GOLF.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 240, 7 October 1916, Page 16

GOLF.

Possibly the game of golf is gowned by more rules than any otter eport or pastime, but, like the notice, ".Replace your divots," they are heedlessly ignored. One of the first duties of the aspiring golfer is to learn the rules before learning the game. Few—very few—golfers study the rules, and I doubt very much if some of them have ever read them at all (says a Victorian writer). There is an old saying that "ignorance of the rules is worth a stroke a hole," and from all accounts this is a fact that cannot be denied. Possibly rule 7 is one that is most transgressed. It reads: "When the balls are in play, the ball farther from the hole shall be played first; through the green, or in a hazard, if a player play when hie opponent should have played, the opponent may at once recall the stroke. A ball so recalled shall be dropped as near as possible to the place where it lay, without penalty/ How often do we see a player intent on his own game, and who keeps to the fairway play on up to the green, whilst his more unfortunate opponent, having pulled or sliced into the rough, is toiling many yards behind, and has possibly lost his ball. Even when the ball ia lost, I have seen the player hole out, and then condescendingly walk back to assist in findI ing the lost ball. Neither knows - for certain how many strokes each have played. The lost ball is found, and the opponent then plays up to the green and holes out. It is here that the trouble commences by each asking how many they have played. Oh, I played seven, saye one, and I played four, says the other, and so their scores are recorded, heedless of the fact that either may have unintentionally, of course, dropped a couple of etitohes, as it were, and this, perforce, is how many competitions arc won and lost. If the rule was properly observed, this uncertainty could not possibly happen, and it clearly demonstrates how necessary and incumbent it is that the nulee should be carefully studied. It i 6 all very well that a certain amount of latitude is given and taken in a friendly game, but when it comes to competitions, if I interpret the spirit of the game correctly, a player has no right to take anything on trust, nor to expect or even allow his opponent to overlook any breach of any rule, however trifling tho breach, may appear. Each competitor holds a position of trust in regard to all other competitors, and all rely_ upon one another to see that the game, is played in accordance with the roles. It would not be a bad idea to even go further, and allow no player to take part in a competition, unless he was qualified id do so ijy knowing ffiio "ralest o£ the .gasae."