As a Rule...

I have a friend who would argue with you that the sky isn't blue -- well, perhaps I am the same way, but that's not my point. We usually end up disagreeing on The Rules of Golf more than anything. In the past there have been discussions on such topics as provisional balls, what constitutes a stroke, and the proper place to make a drop from a hazard.

We try our best to follow the rules, amending them as we see fit in order to preserve a decent pace of play. But using a couple of the examples above, I will try to explain what I mean when it comes to our discussions.

• Provisional balls - we both know and adhere to the rule as best we can in terms of having to declare a ball provisional before our shot. However, it's usually obvious to everyone where a provisional ball might be needed, so if a person forgets to declare the provisional beforehand, we usually let it slide. Where we have disagreed however is that he likes to go by the theory that if you find your first ball, and would rather play your provisional instead, you are allowed by the Rules to do that. He doesn't seem to understand that in that case, you're basically playing best ball with yourself. And that's just simply not fair to the other competitors.
• When is a stroke a stroke? - We've never had to deal with this situation, but when his daughter was on the golf team, one of the officials in a tournament said that if a ball is on the teeing ground, and his daughter (or anyone) missed the ball, the stroke didn't count. His reasoning being that the ball wasn't in play until it left the teeing ground. This is not how I have been taught, and I cited a couple of definitions to him a couple of weekends ago -- specifically definition of "ball in play" and of "stroke". He still didn't agree with me.

These are not arguments mind you, but discussions. And for the most part, these little discussions have allowed all of us to learn and be aware of the rules in most of the situations we encounter in a typical round of golf. We are not sticklers by any means, and certainly don't follow the rules to the letter. But we do try to adhere to the rules as best we can, and in the case of any amendment, it is usually only for the purpose of speeding up play and making the round more enjoyable for everyone involved.

So what I would suggest to anyone out there, is to get yourself a copy of The Rules of Golf. Maybe the last thing you want to do is spend your time reading it from cover to cover, but you can use it to open up some lively discussions with your playing partners. You will be surprised how much knowledge you retain when the rules are placed into the context of your Sunday round. Once you truly understand it, I bet you will remember it.

Comments

[Michael]

Nice article Jamie. thos casual things we let slide can sometimes lead to breaking the rules of the game.
Might get my Rules of Golf out. Perhaps put it on the coffee table.