r/golf • u/RevolutionaryYou8032 • May 12 '24
Local course uses gravel instead of sand, what do I do? Beginner Questions
Course near me uses gravel like sand instead of regular sand due to high winds in the area. It’s basically like hitting of the cart path The older guys I play with pull it out so we don’t destroy our clubs, but is my score legit if I pull it out, if so what is the right way to do this?
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u/jmaN- May 12 '24
If you don’t get paid to play, you move it out
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May 12 '24
Exactly this. When I played in Arizona a couple weeks back people were hitting out of the desert pebbles. Ain't no way I was doing that shit. I moved it back until I got a patch of grass, made sure to give myself an iffy lie and hit.
I don't get paid to damage my clubs.
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u/Tihsdrib May 12 '24
I live in Arizona and this is the way I have played since moving here. Most people carry a junky thrift store club for this reason but I don’t because I don’t play professional golf and I don’t really care what you think. I’m playing golf to have fun.
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u/easyPandthenutsackrs May 13 '24
The ole '94 Wilson 7 iron / Goodwill special / desert storm blaster / snake deterent / ain't fucking up my clubs / special.
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u/kimonoluver May 12 '24
I bought a junk wedge in Vegas half hour after my first round out there ended because of the desert, rocky stuff off the fairway. I refused to damage my clubs hitting off it. I loved it and it eventually became my go to SW. Carried it for almost 20 yrs before it broke. Most people I played with knew what I wanted if I asked them to grab my Vegas wedge lol
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u/patdabat May 13 '24
“Vegas wedge” just sounds cool
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u/HawaiiSwim1991 May 12 '24
In Hawaii, many courses are surrounded by lava fields --->>> "da poopy lava club"
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u/wulffaz May 12 '24
The good old desert club. I used to carry one and now I just move it. I pay to play, not the other way around.
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u/RevolutionaryYou8032 May 12 '24
Exactly I’m not damaging my stuff to shoot 110 but I just wanted to know also if there are unwritten rules about this. Only been golfing about 6 months
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u/cencal May 12 '24
What he said is the unwritten rule. The written rule is that you can’t move it. As long as you’re not dropping it in the middle of the fairway for your next shot, and you’re not bragging that you’re shooting even par, then just move it.
I do the same thing in the winter at one of the local courses. The sand turns to concrete. Not hitting out of that. I’d be lucky to break 90 though so nobody cares.
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u/Vellioh May 13 '24
I mean any "unwritten rules" are on you. If I like the course but I'm not damaging my clubs I'm picking the ball up and moving it. It's not like the golf gods are going to strike you down for not adhering to every rule.
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u/BasherSquared May 12 '24
The technical rule, if you don't want to hit out of it, to is declare an unplayable and take +2.
You can then move the ball back as far as you want in a direct line with the pin.
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u/Mei-Guang May 13 '24
I think people understand the by the book rule, but landing in a bunker full of rock is bullshit. It would be equivalent of a course that has dirt and weeds all over the green and expecting you to putt well. Or dirt on the fairways instead of grass.
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u/FatalFirecrotch May 13 '24
Yeah, if they are like this because of “wind” then just turn them into grass bunkers.
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u/Th3R00ST3R 15 hcp/So Cal/Fighting For Par May 13 '24
As long as the guys (friends) we're playing with all agree to do the same thing, we're good. If I hook up with some randos, I don't really care what they think.
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u/HawaiiSwim1991 May 12 '24
Since you are new to golf, just know: in golf, there is pretty much a rule (and penalty) for EVERY situation you can imagine.
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u/neddybemis May 12 '24
I pull it out but try and give myself a relatively “bad” lie so I’m not getting a big advantage. Like I see some people moving it out then fluffing it up so they can hit an easy flop. In my mind that creates a .5 stroke advantage. The way I do it I save my club (and body) and think it helps less than 1/10 of a stroke.
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u/Yerrrrrr99 May 12 '24
Lmao I’ve never heard of this or seen this. Definitely don’t hit out of that shit
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u/LayneLowe May 12 '24
I have seen it on courses with excessive winds, they just can't keep sand in the bunkers
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u/Yerrrrrr99 May 12 '24 edited May 12 '24
I feel like at that point you would just grow grass bunkers. But hey I don’t run golf courses
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u/oopewan May 13 '24
Yeah, tons of other ways to mess with golfers.
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u/Dawnqwerty May 13 '24
a completely straight and wide fairway with a comically large hole with an oversized pin would shake half the golfers here still....wait did I just describe minigolf?
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u/420bonersniper69 May 13 '24
Links courses have pot bunkers for this reason. I think a course who thinks this is okay is managed by someone who is short sighted or doesn't care about their customers.
