BREAKING THE RULES
By Rich IwasZko, Director of Golf, Pocasset Golf Club
Illustrations by Jeff Camish
Misconception! Is this a beauty pageant contestant? A form of birth control? A prime Imus or Clinton defense? Or is it one of the most serious and widespread problems with golfers and the Rules of Golf today? The USGA believes it to be the latter. Webster’s believes it to be a fact of life. “Due to the subjective nature of being human it can be assumed that everyone has some kind of misconception.” What’s yours when it comes to golf?
Is a lost ball a two-stroke penalty? Is a ball out of bounds a two-stroke penalty? Both are misconceptions – usually put forth because the golfer did not want to hit a provisional ball, which is a ball played when you think your ball may be lost or out of bounds. Once the ball is lost or out of bounds, they put forth a thesis for misconception.
“I will just drop one here because I don’t want to hold up play.” I will just take two strokes and drop here.” Once you lose a hole this way you may not fall for it the next time. The best one I heard was a guy convincing the other team that because he was only one player and they were two, he should be able to play his ball that was only slightly out of bounds!
Both of these situations are called stroke and distance penalties. You get a one-stroke penalty and must replay from where you hit the original ball. It may take you three shots to get back to where you lost the first one. That’s real life in golf.
Another misconception is an unplayable lie. An unplayable lie can be anywhere and used anytime when the ball is in play. You, the player, determine if the ball is unplayable and penalize yourself one stroke to move it. Your options become: going back to where you played the last shot from, going two club lengths left or right, no closer to the hole from the unplayable point; or going backwards on a straight line from the unplayable point to the flag, as far back as you desire. This last option comes in handy if you’re in the woods on a dogleg hole and can go back far enough into another fairway. This is actually a double misconception, because once you drop you are stuck with that lie, and it too may be unplayable. Seve Ballesteros experienced this in the British Open one year when he hit his shot into a thicket and had to take two unplayable lies to get a playable lie. You are entitled to the drop – but not automatically entitled to a playable lie!
Another misconception is dropping a ball behind a water hazard. A lot of players think they can drop a ball along the line of flight into the water. You are allowed to drop back, but you must start at the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. Keeping that point between you and the flagstick is the line on which you can drop. Sometimes the line of flight and the drop line are the same, but that’s only if you hit a straight shot. And as we know, this possibility is very rare.
One big misconception is that better golfers know the rules. On the Tour, no player invokes a rule without calling over an official first. At the club level, low handicappers may not be rules aficionados, but their status helps them bluff higher handicappers. I had a lady who was once told she had to play the ball out of casual water by her team captain. The captain had a much lower handicap, so she must have been right. Three swings and wet clothing later, she gave up on the shot. It was just a tough break!
As I have mentioned before, you will learn the rules by breaking them. It is good to know some rules lest the other player, in jest or in misconception, leads you astray to penalty strokes and bad humor. I had a lady tell me before a lesson that she was an absolute beginner. I pondered the term and thought, “No way!” By watching golf on TV or talking to golfers, nobody could be an “absolute” beginner. When I looked at her golf clubs, I was shocked to see all the club handles sticking out of the top of the bag and the heads at the bottom of the bag. I had truly come across an absolute beginner. It is in your best interest to know and continue to learn the Rules of Golf. There is open season on absolute beginners on the rules at a golf course. Do I yell fore or five?
Misconception! Is this a beauty pageant contestant? A form of birth control? A prime Imus or Clinton defense? Or is it one of the most serious and widespread problems with golfers and the Rules of Golf today? The USGA believes it to be the latter. Webster’s believes it to be a fact of life. “Due to the subjective nature of being human it can be assumed that everyone has some kind of misconception.” What’s yours when it comes to golf?
unplayable and penalize yourself one stroke to move it. Your options become: going back to where you played the last shot from, going two club lengths left or right, no closer to the hole from the unplayable point; or going backwards on a straight line from the unplayable point to the flag, as far back as you desire. This last option comes in handy if you’re in the woods on a dogleg hole and can go back far enough into another fairway. This is actually a double misconception, because once you drop you are stuck with that lie, and it too may be unplayable. Seve Ballesteros experienced this in the British Open one year when he hit his shot into a thicket and had to take two unplayable lies to get a playable lie. You are entitled to the drop – but not automatically entitled to a playable lie!
think they can drop a ball along the line of flight into the water. You are allowed to drop back, but you must start at the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. Keeping that point between you and the flagstick is the line on which you can drop. Sometimes the line of flight and the drop line are the same, but that’s only if you hit a straight shot. And as we know, this possibility is very rare.
As I have mentioned before, you will learn the rules by breaking them. It is good to know some rules lest the other player, in jest or in misconception, leads you astray to penalty strokes and bad humor. I had a lady tell me before a lesson that she was an absolute beginner. I pondered the term and thought, “No way!” By watching golf on TV or talking to golfers, nobody could be an “absolute” beginner. When I looked at her golf clubs, I was shocked to see all the club handles sticking out of the top of the bag and the heads at the bottom of the bag. I had truly come across an absolute beginner. It is in your best interest to know and continue to learn the Rules of Golf. There is open season on absolute beginners on the rules at a golf course. Do I yell fore or five?