Another incident. The four of us were assigned to two-ball tee times, one group following the other. Around hole 16, with only one other two-ball group on the course as far as we could tell (remember the pouring rain), we decided to combine our two-balls into a four-ball group for the finish. Seemingly from out of nowhere a voice boomed - "No you won't. You start as two-balls, you finish as two-balls." O.K., they make the rules and we are privileged guests . . . but give me a break.
Amazeballs.
Why travel if you aren't prepared to try the local customs?
What club rules would you want to be given a break on at Augusta National or Cypress Point?
Fully prepared to try local customs. That's one thing I do like about travel. When "warned" we obeyed without any comment. Maybe instead of "give me a break," I should have said "somewhat surprised." Still, it seems to me that rules such as the "two-ball" rule are for a purpose - here a good one under normal conditions.
Under the circumstances (see above), I would have thought the lookout could have looked the other way. On the other hand, you might fairly say that it is a matter of principal, and clubs should never be expected to make any exceptions to their rules under any circumstances, common sense be damned. And I would agree that that is their right and privilege.
Regarding the rules I like to have a break on at Augusta National or Cypress Point, I cannot say. I don't know what their rules are and at this point have no interest in looking them up (assuming that I could).
There is another custom/rule I found a little strange at a venerable Scottish club, Royal Troon. When we visited Troon several years ago, our driver for day trips was a retired financial advisor and a member of Royal Troon. In fact, he told us he had been the youngest member every admitted to Royal Troon. Our last rounds in Scotland that trip were at Royal Troon (one on each course). After the last round, we, as "visitors," could go into the bar for a drink. By that point we'd become quite friendly with our driver/RT member, and asked him to come in with us for a drink. He said although he personally thought it was a little silly, RT members were not allowed to socialize in the bar with "visitors." If we had been playing as his "guests," that would have been another matter. (In fact, he had earlier offered a guest invitation for us to play with him, but our schedule was already full for the day he proposed.) So, all of us American golfers and our RT member/driver retired to the the bar at our Troon hotel for good-by drinks.
You may ask why a retired financial advisor, and a member of Royal Troon to boot, would be driving American golfers around on their golf holidays. He volunteered (that is, we had not asked or even hinted the question) for us that he did this simply because he enjoyed meeting and getting to know visiting golfers. Indeed, we enjoyed meeting and getting to know him, too.