From: mzimmers@netcom.com (Michael Zimmers)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf
Subject: Re: YAGR (yet another golf ruling)
Date: 29 Jul 92 02:29:48 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Jul28.180449.12299@mks.com> pat@mks.com (Pat Inglis) writes:

>Another golf rule that I can't understand is let's say I'm chipping out
>of a bunker or some rough and I take a nice gingerly swing with good
>follow through. The ball lags behind my club and bonks it just as I'm
>following through so in effect, I've struck the ball twice. Didn't mean
>to but I did. It's happened to me a few times but I've never counted two
>strokes. Why? Because firstly, the ball had no business hitting my club.
>I'm supposed to be the one doing the clubbing. 

No offense, Pat, but this statement suggests that you don't understand
the spirit of the game.  "The ball had no business hitting my club"?!
That it was your turn to play implies that you were in control of the
situation, including the locations of your competitors and their 
equipment.

You made the shot strategy.

You took the stance.

You made the swing that propelled an otherwise inanimate object.

And you followed through decelerating, causing the second hit (trust
me on this one; deceleration is almost always the reason for a second
hit).

In short, *you* and only you were responsible for the results.

And in any event, it doesn't matter, because the situation is 
covered in the Rules of Golf AND YOU DON'T RATIONALIZE A RULE AWAY.

>Secondly, I've screwed up
>a perfectly good shot and I'm probably still in the sand trap or rough.

You've screwed up nothing, and your shot was far from perfectly good.
As for where you ended up, that too is irrelevent -- golf is not a
sport for those who want to insulate themselves from the whims of fate.

Your "misfortune" pales in comparison to other events I've seen.  I once
walked on my course late in the afternoon, joined by a beginner whose
total golf experience had been confined to pitch-and-putt courses.  My
track was not only twice as long, but fraught with 80+ bunkers, acres
of water, and superslick greens.  Needless to say, the front nine was
not much of a success story for the lad, but he gamely trotted onto #10.

His tee shot was far and away the best of the day -- an easy 200 yards
of carry right down the pipe.  As this magnificent shot was coming to
a stop (but *before* it stopped), a local gull swooped down upon it,
snatched it up, and deposited it into a nearby lake.  Painful as it
was, he asked for, and abided by, the appropriate rule (19-1), and took
the penalty without further ado.

That, son, is golf.

>So technically, I'm probably supposed to take two strokes. Before I get
>jumped on by all the golf purists out there, I'm letting you know that
>when I stickhandle my putts into the cup by means of four or five
>consecutive taps, while the ball never stops rolling, I count the
>appropriate number of strokes.

Great.  Do you count the penalties for hitting a ball in motion?


-- 
Michael Zimmers                                    |  Home:  408 996 1984
SoftHelp                                           |  Work:  408 996 1965
Software Solutions for Open Systems                |  Data:  408 996 1974
Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf