Rules of Golf - Silly or Valid?

[Gary Hill]

Some course do use a local rule to help when leaves cover certain holes ,calling it abnormal ground conditions 25-1c

They cannot.

[Kiwi battler]

Well u tell them .......lol

This is the whole point of this thread tho , pointing out how draconian some rules are ..

Surely one can state on a local rule board that "areas to the right of #10 fairway are deemed to be abnormal ground conditions -where evidence shows its believed a ball is lost in leaves take relief in accordance with rule 25-1c"

or ground under repair , or maybe under 1-4

bring in some commonsense i say

[Kilroy]

I suppose this is a local rule they impose in order to make up for a lack of maintenance. Not uncommon, but it brings us back to the problem being with the maintenance and marking of courses and not the rules of golf.

[AAA]

What was wrong with the stymie? Do you ever play matchplay with it?

[jvincent]

What was wrong with the stymie? Do you ever play matchplay with it?

I'm not that old.

I was just using it as an example of how things change. I'm sure when they took the stymie away there were a bunch of people who argued about "tradition" and "ruining the game".

[Tanglegrip]

There is a 2 day rules seminar coming up later this year here in Ottawa. I guess that I won't see too many from here, there.

BC Mist, would you or Gary be able to post the info on the rules seminar if you have it available. More knowledge is often a good thing.

[BC MIST]

Why should a stupid math mistake or simple oversight have the potential to affect the result. Roberto diVicenzo's lost Masters (or at least playoff) is a blight on the game, even if a source of one of the greatest quotes ever.

Roberto told the committee that he scored "x" when he actually scored "x+1." For that error he was duly and appropriately punished. The blight was his stupidity. He was a professional. Check the damn card. Lesson learned.

Many here play in tournaments and one of our responsibilities is to ensure that the hole by hole score submitted is correct. Otherwise, would it be fair to assume that some golfers would actually put down a score less than what they have achieved, in order to win? I have seen it done and more than once.

[spackler]

Roberto told the committee that he scored "x" when he actually scored "x+1." For that error he was duly and appropriately punished. The blight was his stupidity. He was a professional. Check the damn card. Lesson learned.

Many here play in tournaments and one of our responsibilities is to ensure that the hole by hole score submitted is correct. Otherwise, would it be fair to assume that some golfers would actually put down a score less than what they have achieved, in order to win? I have seen it done and more than once.

Divincenzo scored "x-1" but his FC marked down "x". When Divincenzo got the scorecard back, he missed his FC's mistake and signed for a score that was one greater than what he actually recorded. Everybody knew what his score actually was and the scorer only noticed the mistake after card had been signed. At that level, it should not be their responsibility. Their responsibility should be to play golf, not keep their own score. And in this case especially, it should have been correctable.

In small local tourney's where you don't have the required volunteer brigade, that's fine to keep as is, but professional tourneys should have a higher standard.

[Ian]

um Ian ......you best go reread the provisional ball rule

Son of a Bit**! You mean that I've been playing that rule wrong all these years? Live and learn! Thanks for setting me straight, guys.

[1dash1]

OK, instead of hijacking the other thred, I will start this one.

I do believe that rules are necessary to make the game of golf fair during competition but in my opinion, some fo the rules of golf are archiac, outdated and just simply put, stupid!

Is it time for the R&A/USGA/RCGA to update them? Which rule is your pet peeve?

My vote would be to abolish stroke play. We could eliminate half the rulebook!

[BC MIST]

Divincenzo scored "x-1" but his FC marked down "x". When Divincenzo got the scorecard back, he missed his FC's mistake and signed for a score that was one greater than what he actually recorded. Everybody knew what his score actually was and the scorer only noticed the mistake after card had been signed. At that level, it should not be their responsibility. Their responsibility should be to play golf, not keep their own score. And in this case especially, it should have been correctable.

In small local tourney's where you don't have the required volunteer brigade, that's fine to keep as is, but professional tourneys should have a higher standard.

Your algebra is correct. He signed for a 4 on #17 when he actually had a 3.

The ironical thing about your post is that you want amateurs, like you and me, to have to play to a higher standard than the best golfers in the world, and you yet say that they have a higher standard? If we make a mistake, we get punished, but if they make a mistake, you want it to be OK? While this mentality exists in the sporting world, Barry Bonds, Marty McSorely, Todd Bertuzzi, Roberto and the like, it is one of the reasons why sports is increasingly breeding characterless people instead of building character, as we are led to believe. While Roberto's mistake was dissimilar to the others, he did not play by the same rules that you and I play by, regarding attesting the score, and got dinged. I watched it, felt very badly for him, but, what an example his mistake was to everyone else! I would wager that fewer scorecards are attested incorrectly by golfers because of Roberto's mistake, than if he had not made it.

I don't know what level of tournaments you play in, but whether one or 1 million people see what I scored, it is MY responsibility to sign for what I scored, not someone else's.