5 minute read
OUT OF BOUNDS By Ed Gowan
RULES OF GOLF
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>> Estimating the position of a ball to be replaced is OK, no exact spot to be determined. >> Loose Impediment removal – no penalty in bunkers or penalty areas unless the ball moves. >> Reasonable judgment – as long as the player actions are reasonable in determining a spot, point, line or area, all is OK even if later an error is discovered. >> Penalty areas. While many courses have identified long grass and woods as lateral hazards, the new Rules allow “any other part of the course (in addition to water) the Committee defines as a penalty area” validates the practice. Now that can include desert areas. >> Repair any damage on the putting green but be careful of slow play. >> Leaving the flagstick in the hole without penalty. >> Substituting a ball during play is permitted any time in taking relief with or without penalty. >> Touching the line of play before a stroke is OK unless the area is improved. >> Carrying a non-conforming club is not a penalty unless it’s used.
SIMPLIFICATION
>> Code of Conduct is in the Rules with penalties (decided by the Committee) >> Dropping – There was considerable debate on this issue. One group advocated always placing the ball; dropping at knee-height was the compromise. Those who felt there needed to be some risk in determining a lie were mollified, but redropping is almost never necessary any longer. >> Pace of Play – 40 seconds for a stroke is recommended, now dealing with the messy problem. >> Relief Area – Where the ball is dropped and where it comes to rest must be the same place. I really miss the seven times a ball must be redropped, but that’s just me. >> Stroke & Distance – The player can always do that. >> Temporary Water – Never understood what made water “Casual” before.
The moves toward leniency and simplification make the Rules easier to understand. The previous 34 are reduced to 24. The number of Definitions has increased to 70. There are no “exceptions” called Decisions any longer, but instead Clarifications included with the Rules in the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf. There are always unintended consequences, and we know of a few. How they will be addressed with the next changes in the Rules for 2023. TV announcers have made errors, using language like “hazard,” but they never were all that knowledgeable anyway. n
OUT OF BOUNDS
Golf is again booming in Arizona. Former AGA President and longtime Thunderbird, Jim Frazier, once told me to remember that your greatest strength can also become your greatest weakness. That was never as true for golf as it is today, especially in Arizona.
Considering the root causes of this resurgence of interest in golf, current environmental challenges, and the history of the game, I am led to believe we are on the precipice with two directives necessary: support the resurgence with non-Covid-related marketing and communications, and expand education and re-education in the elemental aspects of the Game.
Golf became the ‘activity of choice’ due to Covid restrictions on the work environment, social interaction, and travel during 2020. While we were yet dealing with that during 2021, many golfers found solace on the links, renewing a past love. Where the time to play had become an impediment in prior years, now the time in nature became a welcome respite from the Trouble. Couple that with the knowledge that business had adapted to ‘work from home’ and teleconferencing, replacing a perceived negative with a positive result, and golf was again an acceptable use of time. Clubs and courses responded with MacGyver-like adaptations and services, and all golf was well. As we move into 2022, the world has found a path forward. What has golf become now?
People have swarmed into the golf lifestyle with passion. Club memberships are almost unavailable here. Public course green fees are at an all-time high. The wave of golf tourism is growing to the Tiger-era heights of the late 90’s. Expanded media coverage has brought world-wide golf telecasts for both professionals and collegians to the entire sports audience. Equipment sales are rising in spite of the current supply-chain slowdown.
What could possibly be a weakness? Remembering my school Physics classes, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We should investigate the possible areas of concern: water and the environment, government taxation and oversight, changes in consumer attitudes, influence of media, and the elements of the game itself that are disappearing.
Governmental affairs provide a challenging horizon. Golf brings in $4.6B (yes, Billion) each year to the economy while using just less than 2% of the water available for commercial use. It’s hard to argue this is not a great return. Now for the challenges, as a successful business always attracts the attention of legislators looking for additional funding as does visible irrigation in the desert environment.
Michael Jordan/@MJPropix
Media are both helpful and harmful to golf’s future through the visibility television brings, highlighting the competitions so many love to watch while again giving clear evidence of the use of water which, without the economic value created, would prove problematic. From both printed and digital advertising, golf’s followers are portrayed as privileged, which can create a negative image for those unaware of the game’s contributions to society, especially when Arizona’s tourism industry has a large stake in golf with nearly 35% of all rounds from part-time visitors.
The principal elements of golf: honesty and self-control, competition, strict rules applications and roots in public access, where six-hundred years ago the King played with a commoner, seem to be lost on the modern world, especially those looking to decry its value to society.
In ancient Rome, a Triumph was held to celebrate and honor a military commander with a special ceremony. While parading to the ceremony on a four-horsed chariot among thousands of admirers, a companion would whisper in his ear the “mememto mori” – that mortality approaches and that all fame is fleeting. So it may be with Golf today unless we remain aware and active.
