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Old 12-20-2015, 10:16 AM
tomwed tomwed is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by golfing eagles View Post
Despite all that, some people just don't get it. I live on a course with a protected pond about 60 yards from my lanai. Everyday I watch golfers walk into the protected area, fish for golf balls and hack around with a club. Why bother even looking when you are not permitted to retrieve it anyway? All that to risk a large fine, a snake bite or an alligator attack for a $2 golf ball? If it is not found outside the hazard, just drop one and take your penalty stroke. From what I observe, it looks like for most of them it's the difference between shooting 117 and 118 anyway. From the way they act, you would think it was the record score at the US Open on the line.
The people I play with regularly buy used balls, find balls in unrestricted areas without slowing down play and don't loose very many balls. We don't worry about gators if the ball can be scoped in a couple of seconds. We never step on the rocks, snakes. Having said that we laugh at the people you describe because they are risking a huge fine for a 10 cent ball. Maybe they think they are saving a stroke because it's not "lost".

The person that was fined that I heard about was turned in by a golf course homeowner. He took his picture and turned it in with the time. The next day someone showed up a the golfers house, asked if this was him and than fined.

If I'm playing with a stranger that's either new to golf or new to the area, 99% of the time I'm comfortable enough to tell them what I heard.