Barry Rhodes' Excellent (and free) Rules Tutorials Can Help You Learn Golf's Rules

Imagine a nice sunny spring day, and you're out on your home course playing in the first club tournament of the year.  The sky is blue, the grass is finally soft and green, and all is right with the world, because you're playing well and you're trying your best to stay in the moment, and not over-think winning the whole thing.  Standing on the tee, you just know that if you can finish off this round as well as you've played so far, you might pull it off!

You take back your club slowly and smoothly, pause at the top, and downshift your weight to revolve your shiny new technological terror of a driver into the back of your ball, and you feel a satisfying buttery feeling as the club sends the white egg skyward...and left...and long...too long.

You hit the de rigeur provisional, splitting the fairway and have a sick feeling as you ride towards your first ball.  You see it from maybe twenty five yards away, laying dead in between two out-of-bounds stakes that mark the edge of the course's property. "Damn!" you say to yourself as you scramble out of the cart to grab the ball.

"Wait a minute!" one of your foursome says. "The ball's not fully past the stakes, so it's good! Play away - no penalty!"

"Bulls***!" one of the other guys says. "It's out. Sorry, Charlie, I know that's gotta hurt."

"Nuh uh!" the first guy says. "It's IN! Saw that in a tournament last year!"

A discussion ensues, and no one seems quite sure what the rule is. You thought you knew what it was, but now these two guys have gotten you so confused that you just don't know.  'I shoulda read the Rule Book,' you think to yourself. No matter, you have to decide what to do, after all, it's your card and you'll be the one signing it.  And you need to make the call soon, because the trailing foursome is staring at your group from the teebox, getting fidgety.

What's the right call?

Do you know?

Do you know FOR CERTAIN?

Let's let Barry Rhodes explain it, in plain and simple language that anyone can understand.

If out of bounds is only marked with stakes where is out of bounds determined;

1. a)      The nearest inside points (i.e. course side)
2. b)      The whole width of the stake
3. c)       The nearest outside points (i.e. out of bounds side)

 

Answer: 1) The nearest inside points (i.e. course side)

 

From the definition;

The out of bounds line is determined by the nearest inside points at ground level of the stakes or fence posts (excluding angled supports).

Oh well. Time to play that second ball.  Fortunately, it's a par five, and even though you are lying three on the fairway after your first ball went awry, you've been crushing your three wood, and do it once again, and knock the ball to the edge of the green.  Good recovery!  Your confidence somewhat restored, you somehow you knock the ball into the back of the cup on your lag putt from the fringe. Whew, no harm to the card! 

That's the sort of rule you should know when you play golf...exactly what's out of bounds, and what isn't.  Sure, the sarcastic remark is to hit it down the middle so you never have to worry about it, but if Lee Westwood can dink one OB, you can too, and believe me, you're going to.  In a friendly foursome, that may not matter so much to you, but in a club competition where everyone is watching closely, it can, and you should absolutely know the right thing to do.  Knowing is for your own good, because the last thing you want is to have to face "The Committee" and lose a spot in the final standings...or worse.

Thankfully, Barry Rhodes has made it simpler, and free, to learn what to do in that and other situations.  He offers a weekly newsletter, called the "Rhodes Rules School" that makes picking up a new Rules nuance as easy as opening an email and reading it.  And don't think that Barry will be sending you a couple of pages of legalese to memorize, either.  Quite the contrary.  I asked him to describe what the "Rhodes Rules School" was all about. "I am sure that you are familiar with the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words"," he said. "Sometimes, words alone  are not sufficient to clearly describe some of the myriad Rules situations that occur on the golf course, so my weekly 'Rhodes Rules School' emails, pose questions that are based on the accompanying photos. The answers are referenced to the appropriate Rule or Decision number and further explanations are provided, where necessary."

In other words, you can see the situation he's telling you about, just like you'd see it out on the course.  Not bad, because golf is quite a visual game.

Barry's a Dubliner, living in Ireland, of course, and that made me wonder if the set of rules he plays by, the R&A's rules, are any different than the ones I would be subject to here in America. He told me yes, that they are the same for all intents and purposes: "Since 1952 there has only been one set of Rules, jointly published by the USGA & R&A. There is just one difference; the prize value that is permitted for a hole-in-one."

And will there be any changes to the Rules on Saturday, New Year's Day 2011?  What about grooves...after all, there are lots of advertisements talking about how the Rules will be different come the day after tomorrow. "The Rules of Golf are reviewed every four years" said Barry.  "The next revision will be in January 2012. The Decisions on the Rules of Golf are reviewed every two years and the next revision will also be in January 2012. So there will be no changes to the Rules this year."

And grooves? "So far, the USGA and R&A have only introduced  a Condition of Competition for the new groove regulations for Professional events," Barry said.  "Most amateurs still have 13 years to change their clubs!"  So no worries about that.

The bottom line here is simple: it's said that the best things in life are free, and for a golfer, becoming a Rhodes Scholar in Barry's "Rhodes Rules School" is one of them.

 To subscribe to 'Rhodes Rules School'' click here.

Or, alternatively, go to http://forms.aweber.com/form/80/425590380.htm