It's time, Pro's (and others) should get relief from divots...

[jimecherry]

15 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

Makes me wonder how they got good enough to get to the level where they get all these entertaining breaks.  Besides TIO’s, which you would get relief from as well if your course had any, what other “all kinds of objects” do they get relief from?  And some do get entertainment from watching the best in the world battle the elements, and sometimes bad breaks, to play this game we all seem to be obsessed over. If all I wanted from pro golf was to see the best robotically hit good shots we could just watch TGL where every shot is off a deal level flat lie that they get to create

TGL and good shots are an oxymoron 

[ThinkingPlus]

6 minutes ago, jimecherry said:

TGL and good shots are an oxymoron 

Says a LIV shill...LOL!!!

[Hawkeye77]

On 7/4/2025 at 4:32 PM, Slicepro said:

I agree 100%. I don’t think they should get a drop, but they should get relief enough to hit their normal shot from the fairway. I think the lift clean and place rule is a lot more lenient than getting relief from a divot and you only get that with certain course conditions.
I mean, clubhead width for any club they’re using is totally fair in my opinion.

Trolling an age old and tiresome "complaint".

[Nickb333]

Just insert the word “reasonable” into any unclear ROG and the problem is solved right? 

[Shilgy]

2 hours ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Says a LIV shill...LOL!!!

 

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Trolling an age old and tiresome "complaint".

Really makes me wonder why so many spend so much time here…and money on equipment and fees to play…and yet hate the game and its rules so much.  
 Makes no sense to me.😏

[philly2kuk]

Whilst I agree that there’s nothing more annoying than pounding a drive to find it’s in a divot in the middle of the fairway, the point of golf is “play it as it lies”. This means you just have to take a deep breath and play it.

 

This is also exactly what we said to our mate Ben a few years back when his ball landed in dog turd just off the fairway 🤣.

[Hawkeye77]

8 hours ago, Nickb333 said:

Just insert the word “reasonable” into any unclear ROG and the problem is solved right? 

No.

[Hawkeye77]

8 hours ago, Shilgy said:

 

Really makes me wonder why so many spend so much time here…and money on equipment and fees to play…and yet hate the game and its rules so much.  
 Makes no sense to me.😏

 

In this case it's one of those first post find the dead thread, try and get a little something going and disappear jobs - of course, I've now bitten on it for the third time, haha.  But in general, yes, and the whining about the rules usually by those who don't care about them in the first place.  Speaking of "rules" - I don't watch enough tennis any more, but watching a couple of guys in the round of 16 and yes, they are in Wimbledon white, but both in t-shirts and shorts and look like they thought they had high school gym this morning.  They should literally get off the lawn! (Actually they look okay but I'm also surprised so many in the little bit of crowd watching are in the t-shirts and hoodies as well).  Ball boys and girls look sharp and know how to dress!

[Nickb333]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

No.

Unreasonable?

[Carson33]

9 hours ago, philly2kuk said:

Whilst I agree that there’s nothing more annoying than pounding a drive to find it’s in a divot in the middle of the fairway, the point of golf is “play it as it lies”. This means you just have to take a deep breath and play it.

 

This is also exactly what we said to our mate Ben a few years back when his ball landed in dog turd just off the fairway 🤣.

I would agree with your sentiment if the R&A and USGA did not stray from this standard by allowing players to tap down "imperfections" on the putting green, relief from TIO, relief from debris piled for removal, ability to ground the club in penalty area, allowed to remove loose impediments from a bunker, etc, etc. etc.  I do not understand them digging their feet in on this issue.

 

Everyone says, "How will you define a divot". The same way we defined the difference between a green imperfection and a ballmark for decades. I also find it funny when watching the telecast and ball finishes in said place and the announcer says, "Ohhh, his ball rolled into a divot"!  How in the world did he know it was divot from the tv monitor????  Because it is plain as day and easy to define!!!!

