The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-25
WHEN GOLFERS GET MIXED.
DISPUTES on RULES OF GAME
ALWAYS BOBBING UP.

DISPUTES on RULES OF GAME
ALWAYS BOBBING UP.
Many Players VINO Deem the Etlcts Only
Made to he BrOken-More Who DO Not
Know Them ut ALA National Field
This Week OF Protest. onals at Cincinnati.
Each golf tournament knoweth its own
bitterness in the way Of mi1-ups over the
rules. The best players know the rules
we'll enough, and the committees, fortified
with pocket editions of the code, stand
ready to make prompt decisions, but one OF
the troubles Is that they are seldom appealed
to until it Is too late. Something occurs,
for instance, in q match for one OF the minor
cups. Both players mean WELL and, after
brief talk, they decide the point ofrhand.
The player who has given up the hole may
lose the match through his good nature,
and when he finds this out 1t is too late
to have the wrong made right. A better
plan is to leave the case open and the hole
undecided until the question can be sub
United to the committee. Many Of the oc-
currences have an amusing side, and the
results Of mix-ups at some Of the recent
'Oui dDOuU 4NeW 10TH arc DOtu
entertaining and instructive.
In a putting competition Of the Women's
Metropolitan Golf Association at the Engle-
wood Golf Club q committeeman told one
Of the competitors ,iat she had no right
to use a mashie for the approach put and
would be disqualified If she won. He based
his edict on a local rule which forbds the
use Of any club but putter on the putting
green's. At many clubs there Ia a IS fine
for using any lofting club on the putting
green.
The weakness OF the committeeman
case is that he put forward local rule
to govern an open competition, in which
the club had no interest except to act as
host for the women. Still, the committee
man had been asked to serve as the referee,
and he had the pluck to speak up. Com
mitteemen do not always have the courage
of their opinions when serving at women's
tournaments, for woman chided, how
ever politely the transgression Of the rules
may be pointed out, is too often woman
scorned.
The woman in this case, although she did
not win, carried the matter to the executive
committee Of the Women's Metropolitan
Golf Associat ton. The rules Of the game
do not cover putting competitions, but it is
not to be expected that the organization
would submit to the flashing of any local
rule that 1t had not acce pied in advance.
The ruling was that the competitors may
use any club they wish in a putting match,
or in an approaching match, or in driving
contest, for that matter.
The incident suggests an occurrence at
the tournament over the public links at
Van Cortlandt Park, in 1905, the occasion,
by the way, of Walter j. Travis's first APP
pearance in a competition. A. z. Hunting
ton had then fond invention in the way of
a putter that suggested bungstarter.
May use this in putting?" asked Hunt
tington, as he handed the odd looking club
for the inspection Of John Reid, ST., the
founder of our St. Andrews Club, who
was the referee.
Certainly replied Mr. Reid you may
put with an umbrella handle, if you wish
When players happen to tie In contest
at handicap match play, especially il they
have let on, there is often a mix-up over
the way to settle the tie. The United States
Golf Association rule one Of the interpreta-
tons OF the first rule of the game. is en-
phatio enough: "The competitors must de-
titC VIC eAo ~ PioJhS SAehoA otO AioiO Va
more according to the manner in which the
handicap coded falls upon certain holes 30
as to make the extra holes fairly proper
tionate representation of the round
At every club there Is, or should be, a
standing table showing the holes on which
it is most equitable to give or take strokes,
the table beng arranged to cover every
possible odds by strokes from a concession Of
80 atrvIt To-, 20 ! u
the straightforward rule, the disa greements
In such playoffs are very frequent, and
in most cases the only plan that will be &C.
copied without dispute is an offer to re-
play the match. In an individual contest
this is always q good alternative. 1t is
an impossible one, usually, in formal
the players must abide by the ruling Of the
committee as to how many holes shall LIE
played.
In one Of the matches at recent tourna-
ment for minor cup. one player claimed
the hole because his opponent had grounded
But I soled my club on turf replied
the opponent, but with q haZy idea that
this was his privilege.
What difference does that maker It's
by one hole. In the following match the
protestant found out that he had wrong
fully taken the hole. as the opponent had
been within his rights. He made a hearty
apology to the player he had despoiled,
and, as the protestant lost his second match
the two decided over soda and that be-
fore they went to a tournament again both
\would study the rules.
y is there such a thing IA dead ball?'
asked a tournament player who had just
feen Ee'ten on the home green. The OPP
p,rrut had putted and trimmed the cup
.t. ii three. He made an exclamation
G, disgust and unintentionally dropped his
,,ut,er, The ball simultaneously dropped
into the cup: The opponent declared
that it should be halved hole in four, as
the ball had stopped rolling and was dead,
but that the jar of the dropped club had
caused it to drop into the cup, The player
who had dropped the club stood ten or
twelve feet from the cup. The committee
ruled that it was a three the ball being
deemed to have been holed on the last
stroke.
In another tournament match, when both
balls were on the putting green, players
ball struck his opponents ball
My hole said the opponent. Il think
the rules give me the hole.
"Think again. replied the old stager he
was playing with.
Then the old stager pulled out his little
booklet and read out that in match this
other ball may be replaced. at its owners
l.,ra hal oil Nlnr NH.N ball