ABOUT FACE ON SPI TTING

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 10

ABOUT FACE ON SPI TTING

I.V.Z. Press Assn — Copyright) LONDON. February 7. After months of careful consideration the lawmakers of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club have concluded that deliberate spitting is illegal, the Associated Press reported. This represents an about turn by the R. and A. rules committee at St Andrews, the governing body of golf outside the United States.

The habit of spitting on a club face originally had official blessing, but now deliberate spitting is punishable by disqualification. Accidental spitting, although not particularly nice, is still regarded as all right in British golfing circles. The matter came under review last year when American golfers playing on the British circuit complained about a British player, Guy Hunt, who regularly spat on the face

of his driver before playing the stroke. Hunt, who was among Britain’s top golfers when he played with a wet clubface, dropped down among the also rans when he tried to play “dry,” after the complaints. The theory was that the wet face allowed him to hit straighter and further. At first the R. and A. ruled in Hunt’s favour. But four months later, the reversal of spitting policy was announced. An R. and A. letter to Hunt said that deliberate spit was to be regarded as “foreign material to the club face so that the playing characteristics of the club could be changed purposely during the round — Rule 28.” The decision by the R. and A. brings it into line with the United States Golf Association, which outlawed spitting about two years ago.