Sully:
Yesterday you asked a couple of times why a golf ball "in play" is treated differently under the Rules than a ball that's been taken out of play (a ball being played by a golfer during the play of a hole is defined in the Rules as the "ball in Play" and any other ball belonging to a player such as one taken out of play is defined as his "Equipment").
Sully, you are a very bright guy and you know so much about the game of golf, you grew up with it, it's in your family, you're very good at it, you've been successful at it, and you're also very rationale and thoughtful---I truly mean all of that. And Pat surely knows so much about the game from years and years of experience and interest and he is also rationale and well reasoned (in his own odd way
) about so much that has to do with golf.
But that you would actually seriously ask that question a few times and that Pat would not really know the answer (saying he thought it might have something to do with contact between different players' golf balls) shows me just how far golf has traveled from its original roots and the original essence of the game and the principles behind its fundamental Rules.
I'm not blaming either of you at all for asking a question like that or not knowing the answer---believe me. That you two, of all people, would not know truly does show how far golf and the perception of it by even the most informed players of today has come and how far removed it must be now from what it once was and was once supposed to be.
The idea and concept of "a" golf ball "in play" is probably the very fundamental essence of the entire game of golf.
Let me try to explain why:
That idea marries seamlessly with the very definition of the game of golf that is remarkably simple;
"The GAME OF GOLF consist of playing a ball with a club from the TEEING GROUND into the HOLE by a STROKE or successive STROKES in accordance with the RULES.”
Some of the words in that simple sentence may seem bland or incidental. They aren't and they never have been in golf and in its Rules.
The word "a" ball has huge meaning. It means ONE ball---eg the "Ball in Play". There cannot be two balls "in play" or the Rulesmakers from time immemorial felt golf would then become a game of negotiation. "a" club means the same thing---eg ONE club. A golfer must not play with two or more clubs. The same with "a" stroke---eg ONE stroke etc.
Therefore "a" golf ball "In Play" is essentially sacrosanct in the game of golf and needs to be distinguished and differentiated by definition and in fact from any other golf ball belonging to a player which when taken out of play no longer holds the importance to the essence of the game as it has when it's "in play".
And of course there's more. The fact that a golf ball of a player cannot be moved or even purposely touched when "in play" goes to what Richard Tufts explained as one of the TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES of the game----"Put your ball in play at the start of the hole, play only your own ball and do not touch it until you lift it from the hole".
The other of the TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES of golf as explained by Tufts is---"You play the course as you find it". Essentially that mean you may not touch or alter the golf course as it relates in every way to both the lie and the play of your golf ball "in play".
These two Great Principles, taken together, are really the foundation of what golf (and its Rules) is and was always supposed to be. It is that way because if it weren't the game (or sport) of golf would never be able to maintain the sanctity of how the golf ball's lie (unaltered by the player) is the only TRUE CONNECTION with the golf course, the ground, and ultimately Nature itself unaltered by the player (you play the course as you find it--eg don't alter it during play).
That very connection of "a" ball "in play" (that must not be touched) with the ground unaltered by the player (the ball’s lie or anything immediately around it must not be touched or improved) is the very foundation of what golf is and was always supposed to be. The untouchable ball "in play" and its unaltered lie with and on the ground is the actual physical nexus that makes golf everything that it is.
And that explains why a golf ball "In Play" is defined in the Rules as "Ball In Play" and is in fact its own wholly separate sacrosanct concept as opposed to a golf ball taken out of play or another ball that belongs to the player playing the game that is defined as the "Equipment" of the player which is essentially everything else the player carries with him to play the game.
Again, please don't think I'm being critical of you or Pat. That neither of you knew this or fully appreciated the essence and fundamental importance of it only shows how so many years of evolution in golf with all its incumbent "Relief" situations and such as changed the game so much and even the perception of perhaps its fundamental essence along with its original principles.
Having said all that I'm prepared to also talk about both how and why so many of these changes and evolutions have taken place over the years, both positively and negatively and how I think it has made the game better in some cases albeit in others it has made the game worse, at least in the sense that its so separated now from what it once was.
Is that a good thing? Is the Game along with its Principles and Rules better now than it ever was at any time in its history? I mean that as a very legitimate question.