TERRE HAUTE — In 1754 an event occurred which unknowingly would form a foundation of golf and how it is played to this day. The Gentlemen of Fife invited the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith to join them in forming the St. Andrews Society. The 22 men involved made a list of certain rules under which they wished to play. From then on, The St. Andrews Society (which would be named the “Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews” by King William IV in 1834) developed as the governing body for the rules of golf.
The original list was comprised of 13 rules, which they called “The Articles and Laws in playing the Golf.” Here is the original list [information came from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Golf, 1988 edition, page 16]
• 1. You must tee your ball within a club-length of the hole.
• 2. Your tee must be upon the ground.
• 3. You are not to change the ball which you strike off the tee.
• 4. You are not to remove stones, bones or any Break Club for the sake of playing your ball except upon the fair green and that only within a club length of your ball.
• 5. If your ball come among water, or any watery filth, you are at liberty to take your ball, and throwing it behind the hazard six yards at least. You may play it with any club and allow your adversary a stroke for so getting out your ball.
• 6. If your balls be found anywhere touching one another you are to lift the first ball till you play the last.
• 7. At holing, you are to play your ball honestly for the hole and not to play upon your adversary’s ball, not lying in your way to the hole.
• 8. If you should lose your ball by its being taken up or any other way you are to go back to the spot where you struck last and drop another ball and allow your adversary a stroke for the misfortune.
• 9. No man holing his ball is to be allowed to mark his way to the hole with his clubs or anything else.
• 10. If a ball be stopped by any person, horse, dog or anything else, the ball so stopped must be played where it lies.
• 11. If you draw your club in order to strike and proceed so far in the stroke as to be bringing down your club; if then your club shall break in any way, it is to be accounted
a stroke.
• 12. He whose ball lies furthest from the hole is obliged to play first.
• 13. Neither trench, nor ditch or dyke made for the preservation of the Links not the scholar’s holes or the soldier’s lines shall be accounted a hazard. But the ball is to be taken out, teed and played with any iron club. (Scholar’s holes referred to holes made by children in their play, according to The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Golf.)
Many of those rules are still used today, although they are worded differently. Some have changed slightly, like No. 4. Now you may lift loose impediments on the green all the way to the hole, not just within a club length of your ball.
We must remember that these rules were first written for Scottish golf courses, more specifically they were adapted for the Society of St. Andrews Golfers from rules written for play on the Leith Links by the Company of Edinburgh Golfers. As time passed and more and more scenarios presented themselves, more rules and explanations were written.
The Rules Of Golf for 2008-2009 has 34 rules and three appendixes. Much of the length of the book is due to explanations of the rules and definitions of items mentioned. In order for a rule to be added or altered, any proposed change must be agreed upon by both the USGA and The R&A; Rules Limited. Rules changes come from two categories: improvements to the clarity of the rules and those that reduce or increase penalties.
After review a rules change was made that was in effect starting Jan. 1, 2008, of which golfers should be aware. Players can now lift their ball to identify it in a hazard. However, there is now a two-stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball from a hazard. This change was made because there were already other rules that allowed a player to lift his ball from a hazard, and because it will eliminate many difficult situations caused by the rule (such as when a player hits ball in a hazard that he thinks is his, but he hits it out of bounds or into another hazard, so he can’t ever be sure). It will also eliminate one large exception from the Rules. (www.usga.org/news)
• • •
Quote of the Day: “You can play a damned good shot there and find the ball in a damned bad place.” — George Duncan, British Open champ, on St. Andrews.
Jennifer Myers can be reached by e-mail at jfmyers@xsthe.net.
On & Off the Course
On and Off the Course: Original rules of golf have undergone changes
- On & Off the Course
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Death Notice: Feb. 7, 2013
• Gary R. Wright
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Donna Lynn Strahla Bown
Donna Lynn Strahla Bown passed away early Friday morning, Jan. 25, 2013, with her children by her side.
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‘The Match’ pitting amateurs vs. pros recalled 62 years later
Quote of the Day: “I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.” — Ben Hogan.
Bubba Watson has had a busy fall. Not only did he play all the way to the final round of the FedEx Championships, and in the Ryder Cup, he also played in an event commemorating a very famous match played at Cypress Point in 1956, pitting two of the greatest golf pros at the time against two of the best amateurs.
Come to think of it, all four were some of the best golfers of all time. This year’s event was celebrating The First Tee’s exceeding $100 million in pledges to reach 10 million new young people. It wasn’t televised and kept very quiet; only 225 people were in the gallery.
One of the people in the gallery was Mark Frost, the author of a book titled “The Match,” which is about that match played 62 years ago that was re-enacted in modern terms last week. The pros in 1956 were Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson and the amateurs were Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. It was supposed to have been a private affair, built around a wager by two millionaires, George Coleman and Eddie Lowery. -
ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf from the wrong side of the brain
Imagine this scenario: a woman, small in stature (possibly freckled), walks into a hospital emergency room and says, “I have an emergency, I need a doctor quickly!” The admitting nurse, ever trying to be helpful, asks what the emergency is.
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Farmers looking at widely varying yields
Combines will roll through fields this weekend, bringing in the harvest from a summer with nearly no rain.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf debut in London would have been nice
As the Olympics get underway in London this weekend, I was thinking it’s too bad that the Olympic committee decided too late to add golf as one of the sports for this event; instead it will be added to the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Getting to Hoosier country’s best golfing venue part of the fun
If you are looking for Indiana’s premier golfing destination, then you should look no further than French Lick.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Indiana's Pete Dye courses worth the drive
You’ve probably heard of the Robert Trent Jones Golf trail throughout Alabama, but you might not be aware that Indiana has its own “Pete Dye Golf Trail” comprised of seven courses.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fathers typically a big influence on golfing sons
Some events fall naturally into place around holidays. The Fourth of July always falls somewhere during Wimbledon, giving all of the Yanks in attendance something to be boisterous about, to the chagrin of their hosts; The Masters often, but not always, ends on Easter Sunday, which is fitting since golfers find it such a reverent occasion.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Memorial just one of many visions of Jack Nicklaus
When Jack Nicklaus was a young man, the golfer he most admired was Bob Jones.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: With some tricky rules, golf is not a walk in the park
Golf is not a casual sport, even though it has a term called “casual water.”
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On and off the course: Sycamores seeded sixth heading into MVC golf tourney
It wasn’t too long ago that Indiana State University didn’t even have a women’s golf team.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: A hard ticket to come by
This is the weekend of the Masters Tournament, the first of the four major tournaments.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Some things on golf course are worse than steep putts
It’s not often that anything gets more scary on a golf course than a steep downhill putt, but on some courses around the world, things a little more on the supernatural side might give you a bigger fright!
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The shot heard round the world
I don’t know if the Golf Channel will show a “Best Shots of 2011” highlight reel, much like ESPN does for baseball or football.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Red, White and Blue visits the Isle of Green
In 2006, the Ryder Cup was held in Ireland at The K Club in County Kildare.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fall may be coming but golf season is far from over
Once the major tournaments are over with, what’s there to look forward to in the world of golf?
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf… simplified!
Golf is not a simple game. A golf course is made up of 18 holes, all different. There are par-3s, par-4s and par-5s; they all vary in length and elevation, and each has its own challenges. There can be water hazards, trees, sand bunkers, tall grass, hills, valleys — and then, if that’s not enough, there’s probably wind too.
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On and Off the Course: Northern Ireland builds on golf history
Northern Ireland is only about 5,452 square miles in area and has a population about the same as West Virginia, which is about 1,880,344.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Women’s Open at the Broadmoor
This is the weekend of the U.S. Women’s Open, and this year it’s being played at The Broadmoor, East Course, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Fort Golf Course: A Walk in the Park…
Indiana has some pretty spectacular state parks, but one of them gives you the ability to “spoil a good walk” by chasing a little white ball.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Father’s Day is a good day for golfers
Most people consider the time around Christmas to be the gift-buying season.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Playing with lead a difficult task
As exciting as last week’s Masters was, with six players being tied for the lead at one point on Sunday, it was very difficult watching Rory McIlroy fall apart to shoot an 80.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Masters a rite of spring
This is Masters weekend, the grand kickoff to the golf season for a lot of golfers. Sure, there have been tournaments on TV, because the professionals have been playing in Hawaii, California, Texas, Dubai, and other areas not so affected by winter as we are here in the Midwest, but to me, watching The Masters is a rite of spring.
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ON THE OFF THE COURSE: Some history on the Ryder Cup
I fell asleep in way too many history classes to ever qualify as a history buff. However, since I have grown up a bit (not much), I enjoy learning about all kinds of history. I often have questions about how something began, or how something came to be.
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On and Off the Course: Purdue's Kampen Course a gem in Indiana's rough
About a month ago, Indiana was still heavily mired in heat and humidity, making outdoor activities such as golf less appealing than usual. At that time it felt like the repressive heat would never go away, it would never rain again, and all of the grass was just going to continue to wither and die. And the month prior to that we kept getting rained out of golf events!
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On and Off the Course: Successful golfers know ... focus is the key
I have a good friend who coached his daughter’s basketball team for a number of years, and told me that his theme with the girls was always “focus”, until it was ingrained in their brains. Now when they play high school ball, if they hear “focus” yelled from the stands, they know the source.
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On and Off the Course: Technology adds even more fun to the course
You’ve hit a drive into some brush in an area marked as a hazard, but you can’t find the ball to prove it is there. And no one actually witnessed it go in the hazard. You just think that’s where it probably is. What is the rule for this situation?
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On and Off the Course: Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic a worthwhile charity event
On Monday, I worked as a volunteer for the Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic, Golf Tournament and Auction at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Indianapolis. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with clear blue skies, just a few wispy clouds here and there and a high temperature of about 76 degrees.
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On and Off the Course: Trends show golf in decline
You don’t have to watch the news or read the paper to understand that America is struggling on the economic front. The evidence can be witnessed at the local golf course.
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