The Golf Slice

A friend of mine has the terrible habit of making huge divots when he’s taking practice swings. It irritates everyone so I thought I’d write today about proper divot etiquette on a golf course.

The common rule is to fix all of your divots after each shot. This is really as simple as taking the chunk of dirt you dug up with your club and putting it back where it came from. If you step down firmly enough the grass will eventually take root again in a few days. It’s also important to fix any divots or holes your approach shots make on the putting surface before you finish out the hole.

The reason for this courtesy is to prevent golfers playing on the hole later from having to deal with unplayable lies or difficult putting situations. If you maim the course with your club you should have the decency to fix the damage to make future golfers’ have an enjoyable game after you leave the course.

As for my friend, he eventually learned to take practice swings without trying to murder the grass and all was forgiven.

By definition an artificial obstruction is anything on the golf course that is man-made in the way of your golf ball. This can be broken down nicely into two categories: movable obstructions and immovable obstructions.

A movable obstruction is a something small that you can, surprise, move out of the way. Things like empty “soda” cans, lawn rakes and trash would fall under this category. You’re allowed to move these types of obstructions out of the way or, if they’re making physical contact with your ball, you can mark where your golf ball is at before removing the object.

An immovable obstruction is then, obviously, something you can’t move out of the way of your golf ball. These types of objects are typically permanent features of the golf course like sprinklers, utility sheds or even stand for spectators. If your golf ball stops on, in or under an obstruction like this you are allowed to seek relief by moving it back into play without penalty.

So last week I was randomly selected by my boss to be a part of a golf outing in June with one of our clients. This wasn’t a big deal until I was told, more or less, that I shouldn’t take things seriously when I get out there because it was for fun and to schmooze with our client.

Apparently, my reputation as being a hardcore golfer has gotten out at work.

Now my problem is that I was essentially told not to try hard (ie, make everyone else look good and be comfortable). I’m by no means a really good golfer but I can hold my own so I was slightly miffed by this at the time.

Since my invitation/warning I’ve reconsidered things and now I see what my boss’ point was. I’m not a regular golf event attending kind of guy so maybe it’s common practice or maybe I just work for a weird dude.