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Out of bounds

• stewartking 13 Posts

  Sat, Sep 24 2011 6:06 PM

  I just lost a ball that rolled out of bounds on St. Andrew's #14. It landed on another fairway. I certainly would have had no trouble picking that thing up.

  I find the automatic loss of a ball for out of bounds or into a water hazard that is about six inches deep a little draconian.

• Sanco 1,345 Posts

  Sat, Sep 24 2011 7:23 PM

  I agree with you on this, not all the balls that end up out of bounds are non recoverable - stroke and distance yes, but sometime the player should be allowed the ball back.  

  I have personally grappled with this paradox for a long time now and recently decided that, even if it is going to damage my game, I would no longer buy overpriced pixelated images of callaway golf balls and stick with the much cheaper types. This has saved me much grief and the obvious credits.

  Be well.

• WGTicon 12,511 Posts

  Sun, Sep 25 2011 1:11 AM

  Hi

  that's the risk of going there. The OOB line is marked by the map. As soon as it's left of it, it is OOB.

  -wgticon

• oilyrag 875 Posts

  Sun, Sep 25 2011 8:38 AM

  WGTicon:

  Hi

  that's the risk of going there. The OOB line is marked by the map. As soon as it's left of it, it is OOB.

  -wgticon

  i don't think that was the point

   

  the risk in going out of bounds is the penalty of losing a stroke - or so the rules of golf say

   

  no where in the rules of golf does it say that a ball hit into an adjacent fairway somehow miraculously turns to dust

   

  but then anything to make a buck eh

   

   

• TheLighterDark 1,404 Posts

  Sun, Sep 25 2011 3:23 PM

  oilyrag:

  but then anything to make a buck eh

  It's not to make a buck. They just don't want to program all of that for one hole, when the hole should be played through the intended fairway, and nothing else. 

• oilyrag 875 Posts

  Sun, Sep 25 2011 4:16 PM

  i'll try again.

   

   

  by all means, as "the committee", wgt have the right to declare out of bounds where they choose.

  what they should not be doing is declaring a ball lost that 99.9% of the time is not lost

   

   

  there ain't no programming in that

• TheLighterDark 1,404 Posts

  Sun, Sep 25 2011 11:22 PM

  oilyrag:

  there ain't no programming in that

  Don't get me wrong... I completely understand where everyone in this thread is coming from, and it's not the first time I've heard it brought up. 

  But from WGT's side... They have to set the hole's borders at some point. Beyond those borders, they program everything as "Lost Ball" or whatever you'd like to identify it as (OB, water, etc.). Doing what everyone would like would require additional programming to decide whether or not the ball should be given back or not. 

  I mean, there's hardly ever a time in real life that I would play at Bethpage and NOT be able to find my ball, because I like looking for my golf balls. As it stands, that's an unnecessary amount of programming that is required. Everything hit OB will result in a Lost Ball, and I think that's the way it should be, even if your ball is in plain sight. 

• Sanco 1,345 Posts

  Mon, Sep 26 2011 10:01 PM

  TheLighterDark:

  oilyrag:

  there ain't no programming in that

  Don't get me wrong... I completely understand where everyone in this thread is coming from, and it's not the first time I've heard it brought up. 

  But from WGT's side... They have to set the hole's borders at some point. Beyond those borders, they program everything as "Lost Ball" or whatever you'd like to identify it as (OB, water, etc.). Doing what everyone would like would require additional programming to decide whether or not the ball should be given back or not. 

  I mean, there's hardly ever a time in real life that I would play at Bethpage and NOT be able to find my ball, because I like looking for my golf balls. As it stands, that's an unnecessary amount of programming that is required. Everything hit OB will result in a Lost Ball, and I think that's the way it should be, even if your ball is in plain sight. 

  Sure for out of bounds. What about the little shrubs on the side of fairways then?

  I think people ask questions that throw the reality statement WGT makes into discussion. This is because WGT makes those statements of willing to offer a close to real life golf experience.

  You may have a different take TLD and you make a very intelligent argument on your view, and I deeply respect that. However we see it differently and we make an intellectual challenge to that WGT statement - to no avail of course as a comprehensive answer will never be given by WGT.  But, hey, we still like to make sure someone keeps them on their toes for the benefit of everyone in this game. I think it is healthy, when the critique is constructive, to engage them into thinking a little more about us rather than focus solely on the bank balance.

   

• oilyrag 875 Posts

  Tue, Sep 27 2011 1:43 AM

  I only use the unlimited ball

   

  so, in terms of losing balls, i don't care if they set out of bounds as the edge of the fairway,

   

  but they charge for balls, therefore they have a responsibility to program correctly.

   

  in my opinion to split the outer boundaries so that some are "lost" and some are "retrieve" ball, is quite a minimal job, but if it requires a major rewrite then tough, they have a responsibility.

   

  lets all go to work with the same "set everything to oob" mentality...

   

  "sorry mate.... it's too much hassle for me to do it properly, but I'm still going to charge you for it, you don't mind do you........."

   

   

  but as you say..... like all the other threads on here that have been coming up periodically over the few years that wgt has been running.......

• 3puttsSuk 361 Posts

  Tue, Sep 27 2011 5:37 AM

  oilyrag:

  by all means, as "the committee", wgt have the right to declare out of bounds where they choose.

  what they should not be doing is declaring a ball lost that 99.9% of the time is not lost

   

  I agree completely.  But to define each and every OB area as retrievable or not would be a huge task.  Even programming OB as a random possiblity of retrieving a ball...

  ...sounds like a game show or carnival game to me. 

  Now in the rules of golf , you do have 5 minutes to find a ball before it is declared lost...

  Three Card Monte anyone?

  Maybe Andyson can come up with a cool pic ?!?