# Rookie- should i feel bad



## brianf40us (Aug 10, 2007)

I have been playing now for 2 years and i believe i am progressing quickly and striking the ball very well (i have like 3 or 4 bad shots where i will hit it fat or top it each round but is much better than what i was doing a year ago) 

My question is when i have my ball in the fairway or in the ruff i will pick it up sometimes and get a good lie, i do this becasue i believe that i should get more confidence and by trying to hit a ball that i cant hit is just stupid. So should i feel bad about this or should i do this until i can hit every shot crisp and clean.


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## Golfbum (Oct 14, 2006)

brianf40us said:


> I have been playing now for 2 years and i believe i am progressing quickly and striking the ball very well (i have like 3 or 4 bad shots where i will hit it fat or top it each round but is much better than what i was doing a year ago)
> 
> My question is when i have my ball in the fairway or in the ruff i will pick it up sometimes and get a good lie, i do this becasue i believe that i should get more confidence and by trying to hit a ball that i cant hit is just stupid. So should i feel bad about this or should i do this until i can hit every shot crisp and clean.


IMO you should learn how to play the ball from where it lies. Now with that said, if you are in a really crappy lie, you can declare the ball unplayable, take a lift, drop and add a penalty shot to your score.

If you are playing the game for fun (which all of us are) then you do what you feel is best. I realize we all can get some crappy lies around the course. It happens. But overall you would be best to learn to hit from those lies now. Sooner or later you will have too. You can not usually get bad lies on the range, so you do not get much practice at those shots.
Try your best, that is all you can do.


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## lefecious (Jul 11, 2007)

What you're doing is basically cheating. The reason I don't cheat is because even though it will hurt my score now, I will be able to get an accurate picture of my improvement as I progress.

If you continue to move the ball to an easier lie, then your score will be artificially made lower. In the future you may get better and stop cheating, and your score will be the same or even worse.


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## Foster4 (May 2, 2007)

In a tournament yes its cheating, Playing for fun no ..To me its just an enjoyment thing and your trying to enjoy golf. I don't improve my lie unless it just like hard pan with rocks all around or w/e or something that should be marked as unplayable lie but isn't cuz the course is just lazy to do so b/c its not a tournament day i will move it ..But by moving the ball your cheating yourself. I know you want to see that good score on your card but when or if you ever play in a real tournament and see your score go up 5-10 shots you will be dissappointed and your basically just Cheating yourself when you do this..Its really good practice to hit from every lie no matter how bad it is.


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## brianf40us (Aug 10, 2007)

ok thanks guys i totally understand what everyone is saying and will start playing every lie, but one question if you are in deep grass and need to play a 3 or 4 iron is it possible to play those irons or should you take a more lofted club like a 6 or 7 to get out of the bad lie, and also when i do play a lie that is deep i usually wind up hitting it fat or slicing it is this because i am not turning my wrists over enough (the slicing problem) and the reason i cannot turn my wrists is because the grass is grabbing my club. hope you guys know what i mean. thanks guys.


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## Foster4 (May 2, 2007)

how deep we talking...most courses the avg player plays isn't that deep or demanding..So must public courses you could get away with the 3 and 4 iron out of rough.. ON a course where they want the rough to be in play will make it thicker and longer so a 3 and 4 iron won't be in play ...So yes on a tuff course with thick and long rough you'll have to take less club and from there its about trying to run it up or position yourself to best save par.


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## 300Yards (Jan 23, 2007)

Agreed! ^^ If you get yourself into a bad enogh position, sometimes getting in on the green is an impossibility.(Or close to it..) So what I usually do, is try to hit like a half stinger, and try to run it up the fairway as far as I can. I say half stinger, cause a full one will hurt your wrists from the rough.. To avoid those rough grass club hangups, be sure to fully rotate your right arm over your left, and hold that position as long as you can.


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## gfl (May 8, 2007)

I've a question here.
If my ball lie between the water edge and the fairway at the left side, and I can’t stand on the water to hit it. Can I drop the ball on the fairway? any penalty ?


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## Foster4 (May 2, 2007)

yes ...can take an unplayable at the cost of 1 stroke and move the ball 2 club links as long as its not in the hazard


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

brianf40us said:


> I have been playing now for 2 years and i believe i am progressing quickly and striking the ball very well (i have like 3 or 4 bad shots where i will hit it fat or top it each round but is much better than what i was doing a year ago)
> 
> My question is when i have my ball in the fairway or in the ruff i will pick it up sometimes and get a good lie, i do this becasue i believe that i should get more confidence and by trying to hit a ball that i cant hit is just stupid. So should i feel bad about this or should i do this until i can hit every shot crisp and clean.


