How Am I Supposed to Protect the Field?
Dear Molly: I was told I’m supposed to “protect the field” when I have someone else’s scorecard. What exactly does that mean and what are my duties in this situation?
Ooh, that’s a tricky one. I remember having been entrusted with another player’s scorecard in a club championship and faithfully tracking her shots on each hole and then checking with her on her score. After a few holes, she said with exasperation, “Stop counting my strokes!”
That’s how I learned that many players believe our only duty in this situation is to write down whatever score they tell us, which is an ideal strategy for protecting our round from conflict. It is not, however, protecting the rest of the field – particularly in higher-handicap tournament flights where a chunked shot or penalty stroke can go easily overlooked en route to what we thought was a triple bogey but was really a quad.
For Ben Pennymon, Director of Golf Operations and ad hoc tournament director at the CGA’s CommonGround, “protecting the field” means keeping players accountable in both playing by the rules and scoring properly.
“You should be roughly aware of what the person you’re scoring for is doing,” he says. “I’m not saying you’re keeping a bead counter on them, but you’re tracking their shots. Then when they report their score at the end of the hole, you’re kind of the check. For example, we’ve all been in situations where it’s ‘I got a double bogey on that hole,’ and someone says, ‘Did you really? I thought it was a triple.’ That little check leads to going back over the hole and, ‘Oh yeah, you’re right, I did have that extra shot, I forgot about that.’ Just that small check I think is important.”
Pennymon points out that just knowing someone is watching us raises our awareness of playing by the rules and counting our shots — not that we should be assessing penalty strokes on the person for whom we’re scoring.
“I think it’s OK to say something if you see them getting ready to proceed like ‘Hey, I don’t think you should be dropping there,’ or ‘There’s actually a drop area farther up where you can take relief.’ I think that’s OK and part of the congenial nature of the game, particularly in competition. You even see this on the tours, where players will say, ‘You should proceed like this, da da da da da da,’ or ‘I don’t know about that, you should call a rules official.’ “
Even when not asked, it is much better to assist the player for whom you’re scoring in following the rules than to serve as their referee. An absolutely no-no when scoring for someone else is waiting until the end of a hole to say, “I saw you break (such and such a rule) and that’s a two-stroke penalty.”
“I use the term ‘congenial,’ and that would be against the whole deal, not in the spirit of the game,” says Pennymon.
One way we can all avoid that predicament is to call over our scoring partner when we have a decision to make about ground under repair procedure or where we think our ball crossed into a penalty area – even though the rules don’t require us to have a witness.
“I think it’s helpful to get feedback so that no one from afar sees that you may have proceeded incorrectly and then you end up DQ’d or with additional penalties,” says Ben. “And by having someone scoring for you, you have someone you can bring in to help make an evaluation. It creates an additional layer of oversight that helps keep everyone honest.”
That’s not say there aren’t cheaters in golf. If you suspect you’re scoring for one, consult these strategies and throw up a prayer to the golf gods.
Do you have a question about golf etiquette, golf relationships or the culture of golf in Colorado? Email it to Molly McMulligan, the CGA’s on-the-course advisor on how to have more fun on the golf course, and follow @MollyMcMulligan on Instagram. Her creator, researcher and writer is golf journalist and CGA member Susan Fornoff.
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