One might think that a person that has officiated this game for 35 years has seen and heard it all but such is not the case.
Allow me to relate a situation that I encountered at the NCAA Golf Championships last year at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma that became a rallying cry among my fellow officials for the week.
I was summoned for a ruling on the left side of the sixth hole , about 30 yards into the scrub brush and rock outcroppings. A player had hooked his tee shot badly into this area and I found him and his ball near one of the rock outcroppings. Conversation went pretty much like this.
ME-- HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
PLAYER-- DO I GET RELIEF FROM THIS?
ME-- RELIEF FROM WHAT?
PLAYER-- FROM THOSE(pointing to a bunch of beetles scurrying about)
ME-- WELL, THE'RE NOT FIRE ANTS OR ANY INSECT I WOULD CALL DANGEROUS. IF THEY WERE, YES I WOULD GRANT RELIEF BUT IN YOUR CASE THEY'RE JUST BUGS.
THE player just looked at me, befuddled and dissapointed and said with a straight face---
----" BUT, THEY'RE UGLY BUGS " --I said, ' Ball's in play, let's go " -- I tried to keep a straight face as long as I could but lost the battle before I made it to my cart.