cheesethin
Birdie Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
- Messages
- 475
i am not arguing that the rules as written allow for it. i am arguing that the rules would make more sense if equipment that is sitting in a perfectly reasonable spot is treated as part of the course rather than randomly penalizing a player unlucky enough to have a disc roll back and strike it.
Ok. But I disagree that equipment behind your lie is, by default, 'perfectly reasonable' in all situations. What makes it so reasonable? Especially on uphill putts? Why is it not reasonable to expect someone to just stick their bag off to one side, and not downhill of the basket? On flat fairway shots - sure, but downhill on a steep slope with a tricky putt - nah.
Saying roll-aways are random ignores the fact that NOT all shots or holes are EQUALLY likely to produce roll-aways. And that it is easy to identify the high risk shots/holes, and it is easy to mitigate the risk.
The possibility of the rare fluke shot that somehow happens to unexpectedly and 'unfairly' hit your own bag, isn't enough justification to treat the player's kit as part of the course. Doing that allows all sorts of gamesmanship to creep in.