It was only in the early 90’s that I realised that I had begun to admire the Rules of Golf. It seemed to me that these cleverly crafted rules and over 1600 interpretations actually made sense. That I sit on the R&A’s Rules of Golf Committee, the body that writes (rewrites) the Rule and Decisions book, is a vindication of my persistence with the rules.
Mystical rulingsMany golfers have been at the receiving end of either a wrong ruling or harshly penalised by the simple application of the rules, when they would have thought otherwise. As have all referees, I have had my share of the ruling IPS and as David Rickman, Director of Rules at the R&A enjoins, “Don’t worry about it, the very best referees have all had their bad days and the wife and kids will still love you when you get back home.”
However, the golfing public is still mystified by some of the Rulings given or experience, themselves, while playing. The ROGC has a very onerous task in sifting through voluminous submissions from the world over, so as to constantly keep the rules evolving to adapt to the game, fast-paced and widely spread that it has become.
There have been numerous rulings that have left the public gasping and the players gaping.
At the 2006 WGC Bridgestone, Tiger Woods playing the 9th on day 2, hammered a 9 iron over the green and the ball landed on a cart path and onto the roof of the clubhouse. Tiger assumed he was out of bounds but 30 minutes later PGA officials ruled that he was eligible for a free drop because it was deemed lost in a grandstand He ended up with a bogey 5 and won the event two days later.
Padraig Harrington was disqualified at the 2011 HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship for failure to replace his ball after a minuscule movement, noticed by an armchair vigilante. This decision created a storm and in March 2011, the ROGC met to discuss the fall out. The result was the immediate modification of Decision 33-7/4.5 which in essence, now does not disqualify a player if the ball moves its position that was not reasonably discernable to the naked eye even if subsequent sophisticated, television replays showed otherwise.
Duty boundGolf is by and large a self-policed game. There have been many instances of players calling penalties on themselves. At the 2003 Australian Open, I was assigned to the defending champion Steven Allen. On the par 3, 11, he hit the green in regulation and while making his second putt, he stopped, marked and replaced his ball. He holed out and I heard him tell his marker to put him down for a 4. Apparently his ball moved after he addressed it, an act I still swear, neither the several hundred spectators nor I saw.
Sterner stuffAs a practitioner of the rules, I have called such penalties on myself many times. This is the critical point for any golfer. I do not see such self-policing in any other sport. There are very few cricketers who will walk if they have nicked the ball and given not out. The indignant innocence on a footballer's face when he is pulled up for holding a shirt or committing a sneaky foul is hilarious.
There is no difference between Tiger Woods and our club’s wooden spoon champion. It is the same set of rules that bring them together but the annoying proficiency of Tiger that sets them apart.
The great Raymond Floyd said, “ You are the only one who knows. Rules do not hurt players. They are there to help you and keep the playing field even. Out of respect for the game, you should play by them.”
Play a game of golf to find out who’s made of sterner stuff, the rules or you.
