Golf Rules: Twenty That Aren’t in the Book!

Jun 13, 2014; Pinehurst, NC, USA; Charl Schwartzel (center) talks to rules official Keith Andrews (left) about his ball in the waste area on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2014 U.S. Open golf tournament at Pinehurst Resort Country Club - #2 Course. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 13, 2014; Pinehurst, NC, USA; Charl Schwartzel (center) talks to rules official Keith Andrews (left) about his ball in the waste area on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2014 U.S. Open golf tournament at Pinehurst Resort Country Club - #2 Course. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 21
Next

Embed from Getty Images

Bad shots are like good shots – they’re a part of the game.

Let’s be clear about this. That bad shot wasn’t the club’s fault. There was a user error somewhere in the execution, plain and simple.

There’s something about the behavior of the little white ball that evokes the full range of human emotions, from blue-white rage to euphoric joy. And there’s an interesting little twist here – when the ball does what we want, it’s because we are athletes of the first order; but when the ball strays, it’s the club, the woodpecker at work, the buzzard shadows overhead, or one of our foursome clearing her throat.

I once watched one of the guys in the foursome playing in front of me toss his entire bag of clubs into the woods that ran along the fairway, one club at a time, over the course of the entire front nine. It didn’t help his game, although it did provide considerable fodder for jokes in my foursome.

Don’t take those bad shots out on your clubs. A wise instructor once told me, after I’d slammed my club into the ground in anger, “If you can’t accept bad shots, put your clubs in a yard sale and take up knitting.”

Next: Don't Play the Blame Game