This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

To come up with the following question, you would have to be a dedicated golfer who does not have much to do with his or her time other than think about golf rules. 

Or, in this case, an even more obscure topic – what golf scores to post to produce a golf handicap?

Here’s the question (which has troubled me over the years):

Should you have to post golf scores produced in a “match-play game”?  Which is much different from the more-played form – “stroke play.”

I say the best answer is “no.”

Unfortunately, the United States Golf Association disagrees.

Here is what it says:

“Question:  Should match play scores be posted even if you do not hole out on every hole?

“Answer:  Yes.  When a hole is started but a player does not hole out, the player must record their most likely score for handicap purposes. (Rule 3.3, Rules of Handicapping)

“If the match ends with holes left to play and the players continue to play, the actual scores must be posted on every hole played.

“If a match ends with holes left to play and the players do not play the remaining holes, net par should be recorded as the hole scores for the remaining holes (keeping in mind at least 7 or 14 holes must be played for a 9- or 18-hole score to posted).”

Now, for all of us amateur golfers, how’s that for confusion and controversy.

In other words, if you don’t finish a golf hole, make up a score and post that score.  And, note, that golf used to be called “a game of honor.”

Here are a couple ways the situation plays out:

Situation 1:  You are playing in a two-person “best ball” format and your partner makes a putt before you have a chance to do so.  So, you don’t putt and just pick up your ball.  You are supposed to post the score you think would have gotten.

Stupid.

Situation 2:  You are playing in an 18-hole match, but the opposing individual or team beats you before the 18^th hole.  So, you don’t play, say, the last four holes.  You are supposed to post the scores you think you would have gotten.

Again, stupid.

If I was THE final golf rules arbiter – many of my friends would say they are glad I am not – I would rule, DON’T POST SCORES IN MATCH PLAY!

The reasons are that, (a) it is, by design, very different from stroke play, and (b) it specifically involves a very different way of thinking about how to play.  The number of strokes only matters if it affects the match, not your own score.

So, I say, don’t post scores in match play.  Do what the form of competition requires – play to win golf holes, not post a score!