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.

One of my on-line golf magazines came up with a story this week under the headline I used for this blog:  “Seven of the weirdest rules in golf.”

Well, for me, the magazine forgot the rule that should be leader of the pack – Rule #12 in the official rules of golf promulgated by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and Royal and Ancient (R and A) organization in Europe.

Before listing the seven weirdos from the magazine, let me focus on Rule #12.

It deals with bunkers and, incredibly, allows this in the sand:

• Digging in with your feet to take a stance for a practice swing or the stroke.
• Smoothing the bunker to care for the course.
• Placing your clubs, equipment or other objects in the bunker (whether by throwing or setting them down).
• Measuring, marking, lifting, replacing or taking other actions under a Rule.
• Leaning on a club to rest, stay balanced or prevent a fall.
• Striking the sand in frustration or anger.

Yeah, you read that right!

It is acceptable to “strike the sand in frustration or anger.”

Beyond that piece of stupidity, it used to be that golfers had to be careful in the sand to avoid testing it before hitting a shot.  Under golf Rule #12, no longer.

When I volunteer at Oregon Golf Association events in my home state, if a rules official saw a player “strike the same in frustration or anger,” he or she would get a “code of conduct” penalty.

For my part, I cannot understand how the powerful writers at the USGA and R and A would allow Rule #12 to make it into the official rules book.

Now, on to the other seven weird golf rules, with credit to GolfWeek for this information:

1. Don’t Lose Your Head

Under the Rules of Golf, whether a stroke counts occasionally has less to do with what happened and more to do with what you intended to do.  If you start a swing intending to strike the ball and the clubhead snaps off during the downswing, tough luck.  The stroke still counts, even if you finish the motion holding nothing but the shaft.

There is, however, a narrow escape clause. If the clubhead goes rogue during the backswing and you manage to stop before the downswing begins, no stroke has occurred.  No motion toward the ball, no penalty.  A small mercy from the “golf gods” indeed.

2. Spit Happens (But Not Here)

Long before launch monitors and slow-motion replays, hustlers like the legendary Titanic Thompson discovered that a little lubrication on the clubface could dramatically change how the ball behaved.

Today, the Rules of Golf are far less forgiving.  You’re not allowed to apply any substance to your clubface if it could influence the ball flight, including sunscreen, lip balm, Vaseline, and yes, spit.

Naturally occurring moisture like rain, morning dew, tears from a triple-bogey—all fine. But deliberate dampening? That’s cheating, plain and simple.

 3. A Birdie of a Different Kind

At the 1998 Players Championship, Brad Fabel hit his tee shot safely onto the 17th-hole island green at TPC Sawgrass.  A victory, if only briefly.  Moments later, a seagull flew off with his golf ball and dunked it in the water.

Ridiculous?  Absolutely.  Unprecedented?  Not even close.  The Rules of Golf are well prepared for avian crime.  When an animal moves your ball, it’s considered outside interference.  So, there’s no penalty.  You simply replace the ball where you reasonably believe it was before your feathered adversary decided to get involved.

4. Moving Targets

There are moments on the golf course that make you think, “Surely that’s never happened to anyone.”  The Rules of Golf would politely disagree. Take, for example, your ball landing on a moving golf cart.

If this happens, the procedure is mercifully straightforward.  First, yell “Fore!” (hopefully you did).  Then determine the spot directly beneath where the ball came to rest (or would have) and drop within one club length, no closer to the hole.

No penalty strokes apply.

5. High Stakes

As we know, golf courses use colored stakes to define different areas of play.  But they don’t all follow the same rules.

White stakes mark out of bounds.  And because they define the edge of the course itself, they are considered boundary objects.  They are immovable and must not be repositioned, even if they interfere with your swing.

Red and yellow stakes, on the other hand, mark penalty areas.  These are treated more flexibly.  If they interfere with your stance, swing, or the process of taking relief, you’re allowed to move them, provided you don’t improve your lie or conditions affecting the stroke. 

6. Golf Rocks

The Rules of Golf include a category known as “loose impediments”—natural objects that aren’t fixed or growing, such as twigs, leaves, or stones. A player is allowed to remove loose impediments anywhere on the course, even in a penalty area, as long as the ball doesn’t move in the process.

7. A Prickly Situation

Golfers in desert regions occasionally find their balls nestled against, or lodged inside, a cactus.  At that moment, confidence fades, hands go to hips, and one question matters more than all others: “ Do I actually have to hit this?”

Under the standard Rules of Golf, a cactus is just part of the course.  Which means, strictly speaking, you are expected to play the ball as it lies.

However, many courses adopt a Local Rule that treats cacti, and other dangerous plants, as immovable obstructions or no-play zones, granting free relief.  If no Local Rule exists, you still have options.  You can declare the ball unplayable, take a one-stroke penalty, and drop at a safer spot.

Okay, on to my conclusion after the GolfWeek list. 

 The Rules of Golf can be described as too complicated for general understanding.  That’s accurate.  Rule writers should have had a crash course in how to write clearly. Even so, all of us in golf should try to know the rules and play on –