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RULES - From the Sublime to The Ridiculous
Rules are meant to be obeyed. If you are playing professional golf for a living, or playing championship caliber golf, you had better memorize the rule book. That is why we have so many fine intelligent young college graduates on the Pro Tour. You have to be a mental giant to understand some of the rules. Many rules were implemented because of incidents that had occurred in tournaments, while others are hypothetical.
If it was compulsory to know all of the rules of golf before you were allowed on the golf course, we would probably only need about five golf courses in the country. This is a game that is supposed to be enjoyed, and luckily the majority of golfers don’t play strictly by the rules.. If they did, slow play would be more of a problem than it is now.
If you are playing in a little Club tournament, rules for that tournament should be obeyed. If you are playing in your regular foursome, or you have your regular little bunch, You should have your own rules. If you are playing in larger tournaments, you must follow the tournament rules.
I am a stickler for honesty in golf. I beat this into youngsters. “If you are caught cheating on the golf course one time, nobody is ever going to believe you no matter what you do.” “If you are caught stealing, but then straighten out, you will be the first suspect if something is missing.”
When I was Pro at The Panama C. C., in Florida, we had a member by the name of Gardner Dickinson Sr. (Gardner Rewash his son on the Tour) You could be out having a enjoyable foursome, and Gardner would join you at the turn. Within three holes everybody would be mad. Just his presence could irritate the hell out of you. He was a good player and was the Club Champion at one time. He would not play for more than fifty cents a side, and just playing against him made you feel as if it was fifty dollars. One day we almost went to war because of a ruling. The seventeenth hole on the course was bordered by huge oak trees laden with Spanish Moss, About thirty yards to the right of the fairway was the bay. The rule then, was that if your ball just rolled off of the fairway and could not be found, it was stroke and distance. You went back to the tee and hit your third shot. If, on the other hand, you hit a wild slice that ended up in the bay, you lost only distance. You were only penalized half as much for a shot that was twice as bad. This particular day Gardner hit his into the trees, and the caddies saw it. He hit another ball claiming that it was in the water. We almost got into a fight over that fifty cents. That rule was later changed.
While I am on the subject of Gardner, I must tell you another incident with him. I had an assistant when I was pro in Richmond, Virginia, and he came down on a vacation. His name was Jimmy Van Horn, and he was good little player. Gardner called an wanted to know if there was a game around, and we told him to come on out. One of my members, B. J. Crane was there and he would make up our foursome. B. J. didn’t particularly like Gardner and agreed to getting Gardner in a trap. B. J. was a high seventy shooter, and we knew in our getting up a bet, that Gardner was going to take B.J. as a partner, rather than an unknown partner. The first thing Gardner asked, was what kind of a golf did Jimmy play?. I told him that I gave him two up a side, so he took B.J. I told Jimmy to hack it around the first couple of holes and Gardner will jump on you for a bet. That is what happened, and then Jimmy turned it loose, and we beat them like a drum. Gardner didn’t say a work. He paid off and left, and we gave B. J. back his money. The next day Gardner called and wanted to know if my friend was still in town, and I said, “Yes’” He said he was going to bring his own partner. He brought Gardner Jr., fresh off of the Tour. That is enough of that story.
One of the most stupid rules that was ever in golf, was the Stymie Rule in Math Play. This rule was still in effect during the PGA in Richmond, Virginia in 1949. The way the rule worked was that if you opponents ball was in your line you had to leave it there, or play over, or around it. The only time you opponent had to mark his ball was if it was within six inches of your ball, or his ball within six inches of the hole. Score cards were all made six inches in length to be used to measure. We used to try to cut the ball to make it spin and curve, or we would try to chip over the opponents ball. If you happen to hit his ball and his went in, he was to have considered to have holed out on his last shot. There were many times when you were about to lose a hole, and you would deliberately try to lay him a stymie. We used to practice chipping a lot. It was not related to golf. I don’t know when it was abolished, but good riddance.