I’ve heard a lot of people give themselves a breakfast ball and a mulligan each on the front and back nine.
What I want to know is what rules does your group personally play with, do you keep it fun or are you trying to get your handicap right and play by the rules?
My buddy and I are fairly strict as we are improving and trying to break 90 – but I’d love to know what quirky rules your friend group has when it plays together
by SirRendelgore
50 Comments
We play clean and place if the course is cart path only.
I count every stroke and penalty so when I break 100 it will be legit
USGA
#1 Max score is double par
#5 Conceded putts allowed
Sometimes #2 Penalties are all 1 stroke if the golf course doesn’t mark hazards well
I don’t use common sense
If the goal is to have fun, I understand some of these. But how do #1 and #2 for example make it more fun? All that does is artificially lower your score. Like instead of listing the 10 I just got on the par 4 on the scorecard, I just like an 8? Doesn’t make sense
Probably falls under common sense, but we move the ball if the lie will damage a club or potentially injure the player.
Breakfast ball on 1 tee only, especially if no range session before. Gallery rule if everyone saw the ball hit in play and agree it should/would be found. Gimme putts allowed on bogey or worse. Otherwise, straight up.
It depends how good you are imo
If your new or just not consistent yet, I wouldn’t worry much about the rules. If your decent you should play actual golf rules if ypu want to compare you scores to other golfers. If your just jerking off with ypur friends who cares but dont go around talking about your score
Gallery Rule
If you hit your ball in a spot where a gallery of people would be standing at a professional tournament and you are unable to find your ball, you get a free drop.
This rule requires integrity but the point is that I shouldn’t have to take a penalty when I know that my ball is in bounds and in play, I simply cannot find it amongst the leaves/tall rough/whatever stuff is covering up my ball.
We do a mulligan on the front and back nine, double par, and basically just every penalty is a stroke.
There’s a little bit of improving unfortunate lies, but that’s mostly if we happen to get stuck on a cart path or something similar so we don’t damage a club.
We don’t concede putts since we usually are playing against each other for some money ($10 each) and we’ve been known to miss some insanely easy putts lol. I do wish my buddies would limit ball searching bc god damn they take way too long with clearly lost balls
When I am playing a casual round sometimes I will give up on hole and just look for a ball for more than 3 minutes. But I just pick up and run to next hole so I don’t hold people up. Usually my friends just give each other a double on those holes.
If the sand is concrete sometimes we will rake it and put some sand under the ball.
If there is a real chance of injury I am moving the ball and telling my friends to do the same. Penalties depend on the situation.
I occasionally use a breakfast ball on the first hole if it’s the first swing of the day and I really fuck it up. However, I think I’ve only used a breakfast ball once over the past 20 rounds. I used to use one well over half the time. I’m sort of phasing it out because I think it’s kind of lame except when I convince myself it isn’t. I’m honestly more comfortable now allowing my playing partners to take one than I am taking one myself.
Number 7 mostly
Gallery rule only.
Our group is similar to yours. Have fun and hit them straight.
So many hero’s on this thread pretending like they play OB and go back and re-tee…
All of these. Except I don’t like conceding my putts because I want the practice.
These are pretty much the rules I tell my friends to play and score themselves but I’m usually harder on myself and score myself pretty true to the rule book
I play all
I only use the double bogey rule in league play because that’s what they do…in competitive play every stroke counts
The concept of OB and stroke and distance penalties should be eliminated
I play #1 and like half of #4. If my ball is on a rock, root, or otherwise odd surface that could damage my clubs or my wrists, I’m moving it to a nearby patch of grass. I ain’t on the tour.
Gallery drops at my home course. If you lose it in the fescue, you can drop a ball for free in the fescue and play from there. There’s lots of gopher holes, and the grass is 2′ tall in some spots. I usually take an unplayable anyway when I’m in it so I don’t have to hit out of it, but some guys want to test their luck.
I play lateral drops but that is only because I play woods courses in northern Michigan. Crazy tight fairways.
We use “gallery ball” . If you hit a reasonable shot that definitely would have been found by a gallery if they were there (like a professional tournament) you can play a free drop in that rough area you think it dropped
We do use #1, 3, 4, and 7 pretty regularly. We aren’t tour pros who get free equipment. If the ball is on a tree root or up against a rock you can’t move (or something equal), just move it a few inches out of the way. If it’s right behind a tree and a medicine shot really isn’t that viable, you can move it out from right behind it. We play a little loose because we really just want to have fun.
The problem is, is that most people won’t follow these rules. The hand wedge, “found” balls, lying on scorecards, etc.
I just posted a sign with these exact rules
https://preview.redd.it/oqo4e465i7gf1.png?width=1899&format=png&auto=webp&s=64bb58fa4446d473c4d0aaa55f09a562dbd498c5
2 mins to look for a ball is too long imo. If you’re looking in the woods pack up and move on or I’m sending one down there
2 off the first tee, 1 mulligan per 9
All OB is treated as red stake, just drop it there for 1 stroke
Max score double par
If you belt a drive down the middle, and you can’t find the ball, but you know damn well it’s right down the middle, free drop in the fairway
You can move it out of a divot, if you wish
When I was complete ass I followed a lot of these rules. But once I started wanting to really know my real score and build a real hcp I started counting all strokes and penalties.
play every hazard or OB as a lateral hazard. Drop your ball nearest where it went in and take a stroke. or drop it on the other side of the pond instead of hitting 3 more in trying to clear it.
Speeds up play, you lose few balls.
Obviously if you are playing a “real” match or tournament, etc.. use the actual rules. But if it is just the weekly golf game with the buddies, use rules that speed up play and keeps it fun.
Play the ball up everywhere unless you are a single digit hdcp, or plan on playing in a bunch of non scramble tournaments/matches.
I play by the rules of golf. It’s not hard. There are no mulligans or breakfast balls, you take the breaks your swing and the course give you. If I hit an errant shot off the tee, I declare a provisional, hit and then go to the area my first ball went, take no more than a minute and head to the provisional if the first ball isn’t found. There are no Gimme’s, if the ball isn’t in the hole, the hole isn’t finished, unless it’s match play.
You get the idea. I play golf by the rules and my handicap is legitimate because of it. It’s doesn’t slow play down, ever. If I’m by myself on an open course I can play a sub 2 hour round and not rush. I don’t get people telling you they shot 80, when they didn’t take a penalty stroke, took mulligans all day and gave themselves 5 footers on the green. Add at least 20 strokes to most of their scores and you are in the right general neighborhood.
2,3,5 and 7. Number 4 is situational – dangerous lies and landing in a fairway divot that hasn’t been repaired get a lie improvement. If you’re behind a tree or in the deep stuff, you have to take your medicine.
Breakfast balls only if there’s no range to warm up. Otherwise, use common sense with everything else (penalties, balls on rocks or tree roots). We’re not on tour, and most of us don’t carry true handicaps but are all decent players (7-14hdcp).
Max score is 8 except for par threes which is six. 1 Mulligan per nine holes, but Mulligan is on the tee only, and is for water and deep woods miss shots only. No two shot penalties, just one shot. You slice into the woods and can’t find it, drop from point of entry with 1 stroke penalty. 1 foot gimmes allowed. Play as it lies except for roots, rocks or dirt on fairway. A whiff is not a stroke. There, that’s our rules, which keeps things moving!
If I drive my ball in the fairway and its in a divot. Im moving my ball out of the divot
I just made a post of a sign with these same rules: [https://www.reddit.com/r/golf/s/OZRdPlp7Ul](https://www.reddit.com/r/golf/s/OZRdPlp7Ul)
https://preview.redd.it/ej8fl9loi7gf1.png?width=2229&format=png&auto=webp&s=f912176bda6c7543b70c79021a91fcc778a4bbb9
My dad and I usually play 1 and 4. For 4 the ball usually has to be in a fairly unplayable spot though, like against a tree root, the very edge of a bunker, in standing water, or if it’s in a deep divot or hole. If you’re behind a tree you’re SOL.
All those except 2 and 3. No reason to falsify a score and search time depends on if i have another group up my ass.
Count all the strokes. Be a man.
The max score is net double now correct?
wtf is a double par.
Well i only play stableford so first rule is kind of a given here as you just pick it up when you reach 0 points.
Conceded putts is gimmes or what?
I do play with a breakfast ball if we dont warm up first, and SOMETIMES a mulligan, but only if my co-player offers it to me.
Main ones from this I use are max being double par and limiting my search time, but I do 3 minutes. I do give myself one mulligan on the front and one on the back, but really I try to do that as little as possible, and just play it as it lies and count all my strokes legit otherwise. I do keep a handicap so I kinda know where I’m at relative to others but since I play the occasional mulligan, I wouldn’t call it a real handicap, more of a guesstimate.
Editing this real quick to say before someone replies to it, I know picking up on double par lowers the score artificially, but I haven’t actually picked up on a double par in quite some time, I honestly don’t know the last time I’ve had to do it, it’s mostly just a pace of play rule, which I haven’t had issues with keeping pace in a while either
I play with a couple of groups. 1 plays basically by these rules and the other is lower cappers so double is max, play real penalties and play the ball down unless it’s really stupid or going to damage your club.
Fuck #7
Double par on par 5s, no way, max is 8
all of them plus remove ball from sand trap