To those of you who do not play competition golf, the following has no relevance. To those of you who do, read on.
Let’s assume you’re playing golf in LOS and your caddie:
- Uses the flag stick, hand or other implement to touch the putting surface to indicate your line of putt.
- Asks another more experienced caddie for advice on club selection, or the break on a tricky green?
- Taps down a pitch-mark on the apron, positioned between your ball and the putting surface.
- Repairs scuff-marks on your line of putt.
- Thinking your two-inch putt will be given, picks up your ball.
- Upon removing her ball-marker, thumbs-down or smooths the putting surface immediately behind your ball.
- Your playing partner’s caddie replaces his ball in front of the marker – in the normal way. Yet you’re sure when she originally marked his ball she positioned the marker to the side. She repeats this action on the next green.
These and other similar examples are everyday occurrences on any course in Thailand. Everyday occurrences? No, make that many times during the course of a single round, especially rounds involving Farang whose golfing experience is limited to Thailand.
A two-inch tap-in and she picks it up!
Perhaps some have played with a venue or outlet that insists on adhering to the Rules, to the extent that caddie mistakes, as outlined here, always incur the appropriate penalty. I personally can’t recall playing with such a group. And if I did, I doubt whether I would return.
Most of us know that under the Rules of Golf, occurrences as outlined above incur a one or two-shot penalty. More imposing is Rule 1-3 Agreement to Waive Rules, where the penalty for breach is disqualification. Yet agreement to waive rules is what I’m advocating.
What authority am I invoking here? Unfortunately I cannot instance any, and this is the point of the post. The Local Rules of IPGC and PSC make no allowance for these or similar situations involving unwitting rules transgressions by caddies. Yet common sense and equity demands, in my view, golfers not be penalised for the ignorant actions of caddies.
The wiser of Pattaya’s golf venues, when asked, will say that golfers need not be penalised for certain actions of their caddies. A common convention in some golf outlets is to allow caddies one error per event, or one chance per infringement, regardless of how many separate infringements may occur per round. The golfer is then charged with advising her/him of their mistake, and accepts that a repeat will incur a penalty. Please note that this involves actions carried out by a caddie about which the golfer had no prior knowledge. It does not include the golfer accepting her advice in error, e.g. wrongly claiming an entitlement such as a free drop, or mistaking the extent of a hazard line etc. That’s the golfer’s error, not the caddies.
The problem is that many golfers don’t know that such unwritten concessions exist. Surely a duty of any golfing administration is to ensure all players are playing by the same rules? So why don’t our local administrators provide for “caddie leeway” in their Local Rules?
The answer may have something to do with the likelihood of the R&A approving such a Local Rule being zilch. Yet any reasonably-minded administrator, who has ever played golf in Thailand, would recognise the need for lenience.
It comes down to playing in a country which has its own unique way of doing things, particularly things involving caddies, and to a lesser extent green keepers, six-balls and, well, just being Thai. Here are some mitigating factors:
- It is compulsory to hire the services of a caddie when playing golf in Thailand.
- The golfer, more often than not, doesn’t or can’t choose his/her caddie.
- Very few caddies understand the Rules of Golf.
- Few caddies speak or understand English.
I believe a somewhat liberal interpretation of Rule 1-4 could apply:
Rule 1-4: Points Not Covered by Rules. If any point in dispute is not covered by the Rules, the decision should be made in accordance with equity.
Surely that’s what it’s all about, equity, fairness? Ensuring we are all playing by the same set of rules, singing from the same song sheet? Yet how does equity to all apply here, when many don’t know such conventions exist? Where do they go to find out, and what about the issue of uniformity between venues?
The IPGC and PSC contribute a great deal to Pattaya golf. The enjoyment of thousands of golfers, me included, wouldn’t be the wonderful experience it is without the dedicated work of unselfish golf administrators at both organisations. Notwithstanding, in this instance some well-intentioned golfers, by sticking to the Rules, are being unfairly penalised.
I believe Local Rules is the appropriate forum to address this oversight.
Happy golfing,
Golfnutter