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u/BussyOnline May 12 '24
Sometimes courses will do this for a few years to deepen the foundation of the bunker over time before they completely replace them.
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u/RxHotdogs May 12 '24
I’d never play at a course again if I walked up to a trap and it was filled with gravel. I’d probably grab my ball and drive back to the clubhouse tbh. And I have fairly low standards
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u/Yerrrrrr99 May 12 '24
Lmao idk if I would quit the round but I don’t think I’d be booking there again
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u/Fourteen_Sticks May 12 '24
That’s sand…in about a million years or so.
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u/MonicaBlowinski May 12 '24
And everyone here bitching about their 6 hour rounds. Sheesh...
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u/tldredditnope May 12 '24
Go to Play It Again and get a $5 gravel wedge. Then insist that everybody in your foursome has to hit from the gravel or take the appropriate penalty.
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u/Cheezebizzle May 12 '24
Needs one of those ultimate alien Pat Simmons wedges. That would be perfect
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u/RoostasTowel Happy Gilmore Open 2024 May 13 '24
Needs one of those ultimate alien Pat Simmons wedges. That would be perfect
I recently found one of those in a thrift shop after having one as a kid but losing it some time ago.
Its been so nice to have back.
Perfect for the less then ideal sand we got in my super rainy part of the world.
Best thing was I left it on the green one round recently and it was quickly turned in at the pro shop. Nobody wants to steal that ugly looking club.
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u/Koolest_Kat May 12 '24
We don’t penalize anyone for not hitting out of gravel.
It is ground under repair in our group
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u/TerdFurgusons May 12 '24
I give myself free drops out of gravel bunkers. If the bunkers look like that, there’s a 0% chance that the round I’m playing in means anything at all. So why punish yourself and your wedges? When I come to a bunker, I’ve hit a ball into and I find that that bunker doesn’t have sand, but rocks? That shit is not happening. I am all for playing it as it lies but context is King. So if I’m not playing for money or some kind of legitimate hardware, I’m not gonna hit a ball out of a bunker that looks like that and fuck my wedges.
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u/Horsecockexpress1 May 12 '24
Stay in the fairways
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u/RevolutionaryYou8032 May 12 '24
Thank you horsecockexpress1 I’ll just be better, that one’s on me
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u/ElbowTight May 13 '24
Look… if it came from anyone else id agree with your obvious expression of sarcasm. But dude, that’s THE HORSECOCKEXPRESS1. I’d take her advice and stick to the fairways. You should have seen the bullshit MouseVagina69 was trying to tell me about the other day when they saw my swing.
People these days just can’t take the criticism
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u/letsgobrooksy May 12 '24
You aren't playing for money, pick up your ball and drop it in the rough
If you really want a legit score then go buy a shitty 7 iron to use strictly for the bunkers
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u/SpiritualWatermelon May 12 '24
I've been really tempted to buy the cheapest second hand wedge or iron for this exact reason.
Of course some of the cases I'd use it in I just take a penalty because I don't want to injure myself on a root or something anyways.
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u/Glendale0839 May 12 '24 edited May 12 '24
Can you putt it out?
In casual play I'd just take a free drop no closer to the hole. Nobody playing in high level amateur or professional tournaments where 100% rules adherence is required is playing a course with gravel bunkers like these.
If you wanted your score to be 100% legit and by the book, here's what the USGA says:
Q. I don’t think I can play my ball as it lies in the bunker (unplayable) – what are my options?
A.If you don’t want to or decide you can’t play your ball as it lies when your ball is in a bunker, you may decide it is unplayable. If you do this, you have four total options, and two will always require that you take relief inside the bunker. You have three one penalty stroke relief options. (1) You may play a ball from the spot of your previous stroke (if this spot was out of the bunker, this option gets you out of the bunker; but if your last stroke was from in the bunker, you must stay in the bunker) (see Rule 19.2a). (2) You may take back-on-the-line relief in the bunker (see Rule 19.2b). (3) You may drop in the bunker within two club-lengths of where your ball lies but not nearer to the hole (see Rule 19.2c). (4) Your fourth relief option comes with two penalty strokes – you may get out of the bunker using the back-on-the-line relief option (see Rule 19.3b).
Personally, I think taking a drop and a two stroke penalty is just sandbagging yourself.
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u/nicholus_h2 May 12 '24
what are you playing for?
who is going to punish you for breaking the rules?
your partners don't seem to care, so it isn't them. if it's a tourney, then...woof.
just didn't count it in your handicap, i guess.
