Our League Has Rules Newbies!
Dear Molly: Happily, our league’s got new members, but a few of them have never played strictly by the rules. How can we help, without seeming like overly bossy Baby Boomers to younger generations?
Uh, well, that seemed like such a simple question – but then you got to that last part and introduced an elephant in the fairway!
I’m guessing your league is made up of women, because I’ve never met a man who worried about seeming overly bossy. However, the generational gap that sends scorn the way of those born between 1946 and 1964 is a real thing for both genders.
Research and psychology have yielded some fixes for those in the workplace, and a few of them seem applicable to golf leagues. For example, Baby Boomers set meetings, younger people message, text and sometimes email. That says that periodic communications highlighting rules situations will be welcomed more than an annual rules seminar. Baby Boomers became accustomed to annual reviews, while younger workers look for regular feedback and communication. That says partnering rules-deficient newbies with personable members who will share their own experiences learning (and, still, never 100 percent knowing) the Rules of Golf might yield better results than having the rules chair bring down the hammer.
“I think the first line of defense is education, early before the season even starts,” says CommonGround Director of Golf Operations Ben Pennymon. “Encourage players to go and explore the rules before they even get into a competitive situation. And if someone’s newer and expresses that they don’t know the rules, pair them up with someone who knows how to proceed on the golf course under the rules.”
When I moved to Colorado, I left a club in California that played loosely by the rules. For example, when we hit into a penalty area, we just threw another ball down where we thought it went in and played on. In my first round with the new club, I did that in front of the president and her eyes just about buggered out of her head. She asked if I knew that I was supposed to measure two club lengths from where I went in, put down a tee, hold the ball (back then) shoulder height, yada yada, and I said yes but in my old club, “we didn’t bother with all that.”
Ah, those were the days. In the new club, the president said, “We play by USGA rules.” So usually when I had a rules situation I made sure I asked one of the other players in my foursome to either guide me or at least observe and give me feedback.
It helped that I chose to have a questioning, not defensive, attitude. Your league can encourage this by pointing out that even professional players need help sometimes understanding how to proceed when their ball is in a tree or next to a fence. And players of all generations will be happy to hear that now there’s an app for that, the USGA’s Official Rules of Golf.
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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