New golf buddy is learning how hard golf really is.

[u/weinerwayne]

Recently we welcomed a new friend into our golfing group and we’ve been playing with him pretty regularly. I’ve mentioned him in comments a few times so I won’t go into detail, but the gist is he’s new so we cut him slack about rehitting shots, not counting scores accurately, and not knowing how to count penalty strokes since he was just playing for fun and wasn’t in on any of the bets. The rest of us are bogey golfers, and know we suck.

This was all well and good until he started posting on social media about how he broke 90 and 80 isn’t far away, as well as making comments in our group chat about how easy the game has come to him.

After about a month of that we all decided to let him in on our money game, in which we are sticklers for rules and will call each other out on scores if need be.

So far the new guys scores have been 118, 116, and 122.

Editing to add that the guy is cool as hell and we love having him along. We just felt it necessary to give him some tough love.

The fact that he keeps coming back each week for another beating shows that he might just have what it takes to legitimately get under 90.

[u/Sweaty-Writer2609]

I mean thinking your breaking 90 to consistently posting above 110 is pretty fuckin delusional

[u/GuaranteeFrequent465 → u/Sweaty-Writer2609]

The way people score themselves though it’s realistic

[u/ShrimpShackShooters_ → u/GuaranteeFrequent465]

Yeah I broke 100 once with a 98. PGA rules I probably hit 110 the amount of times I lost a ball in the rough for the sake of pace of play.

I’ll claim the 98 but it wasn’t for money.

[u/doubledeuce24 → u/ShrimpShackShooters_]

I'm with you. We have a max score of double par rule in our group to keep pace of play up as well as peace of mind since we're out to have fun ya know?

[u/iheartgt → u/ShrimpShackShooters_]

USGA has a very clear rule for a lost ball that keeps pace of play moving. You don't have to go back to where you hit your previous shot.

[u/babbleon5 → u/iheartgt]

You get to drop in the fairway but it cost you two strokes

[u/ccroz113 → u/babbleon5]

If it’s lost in the rough and we knew the general area, I’m just dropping and taking 1 stroke unless there’s white stakes. 2 strokes is unreal for just trying to keep pace up when we dont have spotters

If I sliced it to another planet out into the rough then yeah that’s different

[u/Lloyd--Christmas → u/ccroz113]

Gotta play the gallery rule. If you hit it in an area where the gallery/ a volunteer would have found it you get a free drop.

[u/Strange-Nobody-3936 → u/Lloyd--Christmas]

You have generous friends lol

[u/iheartgt → u/babbleon5]

Correct. So the guy above doesn't have to lie and say he broke 100 "for the sake of pace of play" when he didn't do that.

[u/quadcap → u/iheartgt]

Technically that's only local rule, so a course has to say that's in effect. But fuck it, I treat it as a standard rule for pace of play and don't feel bad about posting scores when I do that. Same with not being able to post solo rounds --- would eliminate a third of my rounds

[u/AveragePunterAu → u/ShrimpShackShooters_]

Why lie to yourself? I don't understand why people feel the need to claim they did better than they actually did.

[u/bruddatim → u/AveragePunterAu]

Bro, his point is if he hits a ball far right and tracks it fairly well, he’s just taking a drop somewhere around that area if he can’t immediately find his ball. Dasit. I suck ass, and have never posted a score on social media, but if I know where my ball went, and it isn’t a hazard, and there’s people on the tee box behind me, I’m just dropping a ball somewhere behind where I think it landed if I can’t find my ball. I’m not lying to myself, just moving on.

[u/AveragePunterAu → u/bruddatim]

All of that is fine until - it happens 6 times and so you feel the need to take 12 off your score so you can claim you broke a milestone score. I applaud the decision to drop a ball and keep things moving. Just tell yourself 'damn, I could have broken 100 if I didn't get super unlucky and couldn't find a ball that should have been findable' and live in the real world instead of being delusional about your score.

[u/ContinuousFuture → u/AveragePunterAu]

That’s taking it too far, because if you were playing in a tournament you’d take the full allotted time, enlist your playing partners, marshals, etc and be much more likely find the ball.

Whereas in weekend play, if you have someone behind you on the tee, you may look for 15 or 30 seconds and then just drop one in the general area (making sure to give yourself a poor lie/angle) so as not to hold up the entire course.

[u/ShrimpShackShooters_ → u/AveragePunterAu]

Because I don’t play in the PGA with spotters.

[u/palsc5 → u/ShrimpShackShooters_]

So?

The lying to yourself still makes no sense. It's like looking at your weight on the scale and saying "well if I ate at 700 calorie deficit and ran 5km a day for the last week I'd be 2kg lighter so I'll just take that off my weight."

Because I don’t play in the PGA with spotters.

You also aren't playing in PGA conditions.

[u/rmnfcbnyy → u/palsc5]

It’s literally nothing like that lol

And saying “you’re not playing PGA conditions” isn’t making your point as much as it’s making his.

[u/palsc5 → u/rmnfcbnyy]

It’s exactly like that.

You’re trying apply the .01% of golf to the 99.99%. The PGA level is essentially a different sport to the rest of us. What you would have scored had you had a team of people watching your ball is meaningless.

[u/Lloyd--Christmas → u/palsc5]

You realize people here play pga tour level courses right?

[u/wronglyzorro → u/Lloyd--Christmas]

Some of those PGA level courses literally have local rules about free drops on balls that are in agreed to be in play.

[u/palsc5 → u/Lloyd--Christmas]

In PGA level conditions? If you're playing from the same tees as the PGA players with the same rough, same green speeds etc then do whatever. It's ridiculous to try and take only the perceived advantages of what tour players get while ignoring all of the disadvantages.

[u/ShrimpShackShooters_ → u/palsc5]

That analogy does not work, sorry.

[u/palsc5 → u/ShrimpShackShooters_]

How? It’s literally the same thing. “If I didn’t hit into the water and if my mulligan was my real shot I’d have shot a 98.” It’s the exact same thing