The spirit of the game

[bobmac]

An interesting point came up in the rules confusion thread.

Do you think there is a case where the spirit of the game should over rule the rules themselves ?
Im not talking about ettiquete here, just ignoring minor rule breaches as "it's only a game"
I know it depends on the situation, whether a friendly knock about or a club knock out final, but would you let something go "in the spirit of the game"? :smirk:

 

[Yer Maw]

Absolutely when playing with mates in a non-Medal round but I am of the opinion that the rules could easily be simplified and made more reasonable where it is clear no 'real' advantage is gained.

 

[BTatHome]

Bounce game, not a problem

Medal, no way. You are playing in a comp, your decision affects everyone playing not just your game.

 

[bobmac]

Absolutely when playing with mates in a non-Medal round but I am of the opinion that the rules could easily be simplified and made more reasonable where it is clear no 'real' advantage is gained.

So, say for example....
If an opponent marks his ball on the green then at your request moves it away from your line. Then when it's his turn to putt, he forgets the move the marker back. Would there be any advantage gained?

 

[chris661]

So, say for example....
If an opponent marks his ball on the green then at your request moves it away from your line. Then when it's his turn to putt, he forgets the move the marker back. Would there be any advantage gained?

Depends if there is any spike marks etc on his line. The problem with ignoring rules some of the time is that you will get into the mindset of "oh well, I've only tied the branches together" kind of thing.

 

[bobmac]

How about the following...
Teeing up on the wrong side of a tee marker (outside)
Playing out of turn
Chipping onto the green when it's not your turn without asking
Taking a free drop and not marking the original position of the ball
Giving / taking advice on the course
Forgetting to tick the box on a score card indicating which tees you are using in the comp.

to name but a few.

 

[chrisd]

In friendly games I've certainly overlooked minor breaches of the rules but would usually mention the breach later on so that it doesn't happen again. I wouldn't be so kind in a competition, where its important for all the other players that you stick to the rules for everyones integrity.

I suppose the other question is, would you stop someone from breaking a rule if it looked like they were about to - generally I would pre warn someone if I thought that they may be about to break a rule as its seems the right thing to do


Chris


Chris

 

[Hobbit]

If its just a knock, i.e. not even a £1/£1/£1 game, then I'd let an infringement go because I'm not playing against them, just playing with them. But if its for money its by the rules. If you win, you've won fairly and the same with him.

Playing by the rules isn't difficult, and it's what you do for every comp you play in so why do it differently if you're playing a £1/£1/£1 game?

 

[MashieNiblick]

So, say for example....
If an opponent marks his ball on the green then at your request moves it away from your line. Then when it's his turn to putt, he forgets the move the marker back. Would there be any advantage gained?

Funny you should mention that particular Rule Bob...

From the R&A site

"(Bobby) Locke returned to winning ways at St Andrews in 1957, the first year that the leaders went out last after the half-way cut. Locke repeated his record score of 279 to defeat Thomson by three shots. But there was controversy at the end. Locke had moved his ball two putter-head lengths away from the line of playing partner Bruce Crampton on the final green and had failed to replace it in the correct spot before holing out for the title. The error was spotted later on news film coverage of the event, but a meeting of The R&A Championship Committee decided that Locke had gained no advantage and that the result would stand. Peter Thomson, who had won the three previous Opens and went on to take the next, would have won five in a row if Locke had been disqualified. “I don’t know what I would have done,” Thomson said later, “but I wouldn’t have wanted to win the Championship like that.”

Wonder what would happen today?

 

[chrisd]

So, say for example....
If an opponent marks his ball on the green then at your request moves it away from your line. Then when it's his turn to putt, he forgets the move the marker back. Would there be any advantage gained?

I'd like to think that I would remember to remind him



Chris

 

[MadAdey]

In a comp you have to abide by all the rules, you are not just playing against the people in your group but against everyone that has entered so you have to be fair.

In my £10/£10/£10 and £1 bits knock round with my mates we tend to let things slip slightly. For instance if someone has not hit a provisional and we do not find their ball. Then they have a drop out in the fairway with a 2 shot penatly so their next shot will be number 4 like it would be if they had hit a second one from the tee. That just helps keep the pace of the game going. If my mate forgot to put his marker back after moving from my line on the green I would not have him for it.

A friendly game with mates is what it says "friendly". Ok me and my mates tend to play for a lot of money but it still stays friendly. It just puts a lot more pressure on you playing for that much money, I find it helps then when you play a medal as you are use to playing under pressure.

 

[Hooker]

In a comp you have to abide by all the rules, you are not just playing against the people in your group but against everyone that has entered so you have to be fair.

