The U.S. Open is this week at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wis. We will surely witness a few rules questions and decisions that will impact players.
Last year’s U.S. Open winner, Dustin Johnson, found himself in a rules controversy where his ball was deemed to moved while he was about to make a putt. It was barely visible to the eye and could only be seen with a high-speed TV camera. He was given a one-shot penalty and went on the win the tournament anyway, with the golfing public on his side.
In golf, there are basically 34 rules, although there are 100 subsections and 2,000 explanatory decisions. It all makes golf one of the most ruled games on the planet.
However, there are a bunch of unwritten rules in golf that we should know as well.
The first and most obvious to most is being silent while others are hitting. While golf is a great social game to be with friends and family, it’s also a game of concentration. Stop driving your cart while a player is set up over their shot. Stop talking to anyone, including on a cell phone, until the player’s ball is in the air. And don’t play with all that change in your pocket while your friend is about to swing either. Bad etiquette.
Another concentration crusher is being visible in the player’s field of view. If you are standing too close to a player or standing behind a player where they can see you in their peripheral vision, you can surely bet you will part of the reason for their missed shot.
This includes your shadow. Don’t let your shadow creep into the field of vision or lay on any part of your friend’s line, even on the putting surface. They won’t be able to read their putt clearly with your figure over the line.
Pace of play is always a hot topic in golf. An unwritten rule to keep the game moving is the player who’s ball is closest to the hole as the group approaches the green is responsible to grab the pin. This is to save time and let the players farther away do their thing first. If you’re the closest one, mark your ball and get ready to remove the pin. However, first ask the player farthest from the hole if they want the pin tended while they putt or ask the person just off the green if they’d like the pin in or out. Karma will likely come your way when it’s your turn to putt.
Conversely and a good courtesy, if you’re the first one to putt the ball in the hole, grab the pin and be ready to put it back in the hole when your group has finished putting.
Another unwritten rule and aspect of keeping the game moving is letting faster groups go through. To let groups go through efficiently, the group letting the folks behind through should continue playing their shots until the group has actually traveled past. Also, the group going through should take less time on the greens reading putts, monkeying around and lining up 3-footers. Complete the hole and move on extra fast.
There are more unwritten rules in golf, but don’t forget this one: Water holes like new golf balls. It’s a known fact that whenever you take out a brand-new golf ball on a water hole, you’ll likely to find the water. And, of course, the more expensive the golf ball, the greater the chance it finds the dead center of the lake!
Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears weekly in the Recreation page during the golf season.