USGA RULE OF THE WEEK

WEEK 3 — QUICK AND EASY PENALTIES

Dear USGA Rules Department,

Although I expect little sympathy from you or your readers, I hope you can help me with my unique problem. Recently, my golf game has improved so dramatically that I am having too much success in the competitions at my club. I feel that I would appear anti-social if I chose not to compete and it seems contrary to the spirit of the game for me to play without 'giving it my all.' I was hoping you could help me incur more penalties to offset my recent improvements. Please keep in mind that I would prefer not to cause a distraction to my fellow-competitors or opponent while incurring these penalties.

Sincerely,
Improving Rapidly in Dubuque

Dear Improving Rapidly in Dubuque,

You've come to the right place! With the 2008 revision to The Rules of Golf just around the corner, we here at Golf House are so anxious to clear out our inventory of 2004-2007 penalties that we're practically giving them away. Let's jump right in on inflating your score or, better yet, getting you disqualified from the competition...

Finished before you even start
Nothing says "I'm not interested in scoring well" like being late for your time of starting. With minimal effort (e.g. hitting the snooze alarm too many times) you can get yourself disqualified under Rule 6-3 without ever playing a stroke. Be careful, though, many Committees (including the USGA in its championships) adopt the Note to Rule 6-3 which reduces the penalty for failing to start on time to two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play when the player arrives at his starting point, ready to play, within five minutes of his appointed time. You'll also have to be careful that you do not have a justifiable reason for being late; otherwise the Committee may waive the entire penalty (be sure to read Decision 6-3a/1.5 to help you avoid giving the Committee justification for waiving the penalty).

Practice makes penalized
Rule 7 will help you incur penalties while maintaining the appearance of trying your hardest. To earn a quick trip home (or to the 19th hole) via disqualification, under Rule 7-1, all you have to do is practice on the competition course before a round of a stroke-play competition or between rounds of a stroke-play competition when those rounds are scheduled over consecutive days. This won't work in match play; however, unless the Committee has specifically stated the players in a match may not practice on the course before the match (see the Note to Rule 7-1). When trying to be disqualified under Rule 7-1, be sure to make more than one practice stroke on the competition course; otherwise the Committee might reduce your penalty – see Decision 7-1b/1.

If you were so rushed to get to the course that you did not have time to practice in breach of Rule 7-1, there's still the opportunity to earn valuable loss of hole penalties or penalty strokes (affectionately known to some as "bonus points") by practicing during the play of a hole or by practicing between the play of two holes in a manner other than as permitted by Rule 7-2. To increase your opportunity for penalty under Rule 7-2 between the play of two holes, ask the Committee in charge of your competitions to further limit the areas in which it is permissible to practice – see Note 2 to Rule 7-2.

I own all these clubs, by golly, I'm going to carry them
Another excellent way to incur penalties with little or no effort is via Rule 4. Rather than taking the prudent step of checking, before starting his round, that he has no more than 14 conforming clubs, a player on a quest for penalties waits until after he has played his tee shot at his second hole. By waiting until he has made a stroke at the second hole, the player with too many clubs ensures that he incurs the maximum penalty of 2 two-stroke penalties (at his first two holes) in stroke play.

So Improving Rapidly in Dubuque, as you can see, the Rules are there to help you avoid those unwelcome victories.

Reprinted with permission from the USGA.