In my £10/£10/£10 and £1 bits knock round with my mates we tend to let things slip slightly. For instance if someone has not hit a provisional and we do not find their ball. Then they have a drop out in the fairway with a 2 shot penatly so their next shot will be number 4 like it would be if they had hit a second one from the tee. That just helps keep the pace of the game going. If my mate forgot to put his marker back after moving from my line on the green I would not have him for it.

A friendly game with mates is what it says "friendly". Ok me and my mates tend to play for a lot of money but it still stays friendly. It just puts a lot more pressure on you playing for that much money, I find it helps then when you play a medal as you are use to playing under pressure.

Do you all tend not to hit provisionals? It would annoy me if my partner frequently didnt hit provisionals and only suffered a 2 shot penalty to be on the fairway, whereas as a high hcp hacker I have occassionaly been known to take provisionals and gone 5 off the tee still nowhere near the fairway!

I must admit I take the game too seriously and am a stickler for the rules. Situations like I mentioned probably dont do my confidence a great deal of good.

I saw my mate take 5 airshots under a bush and at the end of the hole he declared a 5 and I was like WTF, he said he didnt know they count!

 

[MadAdey]

Do you all tend not to hit provisionals? It would annoy me if my partner frequently didnt hit provisionals and only suffered a 2 shot penalty to be on the fairway, whereas as a high hcp hacker I have occassionaly been known to take provisionals and gone 5 off the tee still nowhere near the fairway!

I must admit I take the game too seriously and am a stickler for the rules. Situations like I mentioned probably dont do my confidence a great deal of good.

I saw my mate take 5 airshots under a bush and at the end of the hole he declared a 5 and I was like WTF, he said he didnt know they count!

We do hit a provisional when needed, but we have all had it where we know where our ball is to then get there and it is no where to be seen. But we are not high handicappers so the chance is that is what we will do on the next shot anyway. If my mate is still in the hole after taking 3 off the tee then it is my fault not theirs....

Me and my mates know the rules so do not breach them. The only times the rules are bent are to either speed up play or if they really are not getting an advantage from it.

 

[Imurg]

I hate the term "Spirit of the Game".

What does it mean?
You have rules, you adide by them. If sometimes rules go in your favour then great, if they don't then take it on the chin. If you break a rule you get penalised.
In a friendly it becomes less of an issue although infringements should be pointed out.
I think we all transgress a little from time to time in social golf but you have to abide by the rules in a "proper" round.

 

[MadAdey]

Spirit of the game can sometimes be used as an excuse to not adhere to the rules. We all make mistakes as the rule book can be confusing at times. So we have to maybe use some commons sense at times. But then there are those that totally disregard them. In a winter league game last year someone warned me about an opponent, I though this was a bit out of line, but the person is a really nice bloke so for him to say that I guessed there must be some foundation for it.

Well the first hole and he was up to tricks. Took a very generous pick and place on the fairway and must have moved the ball a good 12-18 inches. This was after looking at what club I had taken out of my bag to hit to the green, as we had hit our drives near each other. Now for the third hole.....walking up to our balls his was about 10 yards behind me.He made a comment along the lines of what you hitting about a 5 iron to the green? Trying to give him an idea of what to hit as there was a strong wind behind. Just little things pointed out that this bloke was willing to break the rules where ever he could if he could get away with it. On the par 3 6th very strong wind behind, must have been 2 clubs. He was to hit first so I took too a 7 out of my bag knowing he was going to see what I got out. He hit his shot out the back and into trouble. I then change to a 9 and hit the green. He said that I must have held back on that one as he hit the same club out of the back. I told him I had hit a 9 he said he saw me with a 7 in my hand.... I told him what I had done and warned him about bending the rules. He was not happy and went to pieces.......

 

[bobmac]

Are you saying he can't look in your bag to see what club you're using?

 

[JustOne]

MadAdey, It's OK to look in someone's bag, you just can't touch/move anything to do so. You also can't ask, and I'm pretty sure you can't tell someone either.... although if you shout out "Get there 5-iron" I'm not sure where anyone stands

 

[bobmac]

MadAdey, It's OK to look in someone's bag, you just can't touch/move anything to do so. You also can't ask, and I'm pretty sure you can't tell someone either.... although if you shout out "Get there 5-iron" I'm not sure where anyone stands

I agree.
:thup:

An old RAF mate used to have iron covers which he put on the wrong clubs....so his 3 and 4 cover were swapped as was the 5 and 6 and so on. He'd throw the headcover on the grass so the playing partners could see it.
Sneaky ? certainly
Against the spirit of the game? possibly
Against the rules? no.

 

[JustOne]

An old RAF mate used to have iron covers which he put on the wrong clubs....so his 3 and 4 cover were swapped as was the 5 and 6 and so on. He'd throw the headcover on the grass so the playing partners could see it.

Oh that's gooooooooood, nice

 

[Hobbit]

So is it naughty of me to say "that's the best 4 iron I've hit," or "I've nailed that 4 iron" when I've hit a 6 iron?