We do not live on a golf course in TV but have lived on 2 courses for a total of 20 years. In all that time we only had one really rude golfer. If a golfer played from your yard he was out of bounds. He was violating golf rules. He was cheating on his score. He was trespassing. Most of all, he was a jerk. You were NOT wrong.

Is this the guy?

http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/a-c/caddyshack-11.jpg

What a Dip#456 cheater
 

:censored:I NEVER look for or retrieve ball I hit out of bounds period. I take the penalty and hit where it crossed the out of bounds line. THAT is the rules. You don't waste time looking or retrieving Balls out of bounds slowing down play. But, some so called seasoned golfers think they are on the pro tour. Not only do NOT chase balls off the golf course I would be too embarrass to go on private property mulling around looking for golf ball. If I needed balls that bad I would buy the water balls someone has fished out of the ponds. Heck it I was that bad golfer in may improve my Game. :censored:

That is not the rule. OB is a stroke and distance penalty. You have to go back to where you struck the OB ball.

It was a bad golf hat trick:

Hit from out of bounds
damaged your property
rude and flippant remark

A couple of months ago I was walking back from the postal center along a street that borders a green. A golfer hooked his approach shot and it went out of bounds, across the cart path and into the road, bouncing right at me (I was on the far side of the road from the green). I caught the ball and just as I started to toss it back across the street onto the grass between the street and the cart path ... Captain Hook yells at me that I "should have let it go so he could play it from there"

I looked at him in amazement and then as I fired his ball down the street I said ... "play it from there, that is where it was headed!" and gave him the single digit salute. His ball was last seen bouncing toward BVB.

I am pretty sure that Captain Hooks real name was ...... Richard.

My personal feeling is that if your golf ball goes onto someone's property, you've lost the ball and take the penalty when you drop another ball. That's what I would do. The guy that played his ball of your lawn is......quite ballsy.....excuse the pun.

Good for you. Some people really shouldn't be playing golf!

I am not a golfer, so please forgive my ignorance. But could you tell me what that means?

Betting that BOTH of his friends call him DICK.

OH! Heh heh... I'm a little dense today.:D

Once the ball is in your yard. it is your ball not theirs. They should not walk on your yard without your permission. Playing from your yard , Divot or No divot is a NO NO.

Dotti, you have every right to be upset. What happened to you seems crazy to me.

Reading this whole thread, the only clarification I would add is someone who does not know how to proceed after hitting a ball out of bounds (or even worse actually hits a ball from out of bounds) is NOT a golfer...

Call them whatever you will but a golfer would take the time to learn some basic rules... for goodness sake there are only 34 all together in a tiny little book.

It is even worse than you described when one factors in that this guy had to cross a busy road ( Pinellas Place ) and a sidewalk to play the shot back across the road before giving the OP attitude. Do you think he even checked to see if any cars were coming?

Understood. I also wanted to be clear in my statement about being a golfer. When I use that term it has nothing to do with HOW well you play. I know and play with beginners that IMO are golfers. They may not break 120, but they have taken the time to understand etiquette and the basic rules and are a pleasure to play with.

If I was in a group with a guy/girl that was playing a ball from across the street I would prevent him/her from doing that even if I just met him/her.

Maybe a phrase like: Yo Billy.... you nuts :D? I need to work on that a bit...

remember the famous Tiger Woods second shot (not Tee off shot) that when left out of bounds and into the green murky water pond. The Commentator's was questioning if he when back far enough where the ball cross the out of bounds line. He dropped at the edge of the out of bounds line and hit the shot from there not going back to where he hit the second shot?????? So if that's the rule shouldn't he of been disqualified?? Just wondering the cow patches I played on that was the rule, but maybe it was prevent slow play???

Glad to know that he was clearly out of line.

And, yes, for clarification, we are across Pinellas Place from the green. He did hit it across the road to the green from 10 ft into our yard!

Takes all kinds I guess!!

Don't remember the exact shot you are referring to but:


Tiger's ball must have been crossing a hazard line and NOT an OB line. If it were a hazard line then you have a few options depending on red or yellow (not going to get into those here). If OB then there is only 1 option: play from original spot with 1 stroke penalty (assuming he didn't hit a provisional ball thinking he might be OB).

That was the 2013 Masters when he hit the flag stick and his ball caromed into the water hazard. His ball was not out of bounds, but was in a water hazard. He had 2 options, to play the ball as closely as possible to where he played the original shot from or to take a point where the ball crossed the hazard and keep that point between him and the pin and go back as far as he'd like. He did neither of those and was correctly penalized for it.

Chicken, BarryRX, and Russ thanks for the correction. I don't think that is the shot I was referring to I clearly remember it going far left and splashing down in the water, but been 3 or 4 years ago and I can't remember. I do remember the water hazard was covered with Green moss and when the ball hit it made big clearing in the murky green covering. IMO in regular daily play makes no sense to back peddle and slow play down unless your in tournament or playing for Sawbuck But that me, I try to keep up with the group and not cause backup.

