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Country: gb Page generated at: Sunday, 24 May 2026 at 5:24:29 British Summer Time
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Features
Ball in a divot? Stop moaning and get on with it!

published: Oct 11, 2022

|

updated: Dec 5, 2024

Ball in a divot? Stop moaning and get on with it!

Steve CarrollLink

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Nothing triggers some of you like not having a perfect lie from the fairway. This might surprise you, but our club golfer is old school when it comes to divots

thomas pieters

Table of Contents

Jump to:

  • Why is there such a fuss about a golf divot?

Oh, the agony. Let us sit together, weep, and console ourselves at our collective misfortune.

Why? Why God? Why did you do this to me? Am I not a good man? Have I not lived a good life? Why did my ball have to land… in that divot in the fairway? It’s so unfair!

Yes, here it is AGAIN. Listen to yourselves bleating away. Children don’t throw tantrums like this.

But, you blub, I hit a perfect shot. It’s on the short stuff. Why should I be punished? Golf is mean. And the rules suck.

Woe is you. Also, here’s the world’s smallest violin arriving to give you a personal performance.

golf divot

Why is there such a fuss about a golf divot?

It’s like my wife says: “What a palaver about something so small.” Sometimes I hit a great shot and – guess what? – the outcome isn’t what I’d hoped. I find my golf ball in a divot, but I don’t stand there stamping my feet and demanding I get a do-over, or to pick the ball out. It’s play the ball as it lies, not play it as I’d like.

But, but, but…

“It’s too hard playing out of one.” It is if you try and launch fairway woods at it. Accept you’ve had a bad break and take your medicine.

But no divot’s going to push you around, is it? Only you’ll hit the ground around three feet behind it and then have a nervous breakdown.

You all act as if you’ve been struck down by the crater that killed the dinosaurs on every other shot. You’ll be hard pushed to find someone who plays more golf than me and I’ve only found two all year. They both came in the same round.

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Get on with it. You can cry foul every time a Rules of Golf review comes around and your precious relief is once again overlooked.

Know this truth: it’s never going to happen. Move on. Maybe you’d prefer us to play off mats all year round instead?

I’m calling a halt. This discussion has been done to death. Let’s never speak of it again. Chance would be a fine thing.

Now have your say

What do you think? Is it time for the governing bodies to cave and hand out free relief for balls in a golf divot on the course, or should we stop the crying and just hit our shot? Let us know on X.

  • NOW READ: Not being allowed to move your ball out of a divot is golf’s stupidest rule
  • NOW READ: My ball has landed on a divot – can I move it?

About the author

Steve Carroll
Steve Carroll

A journalist for more than 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long.

A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A’s prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.

Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men’s Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.

A part of NCG’s Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He’d like to tell you he floats around 10. The reality is more like 13.

Steve plays at Sandburn Hall, in York, and is a country member at Close House in Newcastle. He has served on various club committees during his time in the game, and is the current Rules Secretary at Sandburn.

Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NCTJ exams at Darlington College of Technology. He began his career working on weekly papers in Newcastle, before joining the York Press in 2001. After five years as a news reporter, he joined the sports desk – specialising in horse racing and snooker – and was Digital Sports Editor when he joined National Club Golfer in 2016.

What’s in Steve’s bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; Caley 01T irons 4-PW; TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, Odyssey 2Ball Microhinge putter.

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