be honest, do you roll the ball in casual rounds?

[GreenReader]

Played my usual Saturday game with the same six guys and it finally boiled over on 14. One of them had been nudging the ball out of every bad lie since the first hole, and the buddy of mine who actually keeps a proper card called him out. Things got weird. He asked me to back him up and I just sort of stared at my shoes.

Funny thing is, I used to be the ball roller. For probably five or six years I rolled it in the fairway, in the rough, wherever. My handicap was a work of fiction. Then I started playing it down and my index jumped from a 12 to almost 15 in about a month. Stung. But at least now I trust the number, and when I shoot 84 I know I earned it.

Here's my caveat though: at my muni in August the rough is basically hardpan and dried crabgrass. Playing it down in that stuff is a skill of its own, and one most of us never practice. So I get why people roll it. I just think if you're posting scores you can't do it. If you're not posting, do whatever makes the round fun.

The 14th hole guy said he only rolls it when the lie is "unfair," which opens a whole other can of worms. Who decides unfair? Bare patch? Deep rough? Divots? Curious where everyone here draws the line, and whether the answer changes for a $20 nassau vs a nothing Tuesday nine after work.

[SandTrap_Steve]

The "unfair lie" thing is where I'd push back. Played with a guy last month who rolled it out of a divot in the fairway and called it "maintenance." Nah man, that's just golf. Divots happen, wet patches happen, I've hit some truly garbage shots off hardpan in July and I still counted them.

But I feel you on the muni rough. Ours gets so baked out by August that a "good" lie is basically a myth. I tried playing it down all last season and shot a career-worst 97 at one point.

Curious what your group ended up doing on the back nine though. Did he knock it off for the rest of the round or just keep going?

[mike_harris88]

Back nine he kept rolling it. Didn't even acknowledge the callout, just sort of shrugged and did it again on 15 like nothing happened. My buddy who keeps the card basically stopped talking to him, which made the last four holes about as fun as a root canal. We didn't resolve anything, we just all sort of agreed to pretend it didn't happen and split the money. Very healthy group dynamic we've got.

Steve I'm with you on the divot thing though. Divots are literally the one "bad lie" that's caused by another player doing what they're supposed to do. Calling that maintenance is wild. If you won't hit out of a divot, you're basically saying the course owes you a perfect lie, and it doesn't.

But I'll be the guy who pushes back a little on the 97. That's one round. I played it down all season a couple years back and shot some ugly numbers too, usually in wet spring when the rough was ankle deep and grabbing everything. What actually fixed it for me was just... clubbing up. Nobody wants to admit that playing it down costs you half a club to a full club out of the thick stuff, so they swing harder and it goes sideways. Was the 97 the rough or was it you trying to hit hero shots?

Also $20 nassau vs Tuesday nine, come on, everybody knows the rules magically get stricter when there's a scorecard and money on it. That's not hypocrisy, that's golf.