Men’s Games

The Men’s games are in full swing in the mountains and Foremost has to say he is impressed to date with the overwhelming adherence and devotion by all to the Rules of Golf.

Certainly, “the gimmee” remains a constant and undefined variable, however, and Foremost has to admit that even he (thank you) has been the welcome recipient of perhaps-questionable gimmee concessions from time to time (“I guarantee you nobody else is putting that”, or, “it isn’t gonna matter at this point”), although perhaps these concessions are simply genuine expectations that no one but Rory could miss a two-foot putt … not even F!

Nevertheless, other important Rules issues have arisen on occasion:

I. Facts — Practice Putting

A distinguished gentleman at HCC, for instance, (who shall remain unnamed),asked F if players could practice putting after a missed putt in a Men’s game.

“They rake it back, and practice it a few times. That disturbs me. I think it is an unfair advantage as it assists them not only in honing their putting technique by practicing on the course, but also, in unfairly raising their comfort level with the speed of the greens (a critical skill in mountain golf, all would agree). Furthermore, it slows down the game. Nothing pisses me off more than standing in the fairway waiting to hit while a guy up ahead is revisiting and practicing a missed putt.” (Yes, those who know this gentleman would be stunned at his usage of a vulgarity, which F repeats only to underscore the passion inherent in this particular rules question).

“Well, have you said anything or called a violation?”, asked F who had rarely witnessed this gentleman so ruffled.

“No.”

“Why not?”, said F.

“Well”, he said, in his characteristic diplomatic manner (repeated herein to the best of F’s memory), “If this practice putting is indeed a violation, and although the ROG are important, it is equally as important that we recognize, defend, and uphold the ‘culture’ of our Men’s games, and sometimes calling out a ROG infraction may not be the answer.”

F, of course, perfectly understands and appreciates this sentiment, which is why he, personally, rarely calls violations and never names names in his Rulings! F advised that he would look into the matter, but that in his opinion a quick rake and re-putting after a miss was surely a violation in Stroke Play, although he had probably been guilty of this infraction himself from time to time.

Ruling

The Men’s games are in a Stroke Play format as the team scores are generally some combination of Gross and/or Net individual scores by hole. Accordingly, F was prepared to slam dunk this issue, as it is generally acknowledged that one can practice a putt after the conclusion of a hole in Match Play, while such practice is prohibited in Stroke Play.

This understanding is incorrect! In the absence of a Local Rule prohibiting practice putting on the putting green of a completed hole, putting practice on a just-completed hole is allowed in both Match and Stroke Play so long as it does not cause “undue delay”. (R5.5b). However, if the Committee believes practice putting on a hole just completed affects pace of play or wants to discourage the practice “for some other reason”, it may do so by adopting Model Local Rule I-2.

F’s confusion on this issue stems from his observation of Stroke Play on the PGA Tour which has adopted the Model Local Rule, thus no practice putting. The pros miss a putt, tap it in, and walk off the green.

F is confident this LR isn’t on the books at HCC for the weekly Men’s games although it, perhaps, might be a condition of certain advanced competitions.

II. Facts — A Lost Putter

On the Par 3 4th hole at OEI a well-known and prominent golfer watched his tee-ball take a nasty bounce off the edge of the front right bunker into the thick and beautiful mountain laurels bordering the putting green. (He was coming off a birdie on the difficult Par 4 3rd hole). A diligent three-minute search for the ball ensued in and around and under the bushes to no avail. The player took a penalty drop, played a nice little pitch shot, and made a twisting ten-footer to save a bogey.

F had encountered his own problems on the hole and had missed the fact that this player, who shall remain unnamed, had borrowed an extra putter from a team-mate to complete the hole, as he had apparently leaned his own putter somewhere against the bushes during his ball search, and had returned to the green without retrieving it.

After the group teed off on the fifth hole, the player announced that he had gone back to the bushes and never found his putter, and that he was going to run back for another look. This effort was , also, unsuccessful. He returned to play after handing a cart girl a $5 bill and asking her to look for his putter in the bushes. He, also, addressed the following group and asked them to keep an eye out for his putter. These efforts were unsuccessful, as well (apparently no reward was offered to the gentlemen), and the player used the borrowed putter on the next few holes, even sinking another long birdie putt a couple of holes later with the borrowed putter which, at this point, he confessed he was thinking of keeping.

