Not having played in a proper golf tournament for at least a couple of decades means that I have not had the need to crack the spine of the Rules of Golf with any great intent for ten years and more.  In the last week, however, that has changed hugely – not because I’m going to join the Seniors’ Tour – but because of the introduction of the New Rules.  I had familiarising myself with the NRs down as one of my December jobs but, alas, other stuff seemed to get in the way and I was pretty much unaware of many of the nuances until last Monday.

Hosts of clubs up and down the country are holding Rules get-togethers to help folk understand just what has changed and to aid the members in getting to grips with new terminology and procedures.  At Delamere Forest the dubious honour of guiding the women members through this fell to Ruth Whitehead and Jackie Roper.  The hours of reading and preparation they had done so the rest of us wouldn’t have to was immense and they did a great job with a power point presentation, numerous hand-outs and off-the-cuff (and often hilarious) demonstrations.

Apparently there are now 24 rules, all designed to fulfill the stated aim of making golf Faster, Fairer, Simpler, (FFS for short).  That’s a noble aim but I wonder if the powers-that-be have left any room for further tweaking, if required, at a later date?  I ask this with particular reference to the new way to drop a ball, which seems to be the most discussed and most practised of the NRs.  Patricia’s slight knees-bend which she was pondering in last week’s blog is, I understand, a no-no – or at least a careful-careful.  The rule requires the player to drop from knee height and knee height is the height of a player’s knee when in a standing position, so I suppose you could bend your knees as long as you drop the ball from slightly higher than said bent knee?

And what about dropping when standing on a severe slope?  Is the drop from knee height where the player is standing or where it would be were you standing right on the spot where the ball is to be dropped?  Hmm!  I now understand better the herculean and complicated task of trying to simplify something.

And, of course, joking aside, the physical difficulty of dropping from knee height with straight legs is not to be underestimated.  Having undergone back surgery 30-plus years ago I have been consistently exhorted by health practitioners of all persuasions ALWAYS to bend my knees.  So, another dilemma arising from a seemingly straightforward change in the rules.

All in all, the FFS aims of the ruling bodies are admirable and, it seems to me, will be largely successful.  The current chat and general interest stimulated by the rules changes have brought clubs and players together in their collective desire to get their heads around the changes.  I do hope there is room for some slight alterations.  For instance, I’d just change the dropping height of a ball to “from anywhere between knee and shoulder”.

One final point.  As long as I’ve played the game we have done our measuring on the course in the currency of number of clublengths and this has always struck me as odd as we all play with different lengths of clubs.  Why do we not have a standard measure?  Then every player gets the same distance in terms of relief, which strikes me as eminently more fair.  It’s very easy to have a light alignment-stick style measure in your bag for the purpose.  That surely would fulfill one of the stated aims – to be fairer?  Just a thought.

 

On a Thursday morning after tai chi I like to go up to the golf club for a coffee and a wee look at people playing golf in shirt sleeves in the sunshine.  No, we haven’t gone tropical at Whittington, like the rest of the country we’re all wrapped up against the increasing chill but on the telly the professionals are playing under blue skies in places like Hawaii, Florida and Abu Dhabi.  Bliss to watch for those of us who are testing out the latest Icebreaker merino magic.

Only not yesterday.  The box and the broadband weren’t connecting, a hangover from a series of power cuts on Wednesday, so I haven’t seen a single shot of, say, Shane Lowry’s sizzling 62 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.  He had a solid 70 in the second round, so let’s hope he can end up out in front after 72 holes, no easy task after such a scintillating start.  Not that there’s any Irish bias in this corner of the blogosphere, of course.  (Do spheres even have corners?)

Also in Abu Dhabi, last week, Charley Hull won the LET’s first event of the year, the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadyat Beach Golf Club.  Newly engaged, Hull, who’s still only 22, finished one shot ahead of Marianne Skarpnord, of Norway.  She received her trophy from that irrepressible octogenarian Gary Player, who designed the course.  Winning is a great way to start the season and I’m hoping the bold Charley will be in even better form by the time the Solheim Cup comes round in September.

The match is at Gleneagles and Europe always win in Scotland, don’t we?  First, at Dalmahoy in 1992, then at Loch Lomond in 2000.  No pressure then for Catriona Matthew, the European captain, who learned her golf at North Berwick.  Juli Inkster, the US captain, is plotting an unprecedented third consecutive victory in charge of the Americans.  It should be quite a contest.

Keep an eye on potential team members Caroline Hedwall, of Sweden, Anne Van Dam, of the Netherlands, Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen and England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff, who shared third place in Abu Dhabi (alongside Luna Sobron of Spain).  They were on 3 under par, five shots behind Hull and won a grand total of $10,164.16 each.  Hull’s haul was $38,115.60.  The total purse was $300,000 – that’s US – between 56 players.  The LET’s next three tournaments are in Australia and the respective purses are $350,000, $150,000 and $150,000 – that’s Aussie dollars, so you can see that playing the tour is a long old haul, more risk than reward for most players.  You have to love it to persevere.

Over in Florida, the LPGA season is getting under way with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions presented by Insurance Office of America – we women love a snappy title – and the purse is a little more nought-encrusted at $1,200,000.  There are also only 26 players competing, including three Europeans:  Georgia Hall,  who won the Ricoh Women’s British Open in such style last year and the Swedes Anna Nordqvist and Pernilla Lindberg.

Meanwhile, here in Staffordshire the digging goes on and the heavy plant is criss-crossing the fairways.  I’ve always loved that sign “Heavy Plant Crossing”, it always makes me laugh.  Imagine a giant cactus or an obese chrysanth or a terrifying triffid stomping along determinedly, making its way to the other side.  It’s good fun dodging the diggers – note to Health and Safety buffs, I’m exaggerating, we’re well cordoned off – and keeping track of their progress.  There’s rarely a dull moment.

For the financial record, my mates and I threw prudence aside and lobbed 100 pence each into the pot – a couple of noughts but not enough to cover the cost of a cuppa these days; we’re just going for the glory.