Hi Ladies:
The Principles of the Rules of golf expect the player to play by the Rules and not by their own decisions. It was reassuring to learn of some of our ladies’ decisions on their Rules infractions during recent Ladies play days. These expert ladies I know about, there are probably many more of you.
1. One of our ladies on the putting green recently moved her ball ever so slightly at address. No one saw, but she called the one stroke penalty, and moved her ball back the half an inch.
2. In trying to escape that pesky bunker on hole #15 one of our ladies hit her ball twice. No one saw, but she called the one stroke penalty on herself.
3. Two weeks ago the same lady accidentally hit her golf bag with her ball. Her fellow competitors saw but she was the first to say, “Rats, a one stroke penalty for me”. Either this particular lady is accident prone or likes to use the Rules!
4. The most dramatic example of responsibility came because the lady played a “wrong” ball. She hit the ball two times before realizing it was not her ball. She called the correct two stroke penalty on herself. She then tried to find her original ball but was unsuccessful. We all know the pressure on play days to keep up the pace of play so, instead of going back to the tee and hitting again, she knew to disqualify herself. She continued play even though she was out of the game. The dramatic part comes next. One the subsequent par three her shot would have won her all the cash for closest to the pin. She missed the pay day but her honesty paid in my rule book.
These examples of calling penalties on themselves are not heroic, they are just the right way to play the game. As a group it appears that we are learning the Rules and calling the correct penalties.
Way to go ladies!
dbwgc.com 