What’s you involvement in the rules?

[Jigger]

There’s obviously some very clever rules people on here and I love the fact that people kindly take a lot of time to pull out extracts for us amateur players as the rule book can be hard to navigate and understand at times. It has got me wondering what everyone’s involvement is with the rules?

Are you just a player with a keen interest, a club official or a referee even.

I’m just an amateur inputting to see if my understanding is right and giving my thoughts on several issues, which can sometimes be a bit controversial but is meant in the insterest to opening discussions. I don’t think our rules are bad but there are a few nuances that seem crazy at times in application in the amateur game.

 

[Swango1980]

In my first few years of golf, I would sometimes play with people that would come across as Rules gurus, and sometimes be subject to penalty, or not be allowed to do something that would cost me. Examples of rulings made towards me, or others I heard made against others:

• Penalty for having a practice swing on the tee
• Penalty for picking a rake out of a bunker before my shot, as my hand touched the rake as the rake touched the sand, thus technically in breach of testing the sand
• Going to bag to get a provisional ball, and told I am not allowed to play a provisional as I have left the tee box
• Somebody picking up in a medal (thought it was Stableford), and immediately told they are disqualified from the competition, instead of playing on under the appropriate penalty
• Player slicing ball into driving range bay, going to retrieve their ball and the competition secretary disqualifying them for leaving the course during a round of golf

I am sure there are many more crazy examples. However, these types of ridiculous interpretations got be reading up about the rules, and being a regular on the Rules of Golf forums here, which has been enlightening. It is also nice to press on rules that could be interpreted in various ways, and over the years this has resulted in quite a few pages of discussion. Most of the time, though, the rules are pretty clear on most things.

At my last club, I was on the Committee for about a decade, Captain and Handicap Sec, but I did seem to become the guy that everyone would come to, or other Committee members would look for when there was a ruling question. I did enjoy helping where I could, and researching scenarios that were a little more obscure.

I've now been at a new club for over a year, and I enjoy being just another bog standard golfer. I'm now just an interested bystander in relation to the rules, although I do cringe when I've played with experienced members at my new club and they are adamant of a particular interpretation. Such as:

• When taking back in line relief, the line is from anywhere on the entire green (because that is the target), not the pin
• You get free relief from a tree root, if there is any daylight between the root and the ground.

 

[Jigger]

In my first few years of golf, I would sometimes play with people that would come across as Rules gurus, and sometimes be subject to penalty, or not be allowed to do something that would cost me. Examples of rulings made towards me, or others I heard made against others:

• Penalty for having a practice swing on the tee
• Penalty for picking a rake out of a bunker before my shot, as my hand touched the rake as the rake touched the sand, thus technically in breach of testing the sand
• Going to bag to get a provisional ball, and told I am not allowed to play a provisional as I have left the tee box
• Somebody picking up in a medal (thought it was Stableford), and immediately told they are disqualified from the competition, instead of playing on under the appropriate penalty
• Player slicing ball into driving range bay, going to retrieve their ball and the competition secretary disqualifying them for leaving the course during a round of golf

I am sure there are many more crazy examples. However, these types of ridiculous interpretations got be reading up about the rules, and being a regular on the Rules of Golf forums here, which has been enlightening. It is also nice to press on rules that could be interpreted in various ways, and over the years this has resulted in quite a few pages of discussion. Most of the time, though, the rules are pretty clear on most things.

At my last club, I was on the Committee for about a decade, Captain and Handicap Sec, but I did seem to become the guy that everyone would come to, or other Committee members would look for when there was a ruling question. I did enjoy helping where I could, and researching scenarios that were a little more obscure.

I've now been at a new club for over a year, and I enjoy being just another bog standard golfer. I'm now just an interested bystander in relation to the rules, although I do cringe when I've played with experienced members at my new club and they are adamant of a particular interpretation. Such as:

• When taking back in line relief, the line is from anywhere on the entire green (because that is the target), not the pin
• You get free relief from a tree root, if there is any daylight between the root and the ground.

I can imagine any of those points being old original rules from decades gone by but things like that today do make you laugh.

 

[LincolnShep]

Just a player with a keen interest and, like Swango, I was on the end of some dodgy rulings that I only realised were dodgy after the event. I learned that, just because someone is a good player and/or has been playing a long time, it doesn't mean they are always right about the rules. Better to be confident to make your own decision about how to proceed in any given situation, then you only have one person to blame if you end up getting DQd!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

As @LincolnShep. When I may be asked to give ruling advice on a scenario I’d like my advice to be grounded in fact, rather than what emotion or ideas of fairness might suggest.

Plus as I am a mentor for members of the Academy I want to be able to not just give a ruling, but to explain why it is so - a golf rule can ‘sometimes’ seem very obscure, obtuse and indeed absurd. But there’s always a good reason or scenario for why it is so.

 

[rulefan]

When I took up golf I realised it is a game that has rules (al la Snakes & Ladders). As a child I had always been told that when you are given a new game as a present, open the box and read the rules first (usually on the inside of the lid). So I decided to learn the RoG. Later, when at a social dinner, a county committee member suggested I might be interested in refereeing. I subsequently qualified and was co-opted onto the county executive. My club then 'appointed' me as comps chair which I found involved handicapping!
I was nominated by the county to sit on the then EGU club services committee (which was inter alia responsible for handicapping) so got a good grounding in the CONGU system.

 

[backwoodsman]

Another who is a just a player, but with a keen interest in the rules. As to why? Why wouldn't you try to learn the rules? Have done the R & A level 1 test - simply because I could. The rules can be complex but that's what makes them interesting.

