Results of the May Poll Question: What golf rule do you and your buddies violate most?

The May Poll Question brought out a record number of responses, and hopefully a little shameful self-reflection for most of you that responded, Dear Readers. In last month’s question, I posited, “What rule do you and your friends disregard regularly?”  I was interested in what my Readers’ regular golfing buddies let slide from the scorecard…

The Idiot Rule: A Rule of Thumb for The Rules of Golf

During my golf lesson today, my teaching pro bestowed to me the best explanation of how to think about The Rules of Golf. If your brain capacity is spent on something better than memorizing all 34 official Rules, their various subsections, and the voluminous Official Decisions, this little nugget will keep you in compliance with…

Rule 25-1(b)(ii): A ball in a bunker full of water

We’ve all encountered the following situation: playing a round following a torrential downpour, several of the bunkers are partially or completely full of standing water.  Despite all efforts to the contrary, inevitably, we flub, shank, fly, or roll a shot into one of these sandy bowls of Cholera tea. What happens next?  We probably use…

Acceptable frustration outlets on the golf course

A brief discussion with The Wife this evening about a prior Blog post and my StoneCrest Golf Course experience provoked an interesting discussion,  within my own head, about the modern bounds of propriety for expressing anger or disgust on the golf course. Most sensible golfers know what is absolutely out-of-bounds behavior on one end of…

Rule 1-2: Exerting Influence on Movement of Ball or Altering Physical Condition

The first Rule of Golf, aptly named Rule 1, is actually broken down into four distinct sections.  While the first rule, Rule 1-1, is a feel-good, general statement describing the game of golf, Rule 1-2 is the first of many “No Funny Business” rules, and only seems straightforward in its prohibition against exerting influence on…