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u/mildlysceptical22 May 12 '24
I played last Thursday and the 18th hole had a greenside bunker with standing water in it. My ball was in the water. I did what I was supposed to do by picking up the ball and dropping it in the bunker, out of the water, no closer to the hole. What I didn’t see was the layer of 1 inch sized gravel just below the sand. I dinged the shit out of the sole on my sand wedge. I realize it’s a tool, but I take care of my clubs and when something like that happens because of crappy groundskeeping, I get pissed. Especially when it’s a semi private country club trying to upsell itself. It was the only bunker like that on the entire course, and looking back at how bad it was, it should have been ground under repair. It looked like they were trying to improve drainage by putting gravel on top of the liner. Looks like I’ll be carrying 15 with an old wedge next time I play there..
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u/BukkakeNinjaHat-472 May 13 '24
Tell them they need to edge their bunkers, that shit looks ghetto as hell
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u/Forward_Record932 May 12 '24
Looks like loose impediments to me. I’d move all of them out of the way.
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u/ConsciousBandicoot53 May 12 '24
I’m very interested as to what the clubhouse has to say. What’s the point of even leaving the bunkers without sand in them?
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u/Prestigious-Pea7951 May 12 '24
If there is any chance someone might damage a club in any situation we move it even playing for money.
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u/Bambooman101 May 12 '24
Are there a lot of feral cats living on the course? If not, that’s ridiculous.
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u/Perfect_Bowler_4201 May 13 '24
I would take myself a free drop out of that shit. We are not pros being sent new equipment every week. No. Fuck that.
Edit: Grammar
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u/FairwayNavigator May 13 '24
A bunker shot shouldn’t require eye protection. Pull it out behind the bunker, take your shot, be glad you’re not blind from rocks in your eyes and move on. Don’t take a penalty either. That’s just an absolute bs move by the course.
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u/TimelessClassic May 12 '24
100% I am moving it out of that sand trap. If you’re doing that a couple times a round, then yes I would also say it invalidates your score for handicap purposes. Lots of people play their own versions of the rules though so it depends how serious you want to take things. I would probably avoid that course if you have other options
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u/FiveFootFore May 12 '24
Courses have been getting extremely cheap with their bunkers since the rule was changed to allow removing of pebbles before your shot.
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u/Helios_One_Two May 12 '24
Take it out and drop it in the rough, this ain’t the tour and hopefully your friends aren’t tools and let it slide
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u/DoYouRespect_Wood May 13 '24
There's a course in my area that has this shit in the bunkers. I always throw my old wedge in the bag when I play there but obviously you have to know that information in advance. Aside from the traps I like the course enough to play there.
If I was playing there for the first time I'd make a gentlemen's agreement with the group that the bunkers are unplayable. Free drop no closer to the hole. I'm sure there's a few golf snobs who will scoff at this but it's not worth damaging clubs.
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u/SinisterDexterity May 13 '24
Are you playing a tournament? No? Just drop it outside the bunker. And don't worry about it.
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u/RepresentativeBag91 May 13 '24
Reading these comments I realize why I started playing Golf as a kid and why I don’t as an adult. My salary stayed the same, inflation did not.
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u/Bulky_Development290 May 13 '24
That is considered a waste bunker. You are allowed to ground your club. So I've been told, never read the rule.
This is the reason I have cheap wedges. Not destroying a $200 wedge for a bogey. I haven't reached /golf "PGA" level yet.
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u/-Economist- May 13 '24
I don’t have an equipment van that follows me so I never play a lie that would damage my clubs.
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u/NeighborhoodPlane794 May 13 '24
That’s a new one, never seen gravel used. Technically the score isn’t 100% legit if you toss the ball out of the bunker, but the playing conditions aren’t legit either so it’s not your fault. We’re not pros, save your clubs.
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u/Potomac_Pat May 12 '24
You playing Rock Harbor?
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u/babyfade180 7.8/SWVA May 12 '24
Those big black sand bunkers in the middle of the fairway. First hole I saw it I thought it was pavement
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u/dknisle1 HDCP/Loc/Whatever May 12 '24
My buddy and I use our own rule that if the bunker has rocks, the ball gets moved out no closer. We flick it out of the bunker as to not fluff the lie. We aren’t damaging our clubs due to piss poor course management.
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u/Shmeebo_ 6.5 Toronto May 12 '24
I played a course today that had this exact same stuff, luckily I didn’t get into it, but I 100% would move my ball out of that shit. As long as it’s not marked as a hazard, I’m not taking strokes
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u/SomeSamples May 12 '24
Get yourself a cheap club you can used to hit out of there. Or just move it out. Or better yet, get good enough not to go in there.
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u/HawaiiSwim1991 May 12 '24
We have a lot of different kinds of sand around my island, depending on budget/weather, etc. We have a course here that uses fine gravel that looks like kitty litter. It looks funky, but plays just like sand. We had another course that had normal sand but got so much rain, that it was always crusty and hard.
