My handicap is a .9 right now. For the purposes of handicap, I max out at doubles (which certainly deflates my scores because I'm a bit wild off the tee), and am fairly generous with gimmes around the green. If I hit it in a divot in the fairway, I'll roll it out, or if it's a mudball on an otherwise dryish day I'll clean it out.

I grew up playing tons of competitive golf, and would never cheat in a tournament. All of my best scores are also in tournaments.

My main goal in golf is to have fun, and play fast. Fortunately at the few courses I play at, there isn't a ton of traffic so I can often get in a sub 3 hour round. I usually play with my family, and as a foursome with my bro/mom/dad we often play in 3:15 if we're taking carts, and certainly sub 4 if we're walking.

If you're playing a money match or something or bragging about your score, then you should probably follow the rules, but otherwise you should all play faster. Nobody cares about your score, just how fast you play.

That being said, I do try to putt everything out/won't fluff up a lie from a divot if I have a good round going. If I shoot a 68, it was a 68. If I'm like 3 over on the front, and don't really care much about the difference between a 75 and 78, then it's speed golf time.

If you think there's any chance you hit a ball OB, just rifle another one off the tee. I'm super quick to hit a provisional, and am in tournaments as well. Walking back to the tee is usually your own fault and slows everyone down.

that is so true. It doesn't cost anything to hit a provie, not sure what aversion some folks have to hitting them.

I really like everything about this post.

Don't know how good you are or anything like that, but part of my mental game overhaul included always playing a prov1x (or brand new golf ball), always keeping my clubs clean, always using a good glove.

I've often worn the same glove for 6 months, used whatever crap ball I found in my bag (consistently wondering if this 155 yard shot is a 7 iron or if it's a dead ball and I need a 6), and never spin the ball b/c my clubs are dirty as hell. Everything is easier when you do everything the right way and just commit to the fact you are going to lose a brand new golf ball here and there.

Did I ever mention what happened to me the other day? I play through some old douchebags on #14 and am well ahead of them. #16 is drivable, so I have to wait for a group ahead of me (5-some). #17 is reachable, so I have to wait for them again. So I go for it, put it in the greenside bunker and the group from #14 is behind me now. I catch too much ball, go over. Chip it to 10 feet for par. I'm over the ball and some old, about to die guy yells "PICK IT UP ALREADY". I back off my putt and mark it and read it for a long time. GUY DRIVES UP FROM THE FAIRWAY and starts yelling at me about how they didn't let me through to wait on me or something. I calmly (on the outside) say "There is a 5-some in front of me" and nod towards the #18 tee and he just drives off like a *unt.

so it's clear most in this thread are happy in casual play to adjust rules for enjoyment, pace of play etc
it's also clear scores might be 10+ shots different as a result
my question is; do all rounds count for handicap adjustment, or can you declare rounds as casual or serious?
if the former is correct, then there's really no such thing as a casual round as far as handicap is concerned, and i better understand the frustration of the op. also do u.s. handicaps have any real meaning then? it also seems they're too easily manipulated
not that uk hcps are without flaws, but my handicap is at least a meaningful measure of my potential

possible solution: suggest to usga to allow serious (hcp) and casual (no hcp adjustment) rounds (declare in advance), if serious then play by official rules, and allow stableford for pace of play

There's no such thing as a casual round for handicap purposes. Of course people who take mulligans and short putts and then post the score are basically reverse sandbagging, so they only hurt themselves.

Odds aren't too good you ever playing through those guys again.

I play the ball down,putt out (you scrap a leaner for me, no big deal) and play all rounds for scoring purposes by the rules.

To determine if the ball should be played lift clean and place, if the course lets carts on the fairways we play it down regardless of time of year.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if this is a course you know well, you never should have played through them in the first place as you easily could have figured out you wouldn't be playing through anyone else.

Can't you designate a round as "Practice" prior to going out? Those don't count. But I'm not sure what constitutes a "practice" round. Like, you can't enter in 12 straight practice rounds to get really good at a course then just start counting your rounds. I had a round where I was playing horribly and my right pinky was killing me (legit injured midway through lol) so I finished up and kept my score but it was horrible and I was in pain so I just called it Practice. I'm sure that was not technically legal though, as I did not set out to practice round taht day.

Probably because they're all about to die of old age.

naive question, but do you get free drop if your feet are on cart path but ball is hittable on grass? i'm thinking no

also, do you get drops from cart path? i think so.. what about ball lying in grass but against raised curb of cart path?

i remember greg norman (maybe others) sometimes chose to hit off cart path. so i presume you do get a free drop.

thanks in advance!!

Local rules should be on the back of the card and this is a very common one that varies course to course

On a lot you do get a drop, but at my home course you have to play off them

This advice is incorrect, at least it's wrong in the U.S.

Assuming a concrete or asphalt cartpath, you get free relief if your ball, stance or swing is interfered with.

And for future reference, there is a somewhat lengthy thread here for rules questions. Comes in handy to peruse, some interesting occurrences.

BO

I am sort of surprised people wouldn't know this.

The only cart path exception I see is that here in Florida, there are often gravel cart paths, and the local rule is almost invariably to play them as a waste area, which sucks because they can definitely ugly up your pretty new clubs.

Geez I've always played gravel paths like I would asphalt. Never knew there might be a local rule preventing that. I really have no desire to beat up my clubhead swinging at gravel

Here is the definition of an obstruction:

An “obstruction’’ is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice

So according to the USGA, a gravel path is an obstruction. Therefore you get free relief.

However, one of the exceptions listed is:

c. Any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.

So basically any course can invoke a local rule saying a cartpath in an integral part of the course and play it as it lies.

BO

A few courses in south Jersey use ground up broken clam shells for their paths in many areas. These areas are considered an integral part of the course and are not considered cartpaths. Always annoyed the **** out of me.

Yeah sorry, its the same in Europe, but it will say on the back of most cards even if there is no local rule change.

For most stuff like this (staked trees and the like) I just consult the back of the card.

a round scored for handicap purposes means you have the intent of scoring your very best on every shot for that round. for a round to count for your handicap, no illegal clubs, no mulligans, no practice shots, follow all the rules.

Not posting a super high score that in all likely hood wouldn't enter into your index calculation isn't something any club handicap committee is going to be concerned with, we are looking at the player that doesn't post his low rounds.

I didn't know anyone else was ahead of them and they were playing EXTREMELY slow, so anyone ahead of them should've been 4 or 5 holes ahead of them.

How can it be of no concern? By not posting a high score that won't count, you are leaving another score in the 20, that will likely change your index from what it 'should be'?

Because not posting a high score, if anything, lowers a players index which hurts the player and doesn't hurt the other players in the way that not posting a low score can.

bingo. I wish more players would be so honest when they really aren't trying.

I think the only time it benefits a player to leave out high rounds is if they are trying to get into an event with a handicap requirement. But again that doesn't really help the player in the grand scheme of things

that's true, guys do it sometimes so they can get into US Open or Am qualifying. requirements used to be something like 2.3? or 4.1? Not sure.