The Washington herald., 1918-07-07
.IGNORANCEOF
IRULESSETDACK
Players at Bannockburn
Violating Rules IN viii
iams-Henry Tourney.
~ FRANK n. YOUNG.

For the past year or 20. The
Herald has been continually try
ing to impress on golfers the me-
cessity Of their familiarixing them
selves with the rules OF the game.
Like every game. golf has its rules
and those who play should follow
these rules absolutely. Golf DIFF
.fers from every other game In that
each player 10 put on his honor to
follow the rules and 10 see that his
opponent does the same. Naturally
II neither player knows them. al
most anything goes. This is neither
fair 70 the player himself nor to
all other players In the event.
Bannockburn probably has more
beginners than any Of the other To-
cal clubs and there have been 90
many fragrant. although uninten-
tional. violations Of the rules Of the
game In some Of the matches in the
''wiliiams-Henry" cup event now
being played, that the matter has
been called to the attention of the
club oficialsL Indeed the advisi-
bility Of disqualifying experienced
players. who latter admit their er-
rors although not knowing the
uASo IN oblah DGklnnSLH kGI
away with murder" simply because
they do not bring mooted questions
up for decision. is being seriously
questioned
In . number Of cases. the more
experienced players In cases Of
doubt h"~c brought up their dis
puted points at the close of the
match, q ruling has been made and
the score adjusted accordingly, but
the beginners, who know IL all"
either don't know enough about the
rules to recognise q doubtful point,
or decide the matter for themselves
without giving those In authority
chance to put them right In
other words. the beginner is playing
against the experienced player, but
Is using his own rules while the
latter is compelled to play "ac-
cording to Hoyle." This OF course
IL manifestly unfair and SO many
violations have been brought up that
the club has been forced to re-
cognize conditions and is now en-
deavorfng to correct them.
4 specific case brought up is that
referring to playing in turn. This
rule is probably violated more than
any other. In a match in which
two experienced players were COM
peting. one of them won the hole
but was disqualified for playing out
OF his turn. Later IL was learned
that in at least two other matches
each Of the contestants frequently
played out of turn but nothing was
thought of It Several other rules
were unintentionally broken In last
weeks matches and were brought
up for decision but Il IL now learn
ed that there were more violations
unreported than there were re-
ported.
This puts the Bannockburn ON
cials strictly 'up against It" They
insist that all rules be followed to
the letter but realize that q num-
Der Of its members do not know the
rules and. consequently. feel that Il
Is unfair to penalize those who bring
up doubtful points while at the same
time others are committing the same
offenses through ignorance and be-
cause they do not know any better,
fail to report them.
Golfers owe it to their clubs as
well as to themselves to learn the
rules thoroughly before competing
in events. Ignorance of the law
is no excuse" and this applies equal
ly to golf. In open events, a play
er violating a rule, even IL 1t is un-
intentional, does himself a great in
justice for while his opponent is
probably too much OF a sportsman
to mention it to him. at the same
time he runs the risk of being
thought dishonest This is not fair
to either his opponent or every other
entrant in the event. but reflects
both on himself and his club. The
only way for a player to make a sue
cess OF the game Is to familiarize
himself with the rules and those
who are not up on this phase of the
game should get out the rule book
and studY-up immediately