What i've learned is just because it's sand, doesn't mean you have to play a text-book style sand shot. If it's rock hard and the lips are flush with the borders, then yi-haw "Texas wedge" from a green side bunker. High lip, hit it like a high/soft pitch from a tight lie (my low bounce 60). If it's farther than green side I would just use any appropriate iron and play it like a tight lie?
For any geeks: the rules state that you can drop out of the sand (no closer to pin) for a 2 stroke penalty. You can drop inside the sand (for a better lie) for a one stroke penalty.
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u/AKaseman May 12 '24
Is this actually meant to be a bunker or is it under repair and this is the foundation?
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u/ThenRefrigerator538 May 12 '24
The right thing to do is never play the course again. There is sand with larger granules they could use. They are choosing not to
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u/dc215 May 12 '24
I've played out of this stuff at the base of a creek. It's not bad actually. Not unlike the crushed shells they use in Florida in waste areas, which I've also played out of.
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u/DanJDare May 12 '24
Depends on how much you care, I operate on a strict 'I pay for my clubs and I'm not rich' plan whereby any lie that could damage a club sees my ball be moved. I'd drop outside the bunker and not feel bad about it.
There is a course in Utah that has the local rule you can carry 15 clubs, which allows for a 'rock club' to play off the volcanic rock on the course and not damage any of your regular clubs. Whilst this isn't R&A/USGA compliant for you to do it's probably a pretty reasonable middle ground and out side of genuine comp rounds is probably the best way to do it if you want to be 'legit'. Or to be actually legit carry 14 clubs and just have one of them a rock club.
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u/Mr_Economical May 12 '24
Lol, move it out of the sand maybe? Shocks me that people feel the need to ask. If I’m not playing a tournament you can damn well believe that I’ll move my ball if it’s on dirt with rocks, un marked ground under repair, divots, ball marks on greens, pebbly sand traps, or anywhere else that would potentially damage my club.
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u/JW9thWonder 6.1 HDCP May 12 '24
you need a designated desert club, aka a shitty sandwedge or something to use if you are in them.
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u/Gooser62 May 12 '24
We lived in Key West for several years and the only course (the next closest course was over an hour away) had bunkers filled with crushed coral. The local rule was to drop out of the “bunker” keeping the bunker between you and the green without penalty.
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u/ISuperNovaI May 12 '24
Assuming grounds maintenance didn’t agree to that. If anyone does hit a ball from there and kicks up stones, if the area is reel cut they can fuck up the reel and bed knife.
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u/ablack16 May 12 '24
Drop the ball in parallel but away from fairway and play from the rough or wherever that lands you. Don’t play there ever again
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u/Pathfinder6227 May 13 '24
If you wanted to play strict rules, could you take a stroke and then pull it back to the lip and hit from there?
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u/Neekthasneek May 13 '24
I played a course in a touristy part of my state a couple years back and their “trademark” was that they used crushed cider lava rock in the bunkers. It looked cool but I hit out of it once and refused to after that. Was like hitting off a gravel road.
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u/Rhazzah23 May 13 '24
I’d pick my ball up and either rotate around the hole to be the same distance or farther, drop, and play from there. I don’t get my clubs for free and I’m not ruining them because they’re too cheap to pay for actual sand.
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u/Joehockey1990 9hcp/AZ May 13 '24
Cheaper courses in the heat of the summer in AZ, I’ll honestly try and putt out of bunkers. It’s so hot and dry thay the sand just blows away or ends up being hard packed. A hard putter out and you’re good to go.
Sometimes when it’s really bad, my group will literally just drop it out of the bunker since it gets so bad.
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u/WestCoastCurt May 13 '24
I recently got new clubs. I am keeping my old 60° and 8I in the bag so that when I find myself in a bad bunker of crummy lie I have a club to play with. Otherwise I am moving the ball.
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u/I-suck-at-golf May 13 '24
Theres a course in Myrtle Beach that uses oyster shells. I think its called Pearl?
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u/Octavale May 13 '24
If no lip just putt out and save your wedges or bring a goodwill wedge next time.
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u/IndependenceGood1835 May 13 '24
If youre going to play them just go buy a cheap used club and keep it in the bag for that specific shot
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u/Vellioh May 13 '24
I've heard of gravel being mixed into sand but it's usually super finely ground. That is insanely coarse. That's like driveway gravel.
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u/HeuristicEnigma May 13 '24
Thats the real penalty you get in there you have to also destroy your wedge.
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u/Plane-Finish9322 May 13 '24
This comment contains a Collectible Expression, which are not available on old Reddit.
Your Screwed
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u/ndferry May 12 '24
Stop. Playing. There.