If you are playing in an Ambrose and your drive is taken do you have to play the ball as it lies and play first or do you get to mark the ball and get to play it within a club-length with the rest of your team (asuming the rules for the day allow you to place the ball within a club-length of the shot you are taking)?

Assuming all players get to play every shot (ie not a Holden Scramble)

Mark it, and play in turn. Unless you are playing rules where it’s in the rough and you have to drop it, and it is already a good lie, so you’re better off leaving it!

Ambrose is a game unknown to the rules of golf.

It all depends on the conditions of comp laid down by the comittee running that competition.

IMO the normal course of events is that the chosen ball is played as it lies. But again that can be changed by what guidance the committee gives before the comp starts. Short of that have a look around and see what everyone else is doing ;).

You can’t play it as it lies, for there to be equality you must mark the ball, pick it up and clean it just like the other guys …. golf is at least a game of equity, if nothing else….

Dear cliff, please read my post again, it is all dependant on what the conditions say, if they were to say that the chosen ball was to be played as it lies then there is your equality across the field.

Sometimes the player who hit the ball to its position DOES not get to play a shot with that ball …....So the question might be mute depending on the rules set for the game

Sometimes the player who hit the ball to its position DOES not get to play a shot with that ball …….So the question might be mute depending on the rules set for the game

Since this can be something of a forum for pedants I will offer the following:Cut and pasted from Merriam-Websters
MOOT (rather than mute of course)
Function:
adjective
Date:
circa 1587
1 a: open to question : debatable b: subjected to discussion : disputed
2: deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic
Normally wouldn’t bother but thought that it may help you in the future.
I’d say that it depends on the lie and the player who hit the shot btw.
If it was your worst player and the existing lie is great than play it as it lies, otherwise mark,lift, clean and place if not specifically prohibited.

Its Ambrose we are talking about, you need to know two things

the biggest burglars win, particularly corporate days
as long as you down a minimum 8 cans you have played to the rules.

I agree with belligerant and have generally played the chosen shot as lies, but when I have looked around nobody else is doing it. Make it a free for all and then everyone is on a level playing field

Dear cliff, please read my post again, it is all dependant on what the conditions say, if they were to say that the chosen ball was to be played as it lies then there is your equality across the field.

hmm yep I understand that, I’m talking about equity in the group… why should the player that hit their ball to the spot not have the same opportunity as the rest of the group to lift and clean? Macro, rather than overview…. this IMHO is a part of the fun of a fun game like Ambrose…. and absolutely essential.

In my experience if the rules of the comp are for the other players to drop their ball then the original ball is played as it lies.
If the other players are to place their ball then the original player is also afforded the same privilege.

As others have said, the rules vary from club to club and comp. to comp.

Who really cares – it’s an Ambrose for heaven’s sake. One enters them knowing that the best cheats or handicap manipulators (same thing) are usually the best placed to win. Do what most participants in Ambrose events do – interpret the “rules” so that the group will gain the biggest advantage. It’s hard enough to get golfers interested in the R & A Rules of Golf without arguing over the “rules” of a novelty game that is not recognised by any association.

(After re-reading this I think that my cynicism is increasing exponentially with my age).

Hmm see your point….

I’m yet to win an Ambrose, and I KNOW it’s because most of the guys that win these cheat, so I REALLY want to win one, NOT cheating, just so I can say I did it… sort of like swimming the English Channel, not many people have done it and they feel like they have accomplished something…

I’ve won a few in my time (honest wins)...in fact, I may not have rubbed this in enough but Kiwi and I won the first ISG golf day at Trentham :)

Geez!! I hadn,t heard about that before>:-))

I’ve won a few in my time (honest wins)...in fact, I may not have rubbed this in enough but Kiwi and I won the first ISG golf day at Trentham :)

A bad day at golf is better than a good day at work.

Jordo
If my hazy memory is correct,
we dropped ball within a club length and played T shot where it lay.
We didn’t cheat, in fact we did have a some what heated discussion how when we needed to drop when we couldn’t.
As our ball had to be played as it lay. Against a red gum of some proportion.
We also won because the hot shot’s didn’t read the comp rules board and were DQ’d. So let that be a lesson too.
WE are going back to Trentham this sat.
Gotta spend those prize winning vouchers.

The Scramble generally known as Ambrose in Australia after John Ambrose, an American who added the minimum tee shot qualification, is not suitable for general competition.
OK for Corporate days to give the first-timers a feel for hitting the ball and seeing how it can be done but generally it is a blight on the Game of Golf.
The Handicap System does not work!!
Then there is all the Rules crap.
Think about this… 4 guys hit their tee shots. They choose one as the one for their next shots, placing or dropping or whatever..they go forward to the next place and find the ball selected just before was a wrong ball.
What next ??? one bloke has a played a wrong ball or maybe if he lifted it he has substituted a ball at a wrong place. The ohers have played from a wrong place and maybe the breach is not serious.. blah blah blah.. and I bet the cheats who play this bastardized form of golf would never admit the mistake anyway..
You can bet that the Committe has to make the Rules up on the run.
I could live with a few games a year with a reasonably fair handicapping system. In the meantime leave me alone and don’t schedule any Scrambles on my regular Comp days., thankyou.t

Hear, hear!

My industry has a lot of corporate days – which are all effing ambrose. And clients invite me because they know I like golf – and I can’t say (because they’re clients) “That’s not golf”

Once a year I take 3 who are golfers to a decent course and we have a NABA day – “Not a bloody ambrose!”

Rant ends.

Ditto from me to. They are not true golf competitions to my mind>

I’ve won a few in my time (honest wins)...in fact, I may not have rubbed this in enough but Kiwi and I won the first ISG golf day at Trentham :)

A bad day at golf is better than a good day at work.

Jordo
If my hazy memory is correct,
we dropped ball within a club length and played T shot where it lay.
We didn’t cheat, in fact we did have a some what heated discussion how when we needed to drop when we couldn’t.
As our ball had to be played as it lay. Against a red gum of some proportion.
We also won because the hot shot’s didn’t read the comp rules board and were DQ’d. So let that be a lesson too.
WE are going back to Trentham this sat.
Gotta spend those prize winning vouchers.

“Will the real slim shady, please stand up”?

Yeah, I knew we were right, but in the end it didn’t matter.

Play well mate…hope it is not too cold for you :)...hope the claw grip does you well

Liv4
Mate it’s going to be 30 deg. Bloody terrific.
Starting on back 9 where you drove the green while the team in front were still putting out (before the dam)
The claw, well i will have to bite the bullet and decide which grip to use,
Bit like having 5 wedges really….
Am playing with a good mate who is off 13 so will be fun.
Thanks for the good wishes.
M

my idea of amby is you all hit off…..pick the best shot….mark it(pick it up).....all drop or place within whatever as the rules of the day state. some say place everywhere, some say drop everywhere, some say place on fairway, drop in rough….then you all play from that spot again…..then pick the next best shot…..mark it (pick it up) & around & around you go.

really the committee should supply & clearly state the rules of the day & that is that..if anyone does different to that then tell em they are cheating.

Liv4
Mate it’s going to be 30 deg. Bloody terrific.
Starting on back 9 where you drove the green while the team in front were still putting out (before the dam)
The claw, well i will have to bite the bullet and decide which grip to use,
Bit like having 5 wedges really….
Am playing with a good mate who is off 13 so will be fun.
Thanks for the good wishes.
M

“Will the real slim shady, please stand up”?

Muzza….

...which grip won?

So many of the Ambroses I have played in are corporate or charity days and one golfer is surrounded by “yeah I’ve hit a few balls” and “which end is up” type of folks out for a good day. So not a place to get really worked up about the rules – if the selected ball does not give you the options you want, take another ball.

This generally means a golfer plays 3rd or 4th in the group – which is a great opportunity to try things you might not normally – because (usually) there is no penalty for xxxing it up.

Usually (usually) these days are during the week, so I get to feel like I am “wagging it” and because the invites usually only get to my desk 3 or 4 times a year, they are a novelty and a pleasure to play in.

Not realy golf? Sure, the format is a corruption, but the swinging-and-the-walking-and-the-talking-and-the-beering is pretty close to golf.

And someone has a tag on their profile about “too much golf is not enough” and “a bad day at golf is better than…”

Not too often – suits me, but enjoy it when I can.

And yes, if one gets to lift/place, then all get to lift place – and yes, the rest of the team can stand behind the putter-person to watch the roll of the ball.

Cheers.

Liv4
Mate it’s going to be 30 deg. Bloody terrific.
Starting on back 9 where you drove the green while the team in front were still putting out (before the dam)
The claw, well i will have to bite the bullet and decide which grip to use,
Bit like having 5 wedges really….
Am playing with a good mate who is off 13 so will be fun.
Thanks for the good wishes.
M

“Will the real slim shady, please stand up”?

Muzza….

...which grip won?

A bad day at golf is better than a good day at work.

Liv4golf
I am to scared to change,
i know, i know,
Cream puff springs to mind
Got 4th tho.
Missed out by 2 and a couple of thirds on the comp.
Kiwi