to my spots. I play better if I do that.
I had an issue with both the OB on just one day each. Luckily it hasn't been an issue since and I don't think about it.
 
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There are a lot of courses in the UK that have OB very close to te edges of fairways or greens - my home course has some holes where the OB is a yard or so from the edge of the fairway due to it being on the boundary of the property

I don't focus on the OB as subconsciously that can then become your target regardless of the fact that you want to avoid it
 
Avoid it like the plague. My old work league course had OOB 25 feet right of the 18th green, which was a par 5. And the ground sloped away from the green and towards the out of bounds. Just have to play away from it. It was a fairly busy road, so there was no way you could even play from that area.
 
picardyThird said:
Watch any tour event, and you'll see that these guys never have to deal with OB, or in the extremely rare cases where they do then its really far away from the fairways and greens.

I played my home muni yesterday after watching the US Open and I was struck by how close the OB stakes are to greens. In a few cases the OB starts less than 30 feet off the green! For a public muni this is ridiculous.

Personally I feel that these should instead be penalty areas, with a one stroke penalty drop either within two lengths of the point of entry or back on a straight line no nearer to the hole. Two strokes seems like way too much for missing the green or fairway by 30 feet.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm going to get some people spun up with this one, but this is just a challenge of golf you have to deal with. If you're a high handicapper, it might be better to hit a club you know cannot go there, even if you come up 20 yards short. It might take a birdie off the table and make a bogey likely, but so be it. Nobody said you deserve an easy chance at a par on every hole.

That said, I do agree that courses should do absolutely everything they can to avoid this situation.
 
Yes, Pros don't often deal with nearly the same amount of woods as many amateurs, because they need the open spaces for the galleries, camera crews, etc. It's just another reason among many that makes amateur golf often more difficult than pro.

Here on LI we deal with a ton of trees, many fairways are lined with woods left and right, greens routinely have at least one miss that is a lost ball, many have more than one, long is a common goner here, oh and they're almost all stroke and distance, or two strokes.

We deal it by working hard to have a fairway finding driver, you don't see many bombers here because it's too costly, not worth it.
 
picardyThird said:
Well, another issue with (for example) those cliffs, is that in a tour event that would not be OB, but rather red stakes penalty area (such as at the WGC Dell Match Play event). Marking these as OB seems unfairly punishing, compared to what pros are afforded.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree that it would be much better marked as red stakes. But wouldn't that also imply that a player could try to hit out of that area? Which could be pretty dangerous there me thinks!
 
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