Recently, I had an opportunity to join a few friends in The Woodlands, TX and play The Woodlands Country Club’s Tournament Course. This was the old TPC where the Shell Houston Open used to be played before it moved to Redstone Golf Club. As a junior golfer, our summer Tournament of Champions was played there and any chance to play this course as a kid I would take it. Even as an adult I still get excited at for opportunities to revisit all the good (and bad) times I’ve had playing there.
As I was playing the 13th, the infamous par 5 island green hole, I remembered a good lesson I learned about the rules of golf one summer. I was not playing this hole particularly well that day, but I managed to make it over the water and my ball landed on the bridge you cross to get to the green. I was just happy the ball didn’t land in the water. I took a couple of practice strokes striking the bridge each time to feel how my club would respond. After putting out, I penciled an eight on my scorecard and felt thankful to walk away with ‘just an eight’, or so I thought.
Before we teed off on the next hole one of my playing partners informed me that I grounded my club in a hazard twice and the penalty is two-strokes for each swing. WHAT?!? That means I would receive a total of four additional stokes on that hole. I was thinking No Way. I was on a bridge. I didn’t even touch the water. I pulled out my rule book, looked for anything that might prove me right and her wrong. Unfortunately, under Rule 13-4 came into play in this event. It states a player may not touch the ground in a hazard and the bridge was clearly marked inside the hazard. I received those two-stroke penalties for each time I grounded my club to take my practice swing and ended up carding a 12 on that hole. I was devastated. I don’t remember the rest of the round or even what I shot. I just remembered the tough lesson I learned.
I am responsible to know the rules of golf when I play and the other player did the right thing by pointing out my error. She had to protect the rest of the field in the tournament and make sure I was playing by the rules. Hard lessons like this hurt at the time, but they are good teaching opportunities both for experienced players and players new to the game of golf. Because of this tough lesson, I always make sure there is golf rule book in my bag at all times. It’s always good to be prepared. It’s also a good to maintain the integrity of this great game we all enjoy.