Punishing Perfection
It seems unfair to do something absolutely perfectly and be punished for it. Rearden did it. Roark did it. Thousands of golfers do it every day. I am of course talking about hitting it into a divot, and not building a rail line or a building.
There are a lot of problems with the rules that govern golf. Best described, it is a civil code that fills gaps with “decisions.” These decisions are about as consistent as the length of the chancellor's foot. I could go on for hours, but I won’t.
This Sunday, on the 72nd hole of the United States Open championship a young man (Ogilvie D Australia) hit his ball straight down the fairway and it came to rest in a divot. A divot is a small hole created by a previous golfer’s shot. The general rule is that a player must “play the ball as it lies.” If FIGJAM Mickleson (Fuck I’m good, just ask me) (R - Arizona) hadn’t totally screwed up, this young golfer could have been denied the U.S. Open because of a stupid rule. I guess it was Karma.
Rules are rules. The reason you aren’t allowed to move it is because “you should play the ball as it lies” and allowing people to move it would create a slippery slope about when it is ok to move it.
The problem is that there are already lots of exceptions. For example, ground under repair, immovable obstructions (buildings), staked trees, sprinkler heads, yardage markers and the list goes on. You will note that in most instances, you have to hit a bad shot to get relief from the above list. I think my point is pretty obvious- if the R&A/USGA is willing to allow you to circumvent the first rule of golf club (pun intended) in these instances, why are they unwilling to grant relief when you hit a perfect shot? I could argue that a divot should be deemed as ground under repair- the repair is just going to take little longer.
You might think I am nuts, but this is actually a serious problem. It is a huge issue on short par fours and on par fives where people are laying back to specific yardages. I was watching one aerial shot of the course, and certain parts of the course looked like it had highly concentrated acne from all the filled divot holes. To make matters worse, most people don't know how to fill divots properly, and so it is even harder to hit a shot out of an improperly filled divot. Basically, you are forced to rely on luck after hitting a perfect shot. It’s stupid. Unfortunately, the analysis doesn’t get much deeper. I could recount the 500 hundred times it has happened to me, and for some odd reason, usually in tournament play. But I digress...
Sadly, the rules are replete with other examples where good shots are punished. For example, you can fix a ball mark on a green but not a spike mark. What is the value of that rule? Luckily, as a direct result of this stupid rule, the golf shoe industry has moved to spike-less technology and most courses have banned golf spikes. As a result, on wet days I sometimes fall down when I swing too hard.
There are a lot of problems with the rules that govern golf. Best described, it is a civil code that fills gaps with “decisions.” These decisions are about as consistent as the length of the chancellor's foot. I could go on for hours, but I won’t.
This Sunday, on the 72nd hole of the United States Open championship a young man (Ogilvie D Australia) hit his ball straight down the fairway and it came to rest in a divot. A divot is a small hole created by a previous golfer’s shot. The general rule is that a player must “play the ball as it lies.” If FIGJAM Mickleson (Fuck I’m good, just ask me) (R - Arizona) hadn’t totally screwed up, this young golfer could have been denied the U.S. Open because of a stupid rule. I guess it was Karma.
Rules are rules. The reason you aren’t allowed to move it is because “you should play the ball as it lies” and allowing people to move it would create a slippery slope about when it is ok to move it.
The problem is that there are already lots of exceptions. For example, ground under repair, immovable obstructions (buildings), staked trees, sprinkler heads, yardage markers and the list goes on. You will note that in most instances, you have to hit a bad shot to get relief from the above list. I think my point is pretty obvious- if the R&A/USGA is willing to allow you to circumvent the first rule of golf club (pun intended) in these instances, why are they unwilling to grant relief when you hit a perfect shot? I could argue that a divot should be deemed as ground under repair- the repair is just going to take little longer.
You might think I am nuts, but this is actually a serious problem. It is a huge issue on short par fours and on par fives where people are laying back to specific yardages. I was watching one aerial shot of the course, and certain parts of the course looked like it had highly concentrated acne from all the filled divot holes. To make matters worse, most people don't know how to fill divots properly, and so it is even harder to hit a shot out of an improperly filled divot. Basically, you are forced to rely on luck after hitting a perfect shot. It’s stupid. Unfortunately, the analysis doesn’t get much deeper. I could recount the 500 hundred times it has happened to me, and for some odd reason, usually in tournament play. But I digress...
Sadly, the rules are replete with other examples where good shots are punished. For example, you can fix a ball mark on a green but not a spike mark. What is the value of that rule? Luckily, as a direct result of this stupid rule, the golf shoe industry has moved to spike-less technology and most courses have banned golf spikes. As a result, on wet days I sometimes fall down when I swing too hard.
posted by Atlas Hugged at
7:13 a.m.
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