Word of the lost putter quickly spread, however, and a diligent search by a roving pro eventually found the putter in the bushes, at the location so described. The player was able to cap off a fine round with his own putter, after somewhat reluctantly returning the borrowed putter to the teammate.

Ruling

The ROG, of course, have no mercy for the player who loses his putter during a round. One’s only recourse is to go back and find the dang thing and hope no one raises the issue of “undue delay”. Otherwise, assuming he started with (14) clubs in his bag, he may not add, borrow, or share a club (R4.1b), subject to disqualification.

While it might have been interesting seeing this player, who shall remain unnamed, putting with his sand wedge or something for the final 14 holes, F suspects he would have headed to the parking lot rather than play another hole. (If not, his teammates certainly would have). The OEI greens are tough enough with a putter in hand.

The dense bushes by the 4th hole were not contemplated by the drafters of the ROG. It is certainly logical that a player could lose his putter or his whole bag for that matter within those leafy confines, so there should be some accommodation, particularly in a weekend Men’s game! It’s the culture!

(Frankly, however, the entire “borrowed” putter circumstance is a little suspect in its own right, and F should probably investigate further. Was this a pre-planned operation between our unnamed player and Teammate X? F did ask X if he had exceeded the 14-club limit by carrying two putters. X responded that “no”, that he just happened to be carrying two putters that day, and wasn’t it lucky that he did so on a day that our unnamed player lost his putter. Hmmm…).

III. Facts – Standing in the Putting Line ( A Scramble Tradition?)

In scramble Match Play competition with his Nashville visitors, F and his partner, Sandwich, found themselves on the short end of a final day, grueling 30-hole match as they were on the verge of being closed out 2-1 on the 11th hole at the 12-Hole Par 3 Saddle Course at GC. F stood on the green stoically …cognizant of, and proud of, the fact that not a single violation had been called in three days of heated competition, despite the formidable natural obstacles and severe penalty options posed at three demanding mountain courses. Yet…

Opponent JS stood behind his partner RM’s line as he successfully negotiated a 6-foot putt for the win. F thought deeply about the ”culture” of scramble competition, and the fact that in scrambles, players often stand behind and in the line of their partner’s putt to see the line. Indeed, this practice is a seeming tradition in the scramble format. F remembers a commentator on this practice once noting that at scrambles, one often sees players bent over and lined up behind the putting line “like a caterpillar”. Scrambles are unique and so much fun! The caterpillar line is all part of the scramble “culture”!

Screw “culture”, thought F.

He promptly called a penalty to negate the winning putt. He noted further that JS was disqualified from attempting the putt when it was his turn, as he had stood in the line and seen the putt. F awarded the hole to his team by virtue of the penalty, a call which so happened to preserve the tie. Sandwich vigorously nodded his head in approval and voiced his complete agreement with F’s considered Ruling.

May a partner stand behind the line of a partner’s putt in a scramble?

(For the record, JS insisted that F’s observation of his being “on the line” was inaccurate and a “rather biased observation, as usual”, but he was over-ruled by F on this question of fact).

Ruling

The “in the line” observation by F was spot on. As a player begins taking his stance for a stroke (with one foot), his caddie (or partner) may not stand on an extension of the line behind the ball (“the restricted area”). The only cure for this transgression is if the partner removes himself from the restricted area, and the player backs off and then retakes his stance which in this case, simply didn’t happen, as the always-reliable Sandwich will attest. (R10.2b(4)).

The Penalty, sadly, is the General Penalty, Loss of Hole in Match Play. (See also, R23.8 “Four-Ball Play”). F finds no exception to these rules for “Scramble” Play despite the “Culture” and Traditions of the Scramble format.

In Closing

Mountain golf is wonderful this time of year, even though temperatures soared into the lower 80’s! The “culture” of the Men’s games is outstanding. F thanks Readers TD and ML for their contributions to these factual recitations.

As usual, all comments and corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F