 

[Jason.H]

Just a keen golfer. You can ask different players their opinion on a ruling and many will have a different idea.
I tend to ask my card marker if in a comp if he agrees before commencing .

 

[BiMGuy]

Like others I was conned a few times when I first started playing. So I took it upon myself to learn the rules as best I could.

I’m still amazed how many experienced players don’t know some basic rules (or choose to ignore them).

It’s one of the reasons I don’t play many comps. You aren’t playing the same game as everyone else.

 

[2blue]

Just a keen golfer. You can ask different players their opinion on a ruling and many will have a different idea.
I tend to ask my card marker if in a comp if he agrees before commencing.

I think it was when I discovered that this ^ (however honest the intentions etc) could so easily lead to a DQ that I wanted solutions that would assure this was less likely to happen.

 

[nickjdavis]

I'm just a player really but have long since understood that the rules are there to help you as well as penalise you when you do something wrong....if you don't know the rules then you cant take advantage of them when the time comes.

I've spent many years (13? 14?) being on the committee ay my club in various guises so perhaps I have inadvertently had some sort of guru like status bestowed upon me and have seemed to have become the "go to person" at my club for many rules related enquiries.

 

[rulie]

I'm both a player and a referee. Have refereed at many national and international events, both amateur and professional. Also sat on our national golf association's Rules Committee for 12 or so years.

 

[jim8flog]

Prior to taking up golf I was a serious snooker player and used to referee a lot of local club matches for which I, obviously, had to know the rules.

When I took up golf learning the rules seemed a natural thing to do particularly as the guys I played with clearly did not know them.

In more recent years I have been on the club committee with the special area of ensuring our local rules are correct and of preparing information boards for the members when the rules have undergone major changes.

This all came about prior to being on the committee as they did not have anybody with the right knowledge and tried to introduce a couple of non allowable rules which I pointed out they could not have.

I have always known I did not want to become a qualified ref because I would have no use for it and I have a very poor memory for rules numbers anyway but know where to look or ask.

 

[jim8flog]

I would add the one thing that got me really deeply involved was being asked to be a member of the club team for the national golf rules quiz.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As @LincolnShep. When I may be asked to give ruling advice on a scenario I’d like my advice to be grounded in fact, rather than what emotion or ideas of fairness might suggest.

Plus as I am a mentor for members of the Academy I want to be able to not just give a ruling, but to explain why it is so - a golf rule can ‘sometimes’ seem very obscure, obtuse and indeed absurd. But there’s always a good reason or scenario for why it is so.

Given your propensity to need to double check everything on here and especially what you seem to want to do around matchplay scenarios I am not 100% convinced on you being a rule role model

 

[Colin L]

I'm a club golfer who got involved in the Rules because one day in a medal I didn't know what to do in some situation or other. The first mistake was to be annoyed about not knowing; the second was to look it up in the rulebook. The next thing I was hooked, cramming like mad and sitting the Level 2 exam far too soon for comfort. But I qualified and started into refereeing and, of course, was heavily involved at my own club, especially when it came to the 2019 changes. I was invited to join the Scottish Golf rules panel, a group of volunteers who cover the SG tournaments and have enjoyed both SG events and other tournaments whose organisers have asked SG for assistance. With the 2019 Rules coming up we were required to re-do the Level 2 course which I passed with rather more distinction than the first time. I spend far too much time on internet forums on the pretext that it keeps me sharp when in truth an hour or two just with the rulebook would probably do me more good. Through it, however, I "meet" a wide range of like-minded folk across the world which is great. What do I get out of refereeing? A good supply of bacon rolls and pick-up golf balls. The snag about the balls is that they tend to be ones lost by players in the tournament and are designed, like the ProV1 for example, for young turks with swing speeds well over 100mph. To an old codger like me with a swing speed in the low 60s, it's like hitting a large ball bearing. I exaggerate a bit, but for sure they ain't soft feel. Last season was my last as a referee; the one before that was also my last season; next season will be my last. In the words of Roberto de Vicenzo, "What a stupid I am."

 

[Jigger]

Wow! I honestly didn’t expect such a big wealth and variety of knowledge. Gives me a lot of faith in the forum!

Some interesting stories in the above so thanks for taking the time to share your backgrounds.

As a small group we always pull each other up and would say we have a decent grasp on the rules. We get a bit loose of friendlies, such as provisionals over penalty areas but always keep each other right in comps which is the main thing.

I’ve seen all the usual ones myself but the best one recently was playing alongside a team player in a comp who told me I could prefer my lie just off the fairway as that is where the first cut would normally be! I told them there clearly was one anywhere in the course so I could simply pretend there was one.

 

[rulefan]

Incidentally, I reckon there are a few other qualified referees who frequent this place. Some frequent other places also.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Given your propensity to need to double check everything on here and especially what you seem to want to do around matchplay scenarios I am not 100% convinced on you being a rule role model

Tsk…I’m thinking that you may not have fully read what I’ve posted on the two rules threads I started recently. But that’s ok…took a bit to get my questions over fully and why I was asking them. As I said…I like to know the rule properly and not just what my experience (and I have plenty of that) has taught me - plus it’s easy to just go with the flow, when sometimes the flow is in the wrong direction.

 

[chrisd]

I've learned massively by following the rules section on here plus reading the rule books when I can. When I took early retirement, having sold my business, I wanted to do the rules courses and to referee if I was any good. Fortunately i knew the County Secretary at the time and talked my plan through with him and he put me off by saying that it was "a job for the boys" and i stood no chance. By then i had clued up pretty well and you cant unlearn what you've learned so i still try and know as much as possible but I'm content to try and answer questions when asked at my place and if I don't know the answers I generally ask the wizzo's on here.