There were 13 original rules of golf, and here they are:
1. You must Tee your Ball, within a Club’s length of the Hole.2. Your Tee must be upon the Ground.3. Your are not to change the Ball which you Strike off the Tee.4. Your are not to remove, Stones, Bones or any Break Club for the sake of playing your Ball, Except upon the fair Green & that only within a Club’s length of your Ball.5. If your Ball comes among Watter, or any Wattery Filth, your are at liberty to take out your Ball & bringing it behind the hazard and Teeing it, you may play it with any club and allow your Adversary a Stroke for so getting out your Ball.6. If your Balls be found anywhere touching one another, You are to lift the first Ball, till you play the last.7. At Holling, you are to play your Ball honestly for the Hole, and, not to play upon your Adversary’s Ball, not lying in your way to the Hole.8. If you shou’d lose your Ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to go back to the Spot, where you struck last & drop another Ball, and allow your Adversary a Stroke for the misfortune.9. No man at Holling his Ball, is to be allowed, to mark his way to the Hole with his Club or, any thing else.10. If a Ball be stopp’d by any person, Horse, Dog, or any thing else, The Ball so stop’d must be played where it lyes.11. If you draw your Club, in order to Strike & proceed so far in the Stroke, as to be bringing down your Club; if then, your Club shall break, in, any way, it is to be Accounted a Stroke.12. He, whose Ball lyes farthest from the Hole is obliged to play first.13. Neither Trench, Ditch, or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, nor the Scholar’s Holes or the Soldier’s Lines, Shall be accounted a Hazard; But the Ball is to be taken out/Teed/ and play’d with any Iron Club.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Joe,
You seem to always give a hard time to “purists”. How do you define a purist?
Answer – It’s all in fun, don’t take it too seriously. A purist is one who will defend a law or rule no matter how stupid the law or rule is, instead of working to get it changed, or using some common sense depending on the situation. You cannot legislate common sense. An example of a golf purist might be a guy who insists on marking his ball one inch from the cup just because someone else is away, because proper etiquette says you should not shoot unless you are away. People with some common sense would just tap the ball in to save time. Anyway, let’s have some fun with this, I hereby announce the creation of “The Purist Corner”.
The Purist Corner – Point and counter-point:
Point – (Mantra) – A rule is a rule and you cannot change the rule because all rules are good rules.
Counter-Point – Not all rules are good rules. If you don’t believe that, be careful when you go to Arizona, in some parts they have a local rule that says “When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses”. So if the criminal has a knife and you have a gun, you cannot use the gun to protect yourself, because if you do, you are breaking the rule.
You Make The Choice – which makes more sense, to seek to have rules improved when they do not make sense, or choose to meekly sit by and condone injustices? In this case, purists, before you get stabbed, you might consider breaking the rule (gasp!).
You seem to always give a hard time to “purists”. How do you define a purist?
Answer – It’s all in fun, don’t take it too seriously. A purist is one who will defend a law or rule no matter how stupid the law or rule is, instead of working to get it changed, or using some common sense depending on the situation. You cannot legislate common sense. An example of a golf purist might be a guy who insists on marking his ball one inch from the cup just because someone else is away, because proper etiquette says you should not shoot unless you are away. People with some common sense would just tap the ball in to save time. Anyway, let’s have some fun with this, I hereby announce the creation of “The Purist Corner”.
The Purist Corner – Point and counter-point:
Point – (Mantra) – A rule is a rule and you cannot change the rule because all rules are good rules.
Counter-Point – Not all rules are good rules. If you don’t believe that, be careful when you go to Arizona, in some parts they have a local rule that says “When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses”. So if the criminal has a knife and you have a gun, you cannot use the gun to protect yourself, because if you do, you are breaking the rule.
You Make The Choice – which makes more sense, to seek to have rules improved when they do not make sense, or choose to meekly sit by and condone injustices? In this case, purists, before you get stabbed, you might consider breaking the rule (gasp!).
Monday, February 07, 2005
Joe,
Why do we need separate water hazard rules for lateral?
Larry
Hi Larry,
Due to the way the rule was written, you have to drop BEHIND the spot where the ball entered the water, along the line to the hole. Therefore if you hit the ball in the ocean, you might have to drop in Australia if it were not for the lateral rule. If it were up to me, I would change the wording of the rule to get rid of the phrase “behind the spot” to allow dropping at the nearest relief point no closer to the hole, then we would not need two separate rules. If the purists object, I would take away the lateral rule and make the purists drop in Australia.
Joe
Why do we need separate water hazard rules for lateral?
Larry
Hi Larry,
Due to the way the rule was written, you have to drop BEHIND the spot where the ball entered the water, along the line to the hole. Therefore if you hit the ball in the ocean, you might have to drop in Australia if it were not for the lateral rule. If it were up to me, I would change the wording of the rule to get rid of the phrase “behind the spot” to allow dropping at the nearest relief point no closer to the hole, then we would not need two separate rules. If the purists object, I would take away the lateral rule and make the purists drop in Australia.
Joe
