as disregarding the difference between red and yellow stakes and taking the more favourable drop from water hazards as if they’re all lateral (red). 9 Stroke and distance on out-of-bounds It’s legal now if the local rule is observed, but we’ve been doing it for years, only you’re hitting your fourth stroke. My pals look at OB as a water hazard, drop and hit 3. It saves going back to the tee and slowing play. 10 Teeing off in front of the markers You mean that’s against the rules? My second-favourite rules official was Frank Hannigan, the executive director of the USGA, 1983-’88. When Denis Watson was hit with two pen- alty strokes for waiting more than 10 seconds for his ball teetering on the edge of the hole to fall, the ruling cost him the 1985 US Open (he lost by one stroke). I asked Hannigan what he would have done under the circum- stances. He said, “I’d have made sure I was standing where I couldn’t see what was happening.” My all-time favourite was Bobby Jones’ father, known as The Colonel, who sometimes pinch hit as a tour- nament official at the Masters in the early days. According to our Augusta National scholar David Owen, The Colonel was called upon for a ruling after torrential rain. The player request- ed relief from casual water on the 12th hole near the creek. “Where do you stand in relation to par?” The Colonel famously asked. “Eighteen over,” the player responded. “Then what in the goddam hell difference does it make?” The Colonel said. “Tee the thing up on a peg for all I give a hoot!” As Owen and other historians have pointed out, the word “hoot” may not be journalistically accurate, but the story sums up a reasonable approach to the rules.
1 The three-minute lost ball Three minutes is allowed by the rules, but my opponents search for 10 min- utes and then really start looking. My third-favourite rules official David Fay says, “I’m a one-minute guy. If I can’t Especially in autumn golf, if you lose your ball in the leaves, no penalty, just drop one where you think it should be. You can tie but can’t win the hole. Named after the esteemed Dave An- derson, the late New York Times sports columnist who had a great waggle. 3 The Mulligan find it in one minute, screw it.” 2 The Anderson Leaf Rule Invented on the first tee at Winged Foot, a member named Mulligan always required a second drive to find the fairway, and it spread as common practice everywhere. 4 The Gimme Legal in match play but widely applied in stroke-play club tournaments. What starts as “no gimmes” on the first few holes becomes “inside the leather” by the turn and three- and four-footers when you’ve shot yourself out of it. A guy I know as Pelé goes immediately to Stage 3. 5 Failing to post It’s not a rule of golf, but if you have a handicap, you’re expected to post every score to maintain an accurate handi- cap. Vanity players post only their low scores, sandbaggers only the high ones. 6 Carrying more than 14 clubs My buddies laughed when Wesley Bry- an got penalised four strokes for acci- dentally having two 7-irons in his bag at a PGA Tour Monday qualifier. I’ve seen guys with more than 14 headcovers. 7 The Consultant What’d ya hit? Some guys take a survey before making a club selection on par 3s. 8 In the interest of public safety Moving your ball from a tree root – or even a tree trunk – without penalty might be a sensible rule. Same with cleaning mud off your ball in the fair- way. If you remove a loose impedi- ment, and the ball moves, disregard the penalty. Dropping incorrectly on the golf-hole side of a paved cartpath instead of the actual “nearest point of relief” is acceptable. So is taking relief from movable objects like irrigation boxes as “mental interference,” as well
competitive golf and championship golf. The first is like walking a crack in the sidewalk. The second is like walk- ing a tightrope six feet above the floor. “Championship golf is a high wire, and they take away the net,” he said. Most golfers I know walk on solid ground and have only a nodding acquaintance with the rules. What do I mean? My top 10 rules we choose to ignore in everyday golf but wouldn’t if we were playing in some- thing important like the Open or even a club championship, which thankfully most of us never do, include:
Jerry Tarde once played nine holes with 8 X’s and a 1 on his card at Glyfada Golf Club in Greece.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 21
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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