Grim Twist To Golf Rules During Battle Of Britain

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30856, 15 September 1965, Page 15

Grim Twist To Golf Rules During Battle Of Britain

[Specially written for "The Press" by

A. J. TAAFFE]

THE rules of golf are liberally sprinkled with phrases telling players they may remove such and such an obstruction without penalty, or drop the ball a club’s length away, and not nearer the hole, again without penalty. However, a grim twist to these rules was provided during the Battle of Britain, which is to be commemorated shortly. These rules were drawn up to meet the conditions imposed by the German bombers, by Major G. L. Edsell, secretary of St. Mellons Golf and Country Club, and met with general acceptance in the United Kingdom. They were:— 1. Players are asked to collect bomb and shell splinters from the fairway to save these causing damage to the mowers. 2. In competitions during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play. 3. The position of known delayed-action bombs are marked by red and white flags placed at reasonably, but not guaranteed safe distances from the bombs. 4. Shell and/or bomb splinters on the greens may be removed without penalty. On the fairways or in bunkers within a club's length of a ball, they may be removed without penalty and

nb penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally. 5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced as near as possible to where it lay, or if lost or destroyed a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty. 6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole, without penalty. 7. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb or shell, or by machine-gun fire, may play another ball from the same place. Penalty one stroke. The bombing brought other hazards for golf clubs. Fearing air-raids might raise their premises to the ground, many clubs buried their trophies and records on the course itself and it was quite a salvage operation recovering them when the war was over. Golf correspondents too, had their share of misfortune, and the most loved of them all, the late Bernard Darwin, had to evacuate his home in Kent. In his delightful whimsical way he put it in a nutshell when he said: 'The bombs that just miss other people are as dull as the putts they just miss. Enough then, that at the beginning of October 1940 our household left its broken

windows and its grand new impromptu bunkers behind it in Kent, and headed for the Cotswolds. . . .” Golf was played in war time at every opportunity, but possibly one of the strangest places was i' a prisoner-of-war camp at Sagan near the old Polish frontier, 100 miles south-east of Berlin. Here, weekly competitions were played on a 9-hole course laid out in a small compound, 350 yards by 150 yards and running between and around the barrack huts. One club only was available between the players, and that a hickory-shafted ladies’ mashie. It was almost like a piece oft gold, such good care had io be taken of it, and this treasure was cared for by the senior officer in the camp, Group Captain Kellett. The Germans were very reasonable about golf, in spite of many windows being smashed. In the early days permission for the use of spades for the building of bunkers and banks was regarded with some suspicion until it was realised that there was no ulterior motive in the request. Later, after an appeal to Henry Cotton, Britain’s top golf professional, to do something:, more clubs were made available through the Red Cross and practically the whole camp of 300 became golf fanatics.