Notes
about the game from Patty Ellis, Past Rules Chair
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If You’re Going To Break The Rules
Do It With Style
On the par 5 7th hole of the Yellow Course at Bethpage:
One of the players in my foursome (I hadn’t met him before) hit his ball under an isolated tree on the left side of the fairway. One of the limbs of the tree was interfering with his backswing. So he latched onto the limb and with all his weight, broke it off the tree so he could swing cleanly.
What I wanted to say to him was “if you’re going to break the rules of golf anyway, just move the ball and spare the tree”. But I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to get involved with someone who’d come up with this solution in the first place.
On the par 5 1st hole of Stony Ford (upstate NY):
My playing companion’s second shot was in deep rough. While she approached it, she put the face of her wedge underneath the ball and with a quick flick of her wrist, fluffed up her lie. Noticing that I was watching her she explained “I had a bad lie and I want to make a par”.
I suggested that next time, she should just pick the ball up and drop it into the cup for a birdie.
On the par 5 13th hole of the Black Course at Bethpage:
In a match, my competitor lost his tee shot deep in the woods. The three other players (me included) helped him search for his ball for a long time, but didn’t find it and went back to our own balls. About 30 seconds later, he took a shot just off the fairway in the short rough (about 100 yards from where his ball had gone into the woods). I assumed he was out of the hole and just dropped a ball there but he told me that he had, in fact, found his ball there, just off the fairway. Oddly, he found his ball after we had left the area.
Do I give fellow players the benefit of the doubt? Yes. Did I accuse him of cheating? No. Will I play a match with him again? Absolutely not.
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