Evening star., 1935-04-18
RULE ON PRACTICE
SWING IS RELAXED
Player No Longer Allowed
to Judge Whether Ball
Is Fit for Play.

- OLFDOM'S annual book of
conduct requirements is out
today, with the official OK.
of the United States Golf
Association on three minor changes
in the rules governing the business
of knocking a little white ball with a
stick into little round role.
Confusion which has surrounded in
terpretations of the rules for many
years has been cleared up further
in the 1885 edition of the rules of
golf as issued by the august U. S.
G. A., the supreme court of the
game.
The trio Of changes all are minor
and probably do not come up more
than few times year in the course
of the many championships played
throughout the land. They eliminate
the footnote to rule Is, relating to
moving or bending fixed or growing
objects, which also has in it the
possibility of penalty stroke incurred
by the player who takes a practice
stroke while the ball is in play. For
years there has been a provision in
the rules of golf that a player may
take practice stroke after the ball
has been hit from the tee, provided
the stroke was taken more than a
club length from the ball and did
not bend or break anything fixed or
growing. which includes grass, shrub
bery and tree branches
Proximity No Longer Factor.
NIoW a practice swing may be
~ taken any place on the course
if the player does not in that
swing remove irregularities of surface
or otherwise violate rule Is. This
is intended to remove the quaint idea
in the minds of some old-fashioned
folks that when they get into deep
rough, with high and heavy grass
surrounding the ball, they can take
the club scythe- fashion and in a
series of practice swings NOV down
the grass SO the ball canSbe hit With
out the embarrassment of cutting
through the entanglements in the
actual stroke. 1t has been done many
times and will continue to be done
again unless it is stopped.
The other rule changes have to do
with replacement of ball unfit for
play. For years the player was the
sole judge of whether a ball unfit for
play could be replaced by another
That is all changed this year. The
player no longer may call ball unfit
for play simply because it has little
cash in its cover, or for any other
reason. The decision as to whether
a ball is unfit for further play rests
with the referee. and in case there is
no referee hidden in the bushes. the
decision must be made by the COM
mittee in charge
With these exceptions the rules are
exactly as they we're last year.
Gene Attacks Pari-MutueIs.
nARI-MUTUEL betting on golf
rounds and golf tournaments
finds no favor with Gene Sarazen,
recent winner of the Augusta open.
SaraZen, who has had considerable
experience with gambling on golf, is
out today with blast against mutuel
betting, in the April issue of Golfing,
published by our good friend and
bunker -mate-Herb Crafts of Chi
cago. 1T wouldn't surprise" says
Gene. elf the U. S. G. A. in the fu-
ture outlawed from its championships
all those players who initiate a bunch
of bangtails and subject themselves to
pari-mutuel betting. Such a penalty
would be harshly drastic, but it would
serve notice that virtuous game was
not to be degraded by the very men
who have been buttering their bread
and parsnips with it,
Wonder who ghosted that one for
you, Gene? In any event, it's a good
hunch.