Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

At least for a day, I am taking a break from writing about Donald Trump to focus on a better subject – golf.

For this blog, I am indebted to two sources – one of my good friends, Anne Theis, who likes golf rules as I much, if not more, than I do, and Golf Digest magazine from which I cribbed information.

I hope Anne does not mind that I used her name – and, if she does, well it’s too late.  Her name is in this blog…several times.

I write this blog because it is possible to think of golf rules mostly as carrying penalties for you as a golfer.  And, to be sure, that can be the case.

But, rules also can benefit your game.

Here is the article in Golf Digest that Anne pointed out for me and this is the lead-in to its article:

“There’s an old saying that knowledge is power.  Well, we’ve found a corollary for golfers:  Knowledge of the Rules of Golf can be a powerful asset for anyone looking to keep from giving away too many strokes during a round.

“While most people see the rules as limiting what golfers can do on the course, a broader understanding of golf’s do’s and don’ts allows players to take advantage of opportunities the rules also present — and keep your scorecard from blowing up in the process.”

Relying on Jay Roberts, assistant manager for Rules—Technology, Content and Education for the United States Golf Association, Golf Digest listed seven ways for golf rules to help any golfer, me included.

In what appears below, I am not quoting the Digest verbatim, but providing my own paraphrase of the story.

So, here are the seven:

FREE RELIEF FROM THE ROUGH TO THE FAIRWAY

Under Rule 16.1, a player is entitled to free relief from abnormal course conditions, including immovable obstructions.  The relief could result in the player getting better or worse conditions – no guarantees.

So, it is possible that a golf ball that was in the rough could be dropped in the fairway because the rules treat the fairway and rough the same, both being part of the “general area.”

MAKE STROKE-AND-DISTANCE PENALTY LESS PENAL

This one is a little complicated because a golfer has to take a penalty before taking advantage of the rules.

The situation is this:  A golfer’s drive ends up behind a tree and he or she tries to hit a draw around the tree but ends up going out-of-bounds.

Under Rule 14.6, when your ball goes out-of-bounds, you must take a stroke-and-distance penalty.  But, then take the drop the right way.  The rule allows you to drop within a full club-length of the spot you played your original shot from, not from the exact spot of that previous shot.

In other words, you have a “relief area,” which could provide enough benefit to avoid having to hit another draw.

GROUND UNDER REPAIR RELIEF

This is similar to what’s immediately above.  Taking proper relief could be positive.

Most golfers know they can get free relief when their ball comes to rest inside an area marked as ground under repair (GUR).  Fewer, however, realize that they also can get relief if their ball isn’t inside the GUR area marked, usually marked with white paint.  If their feet are in GUR when they take a stance to play their next shot under Rule 16.1, they get relief.

So, the point is that relief applies to ball, stance, and swing.

RAKING BUNKER BEFORE TAKING A DROP

This is part of what I could consider to be the strangest rule in golf – Rule 12, which deals with bunkers and, for one thing, allows golfers “to strike the sand in frustration and anger.”  Say what!

Despite that general strangeness, the following makes sense. 

If you are in a bunker and play a shot, only to hit it thin, skull it over the green and watch the ball sail out-of-bounds, then you get interesting relief.

Under the stroke-and-distance penalty, you have to drop in the sand, but the same is all messed up from your previous shot.  The good news is Rule 12.2 allows you to clean things up before your drop.  It explains that there are no restrictions on raking a bunker after a ball is played out of the bunker.

RELIEF WHEN A RIGHTY TAKES A LEFTY SHOT

Okay, here’s one I didn’t know about.

Assume a golfer’s drive leaves his or her ball up near a tree.  There’s no way to take a true right-handed swing at the ball, so the right-handed golfer decides to play the shot left-handed.  In taking his or her stance, however, his or her foot is on a cart path and the question then arises:  Can he or she get relief?

The answer is yes because, under Rule 16.1, playing an abnormal stroke doesn’t preclude you from taking relief so long as the stroke you’re trying to make isn’t “clearly unreasonable.”

After you go through the proper steps for finding the nearest point of complete relief and drop your ball back into play, you can proceed to play take the next shot with your normal right-handed stroke if that is better than continuing with the left.  Even more amazing:  If, when you take your stance to play the shot right-handed, another obstruction interferes with that stroke, you can take relief yet again.

IT’S OK TO PRACTICE BETWEEN HOLES (REALLY!)

This is also new for me.

I knew that, in match play, golfers who had finished a hole were allowed to putt again on that hole before moving on to the next hole.

But, in stroke play, I would have said “no,” until I read Golf Digest.

For this issue, Rule 5.5 makes no distinction between the two formats – match play and stroke play.  It restricts the place where practice putting and chipping is allowed to the putting green on the hole just completed, to any practice green (Rule 13.1e) at the course or to the next tee.

The main caveat:  Don’t unreasonably delay play and don’t play any shots from a bunker.

I still don’t understand this one – that the rules allow practicing on any practice green or the next tee from the green you just finished.  Makes no sense to me, so, as I play, I won’t do it.

Plus, why don’t you see tour pros doing this on the PGA Tour or LPGA?  Because the tours use a Model Local Rule I-2 that prohibits players practicing putting or chipping.

FROM OUT-OF-BOUNDS TO THE FAIRWAY

As part of the USGA/R&A rules modernization in 2019, the governing bodies drafted Model Local Rule E-5 as an option for recreational golfers who hit a ball out-of-bounds.

Rather than replay from a tee box that gives you the creeps — maybe there’s a forced carry or a dogleg that just doesn’t suite your swing — you can safely put your ball in play in the fairway at roughly the spot where your first ball went out-of-bounds.

If this model rule is in force, a downside is that you have to add two penalty strokes, so, when you’re playing that shot from the fairway, you’re hitting your fourth shot.

So, with credit again to my friend Anne Theis and Golf Digest, knowing golf rules – such as the ones above – can help, not hurt, your golf game.