Proud, stunned, horrified - thoughts / advice please

[Scadge]

My scrawny 14 year old (10 hcap) was playing for the juniors in an away match on Sunday and i turned up to watch the last few holes from a distance. He and his partner had fought back from 2 down to be all square with 4 to play when one of his older, bigger (one about 6 foot) and more experienced opponents clearly played out of turn hitting a great approach to the green. My wee lad approached his opponents on the green and asked for the shot to be played again. An almighty row broke out during which his opponents bullied my son's inexperienced partner into agreeing they might have been level and refusing to play again. Nevertheless clearly agitated he three putted and my son made a decisive sand save par to win the hole which decided the match. I still don't know how to react to what I saw. Should I be:
A) proud that he knows the rules, will stick up for himself and not get flustered
B) stunned at how competitive he is or
C) horrified that he might turn into one of those folks at golf clubs that know all the rules but have no idea on the spirit of the game

Thoughts welcome

 

[Imurg]

A, B and the first half of C.

If it's a proper Match and the rules have been broken then the appropriate penalty needs to be applied.

Well done to your Boy.

 

[SocketRocket]

I guess he was observing the rule that allows him to ask for the shot to be replayed. I guesttion to ask himself is whether it had any influence on the outcome.

Good that he kept his cool and played on to win.

 

[CMAC]

A, B and the first half of C.

If it's a proper Match and the rules have been broken then the appropriate penalty needs to be applied.

Well done to your Boy.

+1

 

[matriga]

Don't worry, he was right !
Though it all depends on some factors: was the match important? Were the opponents nice chaps before the conflict?

If it was really important and the guys weren't enjoyable, he did the right thing.
Though if it's the opposite, he should've told the guy while he was getting prepared to play his shot. That's what I would have done...

I've had the situation before where I was playing in a tight singles match play. The lady had placed her tee+ball in front of the starts. I told her and she thanked me for being nice. Anyway, she was a pleasant opponent, why would I want to harm our game if her mistake wasn't actually going to make a difference to her shot.

My 2 cents

 

[chris661]

A, B and the first half of C.

If it's a proper Match and the rules have been broken then the appropriate penalty needs to be applied.

Well done to your Boy.

+1

+2

Hey done exactly the right thing IMO.

 

[Hendo007]

Pretty good stuff from a 14 year old. You should be very impressed. Rules are rules at the end of the day and good on him knowing them. I'd have a word with his playing partner before the next round though and tell him to man up ;-)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

A+B and I think with maturity C won't be an issue

 

[Imurg]

If it was really important and the guys weren't enjoyable, he did the right thing.
Though if it's the opposite, he should've told the guy while he was getting prepared to play his shot. That's what I would have done...

I've had the situation before where I was playing in a tight singles match play. The lady had placed her tee+ball in front of the starts. I told her and she thanked me for being nice. Anyway, she was a pleasant opponent, why would I want to harm our game if her mistake wasn't actually going to make a difference to her shot.

My 2 cents

But if they stuff it in the trees - you don't have to get them to play it again.......

 

[Scadge]

Thanks for the advice - it was a proper (junior) league match - 4 x matchplay pairs, his team had won two and lost one of the other matches so his game was decisive and he told me his opponents had played out of turn a number of times and at first tried to say that he hadn't pointed this out or asked them to play again before (to which he told me that he said they hadn't played a decent shot before !)

 

[duncan mackie]

you clearly recognise the issues - share them with your son as he will benefit from your insight now, and in the future.

matchplay is about winning, but not about winning at any cost - he might benefit from comparing the actions of the US ladies captain over Anita Sorrenson ? playing out of turn and the action of the US mens captain over the Walker Cup incident (professional caddy) a couple of years ago. The reason for these examples is that it's possible to coldly analyse what others thought and why.

there's also the life lesson about only enforcing what can definitely be made to stick, and what's worth enforcing - but that's huge!

 

[Scadge]

[he might benefit from comparing the actions of the US ladies captain over Anita Sorrenson ? playing out of turn and the action of the US mens captain over the Walker Cup incident (professional caddy) a couple of years ago. The reason for these examples is that it's possible to coldly analyse what others thought and why.]

can you enlighten me on the examples ?

 

[louise_a]

You should comment if someone breaks the rules, as an aside when I played matchplay for the club on monday, I was told dont play out of turn, you could be asked to replay the shot.

 

[DaveM]

Don't worry, he was right !
Though it all depends on some factors: was the match important? Were the opponents nice chaps before the conflict?

If it was really important and the guys weren't enjoyable, he did the right thing.
Though if it's the opposite, he should've told the guy while he was getting prepared to play his shot. That's what I would have done...

I've had the situation before where I was playing in a tight singles match play. The lady had placed her tee+ball in front of the starts. I told her and she thanked me for being nice. Anyway, she was a pleasant opponent, why would I want to harm our game if her mistake wasn't actually going to make a difference to her shot.

My 2 cents

Sticky one there. You should have let her play then claimed the hole. As it was you offered advice, so she could have claimed the hole.

 

[r1965h]

You can't be penalised for telling your opponent that they are teeing up in front of the markers. You aren't offering them any advice.

 

[rickg]

Sticky one there. You should have let her play then claimed the hole. As it was you offered advice, so she could have claimed the hole.

Dave...offering advice on the rules isn't a penalty.....

 

[DaveM]

Dave...offering advice on the rules isn't a penalty.....

Ok stand corrected. Nowt new alway get the wrong end of the stick lol.

 

[Tiger]

Scadge tell James I said he's a ledge!!!! The rules are the rules totally agree with Imurg! :thup:

 

[duncan mackie]

[he might benefit from comparing the actions of the US ladies captain over Anita Sorrenson ? playing out of turn and the action of the US mens captain over the Walker Cup incident (professional caddy) a couple of years ago. The reason for these examples is that it's possible to coldly analyse what others thought and why.]

can you enlighten me on the examples ?

the first was in the Solheim Cup some years back - Anita spent some time preparing to play from around the green with everyone watching on, then chipped in. measuring established that she had been 'slightly' nearer and she was required to replay (and missed) and was in tears etc. The actions of the US Captain have never been put forward as a shinning example of what golf is about. Much was made of the fact that there was ample time, and opportunity, to prevent the situation in the first place. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-americans-with-bad-sportsmanship-635955.html
In the Walker cup one of the GB&I players had his brother(I think) on the bag as his caddy. The caddy was a professional golfer (not Tiger!) and the rules of the competition didn't (I think they have changed them) permit professional caddies. The US Captain decided not to press any penalty and the caddy was changed going forward. General view was that this was how the game should be played.http://www.golfworldmonday.com/golfworldmonday/20110912?pg=8#pg8 If anything the player involved was the most distressed about it all.

Not trying to suggest that all breaches should be ignored by any means, over the last year I would estimate that I've called 6, discussed but not called 3, and ignored about 12 without comment. These were spread over league and friendly matches. All 6 had the potential to gain an advantage and happened before they could be prevented (eg people picking up large branches in front of their ball - in a fairway bunker...) whilst the others were more technical breaches (eg rotating a tee marker so that it lined up with the tee/fairway before teeing up next to it and playing).

 

[r1965h]

Rule 11-4 states

a. Match Play
If a player, when starting a hole, plays a ball from outside the teeing ground, there is no penalty, but the opponent may immediately require the player to cancel the stroke and play a ball from within the teeing ground.