Relief from a divot in the fairway should be automatic. Why? When the USGA changed the rules on the putting greent to allow a player to fix spike marks and any other damage done to the green, they opened the door for the divot in the fairway to be what I call Temporary ground under repair. Putting sand in the divot or replacing the divot with the piece of turf that was just hit is repairing the divot and is GUR!
Relief should be granted from a divot- if you go out early in the day you have less of a chance of finding yourself in a divot. so to make it the same for everyone take relief from a divot
I think in Professional Tournaments that for every group teeing off, there should be a volunteer following them. This volunteer"s job would be to fill in the divots will fill that they would carry. Since the golfers caddie don"t or won"t carry the fill, then having these volunteers follow every group would make the fairways only, fit for play. As for amateur play, they should get relief and many golfers do not fill in their divots.
Even at the pro level it only seems fair to grant relief since it's a man made hazard which is not consistently repaired by golfers. By the end of the week, they are everywhere. What if it's just sand dumped into the divot and not packed down or not filled at all. Some can be deep. Relief should be standard.
for the sake of equity, those golfers teeing off early do not encounter nearly as many divots on the course as those fortunate enough (based on tournament position) to be starting their round later in the day. we all should play the same course but the course is different as the day goes on due to new divots in the fairway that early players would not encounter. divots are man-made defects; they are not natural elements of the course. other significant man-made defects (eg., construction areas) are often marked as "ground under repair" for which relief is allowed. i favor relief from the divot.
Improve your Lie in the Fairway, my opinion.
A sand filled divot should be considered ground under repair and a free drop.
Having volunteered at many PGA & LPGA tournaments, I see a big problem with the etiquette logic of #3 during pro events. Caddies don't carry a container of sand/seed to fill in the divot holes of their players. They do replace the turf rug that was gouged out as long as there is one big enough, which quite often there is not. The result is at the end of the day common landing areas are covered with much worse than what Westwood faced.
If they can define a hanging chad in the Bush-Gore election, then golf/golfers should have no problem identifying a Divot! If someone hits a ball into the “fairway” they should be able to lift and drop, I’m not for cleaning the ball! No golfers next shot should be hinder because 1) the divot wasn’t replace, 2) the divot wasn’t filled! A perfect shot should not be turned into a bad result! And, if politicians can change laws unconstitutionally to benefit some, then changing golf rules to benefit all should be a no brainer!
The rub of the green.