I think you and I are nearly in the same boat, so here is my opinion.

I've been playing for about a year, after a 40 year lay-off. And, I was terrible when I stopped, 40 years ago, too.

Anyhow, I agree with most that you need to learn to play from the difficult lies you get into. Sometimes I've found that by improving my distance on my shots, I just hit further into trouble! :laugh:
But I do enjoy the "challenge" of getting out of trouble, or hitting out of a really difficult lie.

But I also agree with you that you need to get more confidence. If the ball is really unplayable, it is better to take a drop and one shot penalty than to try to hit it and make a bad shot.

Here is my variation on "cheating." I am golfing for fun, but the scoring does matter to me, too.

When I started, a year ago, I would score about 115-120, and take 10-15 Mulligans to do it. Now, I score between 100 and 110, and take 3-6 Mulligans to do that. In other words, if I take a Mulligan, I note it on my score card. As I work on my game, I don't want to just lower the *score*, but lower the *Mulligans* I take until I don't take them anymore.

Sometimes, I've just got to take that Mulligan. For example, if I miss an easy 45 yard pitch shot, and top it 10 yards, or send it off 30 yards to the right (usually behind three trees  ), it makes sense to me to take a Mulligan and note it on my scorecard. What I want to do is, RIGHT THEN (as opposed to two days later at the range), make myself take that shot again, and do it right, to get me confident that I really can and should make that shot.

BTW, I have really gotten good at punch shots from under and behind the trees! :laugh:


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## 65nlovenit (Dec 8, 2006)

Just a suggestion, beginners and indeed experienced golfers make one MAJOR mistake when they hit the ball into a bad lie position. Now I firmly believe you should play the ball no matter where the heck it comes down, you hit it there, its up to you to get it out of there. Now the MAJOR mistake, too many golfers try to make a purse out of a sows ear. When your buried in grass six inchs deep, or hidden under a tree, dont try to drive it a 100 yards down the fairway, be happy just to get the darn thing back in the fairway. If it means turning around and hitting it back where you came from, "do it". I've done it and I've seen many of my golf buddies do it, whaling away like a mad man, only to end up taking 3 shots to get 10 yards down the fairway, instead of banging it out 5 yards onto the fairway and getting away a good next shot. Play every shot, someday your going to want to play a club tournament or scramble and believe me nobody's going to let you move the ball to a good lie.


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

One reason for fewer Mulligans for me is that I now make fewer bad shots. The other reason is that I'm getting confident enough that I want to try to hit it out of a bad (but not uplayable) lie.

I usually play alone anyhow. Unfortunately for me, I have nowhere to practice chip shots other than on the golf couse: both the golf course and golf range have a "no chipping" sign next the their practice putting greens, so I don't know if I should count some of this as Mulligans, or just the practice I should be getting elsewhere.

I also see a lot of other "casual players" not setting a very good example. A foursome of 20 somethings ahead of me last week would play to the green, and then pick up the balls and walk off! I guess they have perfected putting, so they don't need to even do it. The next day the player in front of me sliced his second shot 75 yards to the right, behind some trees but very playable. He simply drove his cart to the adjacent fairway, picked up the ball, and carried it back (75 yards) to the fairway he should have been on, dropped where it would have gone if he hadn't sliced it, and hit it again!


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## Davethebulldog (Aug 5, 2007)

My advise would be to make sure you play a proper (no cheating round) every couple of weeks just so you keep check of reality. I doesnt hurt to pick the ball up and move it a couple of inches to the left as long as you are practising...But like i said make sure you play a real, no cheating, round every couple of weeks!

Hope this helps


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## Chipmunkslayer (Jun 17, 2007)

I don't see it as cheating at all. I don't play tournaments. I just took up the game this summer, so I've got plenty of challenge just hitting the ball. If the ball is in the rough and a little punt can get it in the fairway, you can bet I'm gonna be putting foot to dimple. And if it's anywhere near a tree, forget it...I'll outright pick it up and throw it onto the fairway.

I'm playing to have fun. It's not fun to me to hit the ball from difficult lies, least not yet. Heck, if I'm having a particularly rough day hitting the ball, I'll put the ball on a tee right on the fairway and hit it off the tee each shot. Why? Because it's my hundred dollar green fee, and I want to have fun.


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

Davethebulldog said:


> My advise would be to make sure you play a proper (no cheating round) every couple of weeks just so you keep check of reality. I doesnt hurt to pick the ball up and move it a couple of inches to the left as long as you are practising...But like i said make sure you play a real, no cheating, round every couple of weeks!
> 
> Hope this helps


I actually did this yesterday and came in at 101 with no Mulligans. If it weren't for the 8 I got on a Par 3 (where I usually get a 5), I would have broken 100.


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