Know the rules of the gentleman’s game

By The Albatross

"Play the ball as it lies.

Play the course as you find it. And if you can’t do either,

do what is fair.

But to do what is fair,

Rules of Golf."

These are the golden words at the back of your ‘R and A Rules of Golf and the Rules of Amateur Status 2008-2011’ booklet, which lays down the 34 rules that govern the gentleman’s game. It is imperative that the import of these words sinks in the minds of all who play or aspire to play the wonderful game of golf.

Any orderly society must have rules that govern its operations. In the most rudimentally but perhaps the most fundamental, it has been documented that the rules governing ‘the herd’ of buffaloes or ‘the flock’ of geese are wired into the ‘hard disk’ of each member in the grouping. Deviations from the rules are not tolerated. The herd of buffaloes shall have one bull as the leader at a time. No sub-chief! But that does not mean that male buffalo calves are culled. No! They are born and they are reared; but as soon as they start to mature they must leave the herd. They are chased from the herd. And they are your rogue buffalo whose fury, most people who have interacted with wild game are, chillingly thoroughly aware of. The act of segregating the young bulls achieves two objectives: eliminates any challenges to the bull of the herd and prevents in-breeding.

We, as human beings, are a little more privileged than the buffalo in that we can reduce our rules to writing. It is arguable whether that is advantageous or a measure of the deterioration in the in-born intuition. But we shall leave that to anthropologists.

Suffice it to say that the rules of golf are reduced to writing and every golfer and each aspiring golfer has, not only a duty, but also an obligation and a responsibility, to read, comprehend and apply the rules of golf faithfully and with religious tenacity.

Golfers are admired by non-golfers for the orderly manner in which they conduct their affairs and that is why more and more people are seeking to be associated with that orderly section of society. Those inside will do well to uphold the values that set the group apart and make the outsiders even more attracted to the disciplined behaviour that informs golfers.

The custodian of the rules of golf, in each club is the golf captain and he is assisted in that arduous task by the Match and Handicap Committee. It is imperative, therefore, that in selecting the members of that committee the captain is guided by a few important principles, at the top of which must be perpetuation of the game of golf as a disciplined sport. There must be a mixture of old and knowledgeable golfers and young and upcoming dedicated youths, to assure perpetual succession. The young will draw from the old and the principles on which the game is based will be passed on from generation to generation.

Golf is an outdoor game and the players are precluded from taking assistance while making a stroke. Rule 14 clearly gives directions in this regard. Under Rule 14-2 assistance is clearly dealt with. The rule states: "In making a stroke, a player must not: a) Accept physical assistance or protection from the elements; or b) Allow his caddie, his partner or his partner’s caddie to position himself on or close to an extension of the line of play or the line of putt behind the ball".

It is important to pay special attention to this rule. Many golfers fall foul of the second part of this rule, especially in Match play: in their enthusiasm to indicate the line of putt, caddies remain transfixed behind the players while the putt is executed. The penalty for breach of both sections one and two of Rule 14 is loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. So please be warned. It is the responsibility of the player to ensure that his caddie abides by the rules of engagement. And in any case the penalty is on the player, or his side in the case of match play. Whilst we are at it, let’s have a look at the first section of the rule. Rule 14-1 states that "the ball must be fairly struck at with the head of the club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned. " It is well therefore to remember that when your ball almost overhangs the hole and you are tempted to just push it into hole, you might be in breach of this rule. The surest way to avoid running foul of the rule is to take your stance and play that shot; remembering all the time that the consequences of missing that stroke or playing an ‘air shot’ whilst you are on the other side of the hole, are as damning to the score as the your 300 yard drive from the tee! So take it seriously and play a proper golf shot into the hole!