diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/dlm/dlmmaster.c b/fs/ocfs2/dlm/dlmmaster.c
index 3ec906ef5d9a..e3cfa0227026 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/dlm/dlmmaster.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/dlm/dlmmaster.c
@@ -655,12 +655,9 @@ void dlm_lockres_clear_refmap_bit(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
 	clear_bit(bit, res->refmap);
 }
 
-
-void dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
+static void __dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
 				   struct dlm_lock_resource *res)
 {
-	assert_spin_locked(&res->spinlock);
-
 	res->inflight_locks++;
 
 	mlog(0, "%s: res %.*s, inflight++: now %u, %ps()\n", dlm->name,
@@ -668,6 +665,13 @@ void dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
 	     __builtin_return_address(0));
 }
 
+void dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
+				   struct dlm_lock_resource *res)
+{
+	assert_spin_locked(&res->spinlock);
+	__dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(dlm, res);
+}
+
 void dlm_lockres_drop_inflight_ref(struct dlm_ctxt *dlm,
 				   struct dlm_lock_resource *res)
 {
@@ -894,10 +898,8 @@ lookup:
 	/* finally add the lockres to its hash bucket */
 	__dlm_insert_lockres(dlm, res);
 
-	/* Grab inflight ref to pin the resource */
-	spin_lock(&res->spinlock);
-	dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(dlm, res);
-	spin_unlock(&res->spinlock);
+	/* since this lockres is new it doesn't not require the spinlock */
+	__dlm_lockres_grab_inflight_ref(dlm, res);
 
 	/* get an extra ref on the mle in case this is a BLOCK
 	 * if so, the creator of the BLOCK may try to put the last