Originally Posted by
nmduke2001
Exactly. Why should a player be penalized for a great drive in the middle of the fairway? Never understood it.
I've had this discussion on a golf forum with some rules experts several times over the years, and the main concern they have is that if you allow free relief from a "divot," somebody has to then define precisely what the word means, and exactly what type of fairway irregularity a player is allowed relief from. If you give an inch, they'll take a mile.
What if a divot was repaired a week ago? You can see that it's not exactly the same as the surrounding fairway but offers no real impedance to your shot. Should you get relief?
Unless you believe that a player should be able to move the ball anywhere in a 3-inch radius no closer to the pin from any spot on the fairway, there will be controversies.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust