Portrush, Northern Ireland – the phrase “does not have something like a free lunch” originated in the early 20th century, when it was relatively common for American salons to provide a “free lunch” – but only if customers initially bought a drink. The phrase has received a lot of inter-janine use in the century since, from science to sport to the current economy, but the implication dates back to the original material: everything “free” comes at a cost.
Which brings us to this week’s open championship.
And the worst falling areas you’ve ever seen.
Open seems to be still calling her worst group of falling areas. Ohh you want a free fall from the ancestor? Surely man. Discard a down to the bush there Pic.twitter.com/nrak8rrs0x
– Dylan dethier (@dylan_Dethier) July 16, 2025
Ubiquity of “Drops Free” weeks and weeks in the best professional golf circles lists a certain segment of fans. Their irritation comes from a sense that players are often ea recipients true FREE-many lunches easily exempt from the rules for their different poor game after a ball in a bleach, after a leader, or in a concession stand gets a friendly decline in a well-mranked area. The daily recreation players do not take these holidays, after all; We often do not play courses with whitening. Why should the good, who like to see the border driven, take mercy when they hit it off the line?
Even worse, some strategic losers benefit from these gaps, aiming at the backward tables, knowing their benefit and promoting magnificent debates. The worst of all, high profile relief areas are often located in the 18th hole, where the highest drama coincides with the highest concentration of ancestors and buildings.
A ancestor after the 18th hole in Carlton Woods caused some controversy At this year’s Chevron Championship. A DP world tour fostered some dramas when it seemed to see Play with intention for a whitening In this year’s hero Dubai Desert Classic. Pros in the PGA 2021 championship seemed to be aiming to bleach In Kiawah Island, challenging the 18th holes. This is not a new problem. But it is a difficult problem to solve.
Large stadium-style stadium seats in the 18th holes are wonderful, after all; They exalt events and add drama to their conclusion. Eliminating relief is also difficult – what should you do? Make ancestors out of bounds? Have the players played the ball while lies everywhere, happy in Gilmore style?
All of this makes the opening of the open championship the best I have ever seen.
Your mental image of a falling area can be in a box with tee, a good road or in a narrow area. But for some years now Open has had particularly challenging areas of falling, and this week at Royal Portrush can boast tougher. Across the open table, the falling areas are a dooz: in a long time and on Ferns, aiming to simulate something closer to a true lie in the circles of pristine and not pristine salvation.
They are more visible to come to No. 18, where the massive wall of ancestors in one hundred or more yards. The falling areas here are not just gnarly, they are terrible: placed in the grass so thick that it would not be unreasonable to lose a ball WITHIN they of course, you will get relief if you end up in places – but you will not feel like EASE.
I asked the officials in R&A (the governing body running open) for their area philosophy. Here’s what they wrote again in a statement:
“Falling areas offer an additional opportunity for free relief for standard free relief under local rule for temporary immovable barriers (TIO).
“We do not want to hit the ball towards a big nephew to be a conditional option and therefore, when possible, we ensure that the falling areas are not too generous.“
“It is worth noting that taking relief in the fall area is not mandatory. The player will always have an alternative option according to the local Tio rule.“
Brilliantly brilliant. Straight, creative, soft. We do not want to hit the ball towards a great -grandfather to be a conditional option. Well done.
And ensures that when you get a free drop, you still have to pay.
Dylan dethier welcomes your comments to Dylan_dethier@golf.com.
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Dylan dethier
Golfit.com editor
Dylan Dothier is an elderly writer for Golf Magazine/Golf.com. Native Williamstown, Mass. Dothier is a graduate of Williams College, where he graduated in English, and he is the author of 18 in Americawhich details last year as an 18-year-old living out of his car and playing a round of golf in every state.