Headline: David Hayes — the MGA's Self-Professed Rules of Golf Geek — Provides Golfers With Additional Resources to Learn the Rules of Golf
For Immediate Release: February 23, 2010
Norton, MA — The Massachusetts golf community is in for a special treat this season.
David Hayes, a former member of the United States Golf Association’s Rules & Competitions Department, will be providing his unique insight on the Rules of Golf. Earlier this spring, Hayes explained why it is important for golfers of all skill and age to understand the Rules of Golf (click here to read that article).
This time around, Hayes admits that the Rules and Decisions books may not be your number one choice for summer reading, so he provides golfers with additional resources that are readily available online.
Here is a copy of that article, courtesy of the MGA’s own David Hayes.
More About Learning the Rules of Golf
By David Hayes
Posted on February 23, 2010
In my last article I touched on reasons to learn the Rules and on a few study techniques. Merely reading the Rules and Decisions books can get a bit “dry” so it is worthwhile to investigate the other resources that are available.
Rules Resources
Unsurprisingly, the best places to find Rules of Golf resources are at the sources, the USGA and The R&A web sites.
The USGA's Rules of Golf Animations do a very good job of illustrating individual concepts within the Rules. In particular, they handle the relief rules, Rules 23-28 very well. The concept of 'nearest point of relief' which many golfers struggle when learning it from the written word becomes much easier to understand when illustrated.
The R&A has some excellent videos covering the relief rules as well as parts of Rule 13 (Ball Played as It Lies) and Rule 22 (Ball Assisting or Interfering with Play) among others.
While these animations and videos do a great job, there are only a small number of them. Once you have absorbed what they have to offer you still need some daily 'rules stimulation.' A good source is the USGA's 'Rule of the Day' and their Rules Quizzes both featured on the Rules of Golf Home Page. The 'Rule of the Day' provides one Decision or Definition each day (and if you miss a day, you can access the prior ones as well). Use this as a starting point by researching the rules mentioned in the featured Decision or the rules that make use of the Definition.
For additional daily stimulation, there are many Rules of Golf discussion groups and blogs available on the internet. The Rules Student should be cautious, however, of the quality of the information that he finds in such places – don't believe everything you read! Fortunately, you are simply using that information as a starting point and always going back to your Rules and Decisions books to verify it.
Removing the Barriers to Learning
If you're like most golfers, you played the game for a few years before ever opening a Rules book. During those early years you learned “the rules” from whoever was patient enough to suffer along with your early attempts to play. For many new golfers the quality of that early rules-instruction was suspect at best. Now that you've removed the first barrier to learning the Rules, by deciding to make the effort necessary to do so, you need to prepare yourself to “unlearn” any incorrect information that you have accumulated.
In my days as a USGA Rules of Golf Associate I learned that many people are not willing to accept a clear answer from the Rules book when it contradicts a long-held notion of what is correct. The most common example that I encountered has to do with flagstick attendance. Rules-folklore holds that a player whose ball is off of the putting green can NOT have the flagstick attended (rather, he must choose between leaving the flagstick in the hole and having it removed before the stroke). The first paragraph of Rule 17-1, however, states:
Before making a stroke from anywhere on the course, the player may have the flagstick attended, removed or held up to indicate the position of the hole.
Several of the USGA's 'Frequently Asked Questions' on the Rules are based on similar common misconceptions. Reading through those FAQs may be helpful to you in breaking free of any incorrect rules information that you are still holding onto.
SIDEBAR
Importance of the Definitions, Revisited
Shortly after I sent my last article to Becky, I received an e-mail from my brother-in-law, Scott. He had been in argument with his regular group in Los Angeles and wanted me to settle it for them. On a par-3, Scott wanted to play his first stroke from more than two club-lengths behind the tee markers to match the distance that he hits his five-wood. He was told that he could not do so but no one could find where the Rules denied him the right to do so. Well, Scott had successfully found Rule 11-1 but, like many other golfers before him, had not reviewed the Definition of “Teeing Ground” which contains the dimensions of that area. Remember Scott – if you don't know the Definitions, then you don't the Rules!
About the Author
The author, David Hayes, worked in the USGA Rules & Competitions Dept. for nearly seven years before moving back to Massachusetts in 2009. During his tenure at the USGA, he was involved in handling rules inquiries, teaching rules workshops, officiating in championships and writing the Rules of Golf through his work with the USGA and Joint Rules of Golf Committees. He is looking forward to being a Massachusetts Golf Association volunteer in 2010. David writes about the Rules at his website (currently under construction): http://rulesgeek.com