Yes, the rules can be bent if you're just out for practice etc. But a refresher on the rules is never a bad thing. And keeping up pace is never a bad thing either:)

That is why we have the provisional ball rule.

golf balls
 

Its in the rule book not to retrieve golf balls on private property that is considered tresspassing. How would you like someone walking around in your backyard?

That is not in the rule book, but it is common courtesy.

Golf course doesn't care.........this is hard to believe.
all have been laughed at.................this is hard to believe.
fights..............this is hard to believe.
going to the hospital...............assault this is hard to believe.
never enforced............this is hard to believe.
Where are you getting all this information?

single digit salute................that is so adult.

Golfer certainly lacked proper golf etiquette and manners (which in my view) is rare amongst our golfing community. Out of bound white stakes are posted to show the boundary of the golf course. You are trespassing when outside the golf course.

If this occurs again, have the starter shack phone number on your phone list. Call them report the cart color and location. The Ambassador will address it by educating the golfer on the rules of play.

Maybe this is the one you are thinking of....
 

2013 Players Championship -- Tiger Woods' drop at 14th deemed legit by PGA Tour - ESPN

Unless I am in some kind of tournament or match, I have no issue just dropping where it went out of bounds. The only thing I would possibly affect is my own handicap. Since I can only take double bogeys anyway (for handicap) that is likely what I will get after being OB, so no harm, no foul :ohdear:

My worst OB was in some tournament in MA at Foxborough CC. I do not know remember what the tournament was ... possibly trying to qualify for MA AM or something...

Third hole was a par 3 about 190 yards. There was a backup on the tee. When I finally hit, I hit a lousy block fade to the right of the bunker. My caddy said we can get up and down from there (he was a good friend and I accepted his lie, but would have been very pleased with 4. In short we got there, no ball to be found, we used the whole 5 minutes looking as it was a pretty open area....

I then took the longest walk in golf; back to the tee where two other groups already waiting. That walk took forever... I did make a good 5 :clap2:

PS. Being honest at the risk of starting a thread riot, I will retrieve my ball from someone's yard in TV. The way I handle it is I look for my ball from the course. I do not enter the yard unless I see my ball out in the open and would not do any damage retrieving it. If the person is out, I say hello, make a self deprecating joke about my game and ask if they mind me grabbing the ball. I have never run into a homeowner that is mad at me or denies me access.

Let me ask a non-golfer's question. Why is it important to get that particular ball back? Why not leave it and use another ball? That way you're not trespassing nor putting the homeowner in the dodgy situation of having to decide if you can trespass.

Me personally, because they cost $4 :shocked:. An analogy...I think of it a $5 bill. If it blew out of my cart and I could see it in someone's yard (front or back), I would step in their yard and retrieve it, if I could do so with doing ANY damage.

I have been fortunate as a new golfer not to have one of my balls go in someone's yard. I've had them go everywhere else!. I too see nothing wrong with asking the homeowner if I may retrieve the ball.

Fair enough.

Hoo-boy.:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

friendly warning...

read the rule book
 

This rule is highlighted in the rule book, read and you will see. It is this ignorance that we are having with golfers and private property. And some that know the rule ignores it because they think they are special. Tresspassing is tresspassing!

If the etiquette section of Golfing the Villages is what you refer to, it is not a rule book. The rule book is published by the USGA, and can be found online. If you can find any reference to the subject of retrieving an OB ball from private property in The Rules of Golf, please show me.

That is nitpicking. If TV golf tells you not to trespass to retrieve a golf ball, it's still a rule.

On that subject you might remember a famous shot played by Greg Norman (I think the course was in Colorado). He went so far right (unusual for Norman since he is one of the straightest drivers to ever play the game) that it went over a strand of trees and into the front yard of a home (on the course). Since there were no OB markers the ball was in play if Greg wanted it to be. So he took his shot from the yard and over the trees and almost hit the green and went on to make a par save. The tv announcers made it quite clear that the ball was not OB. Granted most of the time we play for the fun of it or practice so I can't imagine anyone hitting from any private property even if not marked as OB.

First, I am an engineer, so, of course I pick nits. I wouldn't enter anyone's yard, and I think the guy who did is a jerk, but please don't pull the "If TV golfs tells you not too...it is still a rule" card unless you treat all "rules" with the same respect and repair every ball mark you make, fill every divot, enter bunkers from the low side, rake bunker every time, drive cart at 90 degrees to fairway, never play a mulligan, etc. I have been playing the game for 63 years, and have observed that most folks will follow a rule of the game much more often than they will comply with requests by the local committee, and in my opinion there is a distinction between the two.