[munichop]

With all the money spent on grooming fairways the divot ruling is more annoying than ever. My casual group bumps everything so we addressed the usga oversight on our own.

[caniac6]

I would be thrilled if they change the rule, but until they do, I’ll play the way the rules dictate. How often does anyone have to play from a divot? I can’t remember being in one all year.  I’d love to hit 300 yard drives, never miss a green, and not 3 putt. Those deficiencies bother me a lot more than hitting out of a divot. 

[jimecherry]

7 minutes ago, caniac6 said:

I would be thrilled if they change the rule, but until they do, I’ll play the way the rules dictate. How often does anyone have to play from a divot? I can’t remember being in one all year.  I’d love to hit 300 yard drives, never miss a green, and not 3 putt. Those deficiencies bother me a lot more than hitting out of a divot. 

i hit out of divots all the time on the driving range

[airjammer]

12 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Makes me wonder how they got good enough to get to the level where they get all these entertaining breaks.  Besides TIO’s, which you would get relief from as well if your course had any, what other “all kinds of objects” do they get relief from?  And some do get entertainment from watching the best in the world battle the elements, and sometimes bad breaks, to play this game we all seem to be obsessed over. If all I wanted from pro golf was to see the best robotically hit good shots we could just watch TGL where every shot is off a deal level flat lie that they get to create

The Toi’s that the PGA has are exactly why it’s not the same game. How many golfers actually play at a golf course that has any Tio’s like stadium seating that allows you to miss a shot by 20 yards in every direction but short and drop by the green?  Nobody.  
 

How many people play with hundreds of people lining the fairway that helps find or stop balls from rolling further away from the fairway..nobody.
 

So yes we play by the same rules but how big and many Tio’s does it take to say we don’t play the same game?

[AZBRONCFAN]

The last thing we need is more ruling on what is or isnt a divot. The whole golf course was a divot at some point.

[TiScape]

3 minutes ago, AZBRONCFAN said:

The last thing we need is more ruling on what is or isnt a divot. The whole golf course was a divot at some point.

I say anyone that resurrects a 2yr old thread should have to play their next 100 shots from the fw out of a divot.

[TiScape]

11 hours ago, Shilgy said:

 

Really makes me wonder why so many spend so much time here…and money on equipment and fees to play…and yet hate the game and its rules so much.  
 Makes no sense to me.😏

The psychology of WRX in a nutshell 

*well, perhaps not WRX as a whole. But def explains a lot of the tournament threads! 😂 

Edited July 7 by TiScape

[Titleist99]

44 minutes ago, AZBRONCFAN said:

The last thing we need is more ruling on what is or isnt a divot. The whole golf course was a divot at some point.

 

I'm not for or against relief from a divot but the players and their playing partners can determine that on the spot if you want to protect the field.

 

*PS/ Just a reminder, folks. Replace your divots. 🙂

[PedronNiall]

47 minutes ago, Titleist99 said:

 

I'm not for or against relief from a divot but the players and their playing partners can determine that on the spot if you want to protect the field.

 

*PS/ Just a reminder, folks. Replace your divots. 🙂

 

Depends on the grass type and a lot of other factors. Best bet is to ask at the course.

 

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/62/issue-11/what-drives-divot-recovery--.html

[Obee]

Harumph!

Murmur!!!!

[nsxguy]

9 hours ago, munichop said:

With all the money spent on grooming fairways the divot ruling is more annoying than ever. My casual group bumps everything so we addressed the usga oversight on our own.

 

That's OK.

 

Those with handicaps who play by the Rules seldom have anything to worry about playing against vanity cappers. 

[nsxguy]

8 hours ago, airjammer said:

The Toi’s that the PGA has are exactly why it’s not the same game. How many golfers actually play at a golf course that has any Tio’s like stadium seating that allows you to miss a shot by 20 yards in every direction but short and drop by the green?  Nobody.  
 

How many people play with hundreds of people lining the fairway that helps find or stop balls from rolling further away from the fairway..nobody.
 

So yes we play by the same rules but how big and many Tio’s does it take to say we don’t play the same game?

 

While occasionally a TIO prevents a player's ball from going deep into the woods(?), considerably further away from the green (usually), much of the time the ball hits the TIO more or less when it've stopped pretty quickly, so the player is typically only getting swing relief from something that wouldn't be there normally.

 

So I guess it depends on how many times a pro needs/gets relief from a TIO, yes ?

 

My guess ? Probably considerably less than once per round per player.

[Pnwpingi210]

Golf is played outdoors.  You have good fortune and bad fortune.  Sometime you hit a great shot in the fairway and end up with a crappy lie, including divots.

 

sometimes you are hooking 30 yards out of bounds on a playoff hole in a tour event and your ball hits a tree and kicks in bounds.  
 

you have if you want to take the good fortune, you have to take the bad fortune 

[Obee]

3 minutes ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

Golf is played outdoors.  You have good fortune and bad fortune.  Sometime you hit a great shot in the fairway and end up with a crappy lie, including divots.

 

sometimes you are hooking 30 yards out of bounds on a playoff hole in a tour event and your ball hits a tree and kicks in bounds.  
 

you have if you want to take the good fortune, you have to take the bad fortune 

yup

[munichop]

4 hours ago, nsxguy said:

 

That's OK.

 

Those with handicaps who play by the Rules seldom have anything to worry about playing against vanity cappers. 

My two competitive leagues only use tourney scores for handicaps. Too many sandbaggers out there. The courses I play have worse issues than divots to overcome.

[Pnwpingi210]

14 hours ago, Carson33 said:

I would agree with your sentiment if the R&A and USGA did not stray from this standard by allowing players to tap down "imperfections" on the putting green, relief from TIO, relief from debris piled for removal, ability to ground the club in penalty area, allowed to remove loose impediments from a bunker, etc, etc. etc.  I do not understand them digging their feet in on this issue.

 

Everyone says, "How will you define a divot". The same way we defined the difference between a green imperfection and a ballmark for decades. I also find it funny when watching the telecast and ball finishes in said place and the announcer says, "Ohhh, his ball rolled into a divot"!  How in the world did he know it was divot from the tv monitor????  Because it is plain as day and easy to define!!!!

Yes….i agree with all of these false equivalencies.

 

 

[bcjim]

On 3/7/2021 at 10:39 PM, tgoodspe1991 said:

Just finished watching today's coverage and was pretty bummed for Westwood to see his awesome drive on 18 end up in a divot... to me, it pretty clearly affected how average his second shot was.

 

With recent rule changes, golfers can tap down spike marks on greens and fix any blemish they choose. As we're seeing on TV, Pro's can apparently get free 2-club relief from just about anywhere (/s). Yet, if you hit a great drive in the fairway that ends up in a divot, you're screwed. Why?! It seems pretty dumb. 

 

Divots aren't the natural condition of the golf course, they are a "used" condition from groups ahead of you. If you're allowed to tap down spike marks and other blemishes on a putting surface that's in "used" condition caused by those same groups ahead of you, then why not allow players to take quick relief from a fairway divot? Also, if it's a rainy tournament and playing "lift, clean, and place", you're going to be able to move your ball from that divot anyway, so just make the divot rule universal. 

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's time for a change.

Pros, not pro's.

[iBanesto]

Let's slow down play even more...

 

Might as well just to lift, clean and place on fairways.

 

[munichop]

On 7/8/2025 at 3:09 AM, iBanesto said:

Let's slow down play even more...

 

Might as well just to lift, clean and place on fairways.

 

Funny because we had lcp today and I used it 3 times. Once because I was in a divot. Over 110 players in my league. I walked in 4 hours.

[Pnwpingi210]

Let’s not stop here.

 

if you ball hits the flagstick on putt and bounces out of the cup, let’s consider it holed out.  We shouldn’t be penalized if hitting the stick that hits the center of the cup of a good putt!!! 
 

 

/s