What would you do chip or putt?

Hi Guys,

I had a real problem on the weekend playing in my first comp for 2007. Here is the scenario:-

Its my second shot I am about 175 yrds from the front of real green so the temp green is about 170 but there is a bunker in front of it. I know that my 7 iron is hitting around 148 to 155 so decide to hit a 5 iron. I catch it beautifully and it feels a great shot going straight. It hits the back of the temp green and lands it self 3/4 of the way on the real green and now I am 25 yrds from the pin on the temp green.

Here is my problem after being congratulated on a fine shot one of the players who I am playing with then states I am in a pickle. As I should not use my lob wedge on the green as taking a divot on the greens in winter would destroy the area around where I chipped. So the only option I had was to putt.

What would any of you lot have done in this postion chip or putt?

Cheers
Mark

I would putt unless there was a lot of money on the game!

Yep. Unless I absolutely needed to chip it to win, I would putt it and save the green.

I'd have claimed that the real green was ground under repair and taken a drop and then chipped - after all if it wasn't why use temp greens?

Putting would do the least amount of damage to the green, and probably what I would do. Then again, if you can chip/pitch, with out taking a divot, then your LW would work with a some what of a thin hit. Now if the real green is not roped off, or otherwise marked "not" to be played on, then hit what ever shot you think will do the job. Even a divot on the real, green is an easy fix for a qualified greens keeper. They would just use that tool they use to dig, and replace a cup hole, and replace the divot with a hole, or a plug. I see repairs on greens like this all the time. GJS

Yup, I'm with bdbl here. Whenever there has been a temporary green in play, in my experience, it means that for whatever reason, the original green has been deemed unplayable by the powers that be at the club concerned and more than likely there will be a local rule in play stating the green in question is actually GUR.

Take your free drop as allowed under the rules and pitch/chip/bump & run as required...

Cheers

PS: Shows the importance of checking the local rule board each day before you tee it up...

Ha - reminds me of a round a few years ago.

My best golfing buddy and I had just been laid off and, since it was a glorious summer, combined job hunting with a little "2-4-1" trawling of Surrey / Hampshire golf clubs.

Second shot to the 2nd (I think), purest, cleanest, sweetest 6I this boy has ever hit, hits a telegraph pole and lands 100 yds behind me.

Completely lose it, and walk to the next tee with at least an 8, maybe more.

As we go for a beer later I check the local rules: "Power Lines across fairway..." yes I could have just replayed..

What d'ya reckon, how often do I go out now without checking?

btw for those in the area looking for somewhere different, as 241ers we were treated by the pro, the members, the bar staff et al as if we were life members - really nice change from those places that treat the casual golfer purely as revenue: Cranleigh I think it was, I'll check with my mate if anyone wants a recommendation.

__________________
I firmly believe that we should try to experience all that life affords, except, perhaps, bestiality and of course Morris Dancing.

20-20 hindsight and all of that, hey...

My old club had power lines extending across its 8th hole, a 499m Par 5. This is still my favourite golf hole that I've played (but that's another post). The lines were slung across the hole as it ran along one of the boundary fences and must have been the shortest path to get power to the clubrooms. Someone must have made that call at some point I guess.

Anyways, the lines crossed the fairway at about 50m or so from the tee and where only about 30ft or so off the ground at their lowest point. So, they were clearly IN PLAY each and every tee shot.

I've actually lost count of how many balls I have seen strike the lines. There was a local rule on the board about them and my story is not too dissimilar to yours about how I learned of it. But, it got to the point that the club had to actually put a sign on the tee box "All balls striking overhead wires MUST be replayed"

Which reminds me, I must call a couple of my mates from the old course now that I'm playing again. Should go over there for a round...
Cheers

__________________
Look at the Target, Look at the Ball, Swing... Dr Bob Rotella...

Cheers for the info guys,

I do think that I was led up the river with out a paddle by my fellow competitors as they didn't mention about treating it as GUR and allowing me to a free drop. Well that comps for you wouldn't even give their grannies a free drop.

Glad I did choose to putt as that was the feeling from most of you but also good to know what golf junkie said as they would be able to put a hole where the divot was if I taken it. Just think a hole in one chance could of been on the cards on my next round if they moved the pin lol.

Cheers
Mark

Your real pickle was that you were on a 'Wrong Putting Green' from wchich you must take compulsory relief. O/w two stroke penalty. You should not have played from the 'real' green to the hole on the temporary green.

A “wrong putting green” is any putting green other than that of the hole being played. Unless otherwise prescribed by the Committee, this term includes a practice putting green or pitching green on the course.

25-3 Wrong Putting Green

a. Interference
Interference by a wrong putting green occurs when a ball is on the wrong putting green.
Interference to a player's stance or the area of his intended swing is not, of itself, interference under this Rule.
b. Relief
If a player's ball lies on a wrong putting green he must not play the ball as it lies. He must take relief, without penalty, as follows:
The player must lift the ball and drop it within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief.The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When dropping the ball within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the wrong putting green and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green. The ball may be cleaned when lifted under this Rule.
Penalty for Breach of Rule:
Match play — Loss of hole; Stroke play — Two strokes.

I thought of that before I suggested GuR or varieties thereof, but, ofcourse its not actually a putting green at all is it under the circumstances? Let alone the wrong one.

Unless the definitions / decisions say something else.

From 25 yards out i would have putted (with my 3 wood) or chipped with an 8 iron. Unless the temp green is elevated why use your lob wedge

If the grass has been cut short and there is a hole in the middle it sounds like a putting green to me.

Putting Green
The “putting green’’ is all ground of the hole being played that is specially prepared for putting or otherwise defined as such by the Committee. A ball is on the putting green when any part of it touches the putting green.

and a 'wrong green' is any putting green that is not the putting green.

Let's see ... Mark is in Chester, UK, which likely means poor weather this time of year.

In Denmark - where I'm at - we play to these "temp" greens all winter, basically 4-5 months or so a year.

When we do so, we have local rules in place to handle any situation that might be caused by the temp greens. Under no circumstances is the "real" green a "wrong" green. The fact that it is cut shorter than the fairway does not make it a green in terms of the rules, and unless the greenkeeper is quite lazy, the "real" green has no hole in it at this time either.

The "real" green is "through the green" just as any other part of the hole, unless local rules or colored markers say different.

If they don't, it is "through the green" and I would - in theory - use whatever club I needed to make the shot, even if it means a divot.

That said, I would probably respect the greenkeeper enough to either putt from that lie or "declare the ball unplayable" and proceed according to the rules, remembering to check local rules before signing my scorecard.

__________________
//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

A very sensible approach I reckon.

However

I agree that the length of the grass of itself is not mentioned in the definition but together with a hole, it would suggest that the area is 'specially prepared for putting'.

But your LR takes care of it perfectly.

As an aside, because most of our members don't understand the relief procedure for a wrong green, we simply have a LR which says that all greens which are not in play (ie do not have a flag) are GUR where relief is compulsory.