Hello fellow metro senior members my name is Gary Brown I am the leagues Rules Chairman. The members of the Rules Committee and myself are going to be making regular monthly posts trying to clarify the rules that we all must play by. This will keep our league a great place to play the game we love both now and in the future. We all compete for the same thing, a spot in our championship, so it is important that we all play by the same rules and understand how the rules can be applied. Sometimes to our advantage and sometimes not so much. I have decided to call it the “Rules Roundtable” and I will attempt to address a new rule every other week. I hope everyone finds this new segment interesting and enjoys learning more about the rules of golf.
As you all know we play by the USGA rules with some exceptions for the metro seniors. Those exceptions will be the target of my rules roundtable. We are a handicapped league to make it fair for everyone. So if you’re picking up putts or not counting all your strokes you may be unintentionally lowering your handicap and costing yourself strokes and prize money every week you play. By the way, none of our exceptions concern “gimmes” or “mulligans” and the USGA does not allow for either. Every stroke up to 9 must be counted to keep our league fair for everyone.
If you have other questions about rules you can send them to me at rules.questions@gkbrown.net.
I recently attended a rules adherence meeting with the division VP’s, the President, other Board members and a few members of the Rules Committee. We discussed all types of rules violations and how to handle those violations. There were several solutions discussed. I must admit some were better than others and some were pretty harsh. The Executive Committee is serious about having everyone play by the same rules.
Let’s all hope for a great 2019 and a couple more rounds this year.
Author: Gary Brown
Look for our next post discussing the “Provisional Ball Rule”