These rule discussions and all their angles, (and ones I've not seen mentioned like "root rules" and "leaf rules") pull me further toward:
1. the simplicity of bifurcating/delineating Tournament Golf from "Open" or Recreational Golf in handicap, in equipment, in rules procedure(s). The latter you play with as hot equipment as money can buy, and widely liberal, (time-saving) rules, in which you carry one handicap; and the former we play with narrow equipment standards and impartial, exacting procedure where elite competitive trophies are won and associated prize money is at stake and a different handicap is tallied. I sincerely offer that it would be a trifecta win for so many ills that concern both the conscientious and specious offerings I see on this board-
- manufacturers and advertisers would nearly double the market reach...
- club and public players could have nearly twice the competition(s) format...
- The governing bodies and the now fattened industry could come to a sensible agreement on tournament-led equipment standards which have now inured us to a bombing, gauging equipment show; a place where classic architecture is under threat by largess and necessary maintenance practices to keep elite competition scores artificially in historic parameters.
- the posters who advertise a more spartan aesthetic, and who decry a loss of integrity in revised rules would retain the game's historical locus and its public exhibition entirely in their camp. They wouldn't have to bother with sandbaggers, cartballers, rules-ignorant opponents, nor would they have to hear from any bleeding hearts about whether Lexi's mark replacement constitutes a cheat, a breach or an act with human consequences...they could make those truths however they want them, as she (and any other violator) is playing "their" game.
2. The second place these discussions have pushed me further is to say that there is a rather rich nuance, a humorous environmental context that comes from the sandbagger, the vanity handicapper, the rules ignorant, the shaver, the ball-mover, the cartballer, and all the so-called integrity-wanting behavior that goes/has gone on in golf...as it does in life. I have never, not once, felt I was ever "serving the game"... I was always using the game for human recreational enjoyment, it was there for that...the wisdoms, the karma, the odd occurrences that can make the game rich, were never "Sui Generis" of Golf, but "Sui Generis" of human life...able to be frequently found in Golf, which makes the game stand out.
To close and amplify, I must relate a story:
For 35 years I have been associated with a club where at least a quarter of the members "manage" their handicaps like a stock portfolio, accented by genuine reversals and bonanzas that reveal themselves over a season. Long the standard bearer for such behavior has been one "IK," a man who was a 14 from birth, though he can play like a 9 or a 20 depending on its advantage to his tally....
One memorable Saturday morning some years ago, IK had a 25 foot putt for par-4 directly on the line of his opponent who had half as much for birdie-3.... I should note that in his game (where a total of $2000 - $5000 is regularly exchanged via a series of complicated rules/wager schemes, including Vegases, greenies, reversals, in both team and individual tallies) a birdie would have been about a $800 setback...
"IK" went through the whole shebang from every angle with me reading the putt: "What does it do; how fast do you think it is...are you sure?...etc, etc" My final call was about 2 cups right, with uphill speed..." IK blasted it a full foot right and maybe six feet past the hole...berating/teasing me in mock disgust: "That's the worst read you've given me in 30 years...Are you drunk? Do you need glasses? Did these guys pay you off in the parking lot?"....
Perhaps I don't need to tell you that his opponent, hoping to get a bit of information off his putt, had more question marks on his face than there are on The Riddler's costume...he came no where near making his 12 footer for birdie-3, instead settling for a par from just outside the leather, which cost IK about 80 bucks (but not $800).
As we walked off the green, IK (who insists that I'm the caddie when the stakes are big) taps me in the back of the leg with his putter, and mutters under his breath..."Lose small. Win big"...
From that day on, it became the fifth of what I call the IK Rules:
- Never make a putt if you don't have to.
- Just hang around, the other guy will fuck it up
- If you've got to lose a hole, lose it before a par 3 so the other guy goes first.
- Once in a while, a 7 is better than a 5.
- Lose small/win big
cheers vk