Here we review, parse, mock, and try to gain a better understanding of the Rules of Golf.
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…
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 1-4 is an inevitable rule. It is the catch-all, the umbrella policy, the caulk for all the situations and nuances that aren’t specifically covered by the labyrinth of Rules and Official Decisions. And it just might be the most sensible Rule in the entire rule book. Simply put, Rule 1-4 requires golfers to use…
Perhaps the most ridiculous of all the ridiculous rules of golf is right there in its very first rule. Rule 1-3 is a very unsophisticated rule that says you have to play by the rules, and if you decide and agree with someone not to play by the rules, that it and of itself is…
One of the most commonly misunderstood, ignored, or unknown rules in golf is the proper order of play, especially on or around the green. Most of the rounds of golf I play are of the “casual” variety, and I prefer to play with other “ready-golf” disciples, so the order of play and pitch perfect etiquette…
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…
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…
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…
In a rare stroke of simplicity, the Rules of Golf begin with an elegant straightforwardness elusive to the rest of the text. Honestly, the Rules begin very mildly with Rule 1, but only build in complexity. Rule 1-1 decrees: “The Game of Golf consists of playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground…