PGAProfessional.com Blog
If one must have one, I guess...

At this year's Monterey event there were some negative comments about Poppy Hills and some positive comments about Monterey Peninsula Country Club. It has been many years since I have played MPCC, but it was always my favorite course on the Monterey Peninsula -- and the best greens I ever putted on in my life (didn't actually help me MAKE any more of the putts but the experience was a 10 on a 10 scale). So I would agree that MPCC rocks and it's really great that it is back in the tournament. But Poppy Hills is a great golf course too. If it doesn't drain well or something, just fix it, right? I have always thought very highly of Poppy Hills too - so I would cast a vote to keep it in the mix as part of the event somehow, even if just rotationally. I have had good experiences there as well, so thumbs up for Poppy too.

Question:

If my index is 13.2 and my playing partner is 7.8, should he be giving me 5 or 6 stokes in a match play event? I think it should be 6, he believes it should be 5.

William Ross
Palm Springs, CA

Answer:

Hi William,

Always refer to the tournament committee for administration of competitions. But I suspect that in most cases the course handicap is used, which is a whole number, and which will vary from one course to another. So that means how many strokes you get will vary from course to course too.

In informal cases, like betting situations, you'll have to decide matters like this through negotiation between yourselves (e.g., though you each have concrete indexes one of you may be more "on his game" lately than the other, or one of you may be hungover or recovering from food poisioning, a hangnail, etc. -- not to give you any creative ideas for attempting to sway the negotiation via "modified reality"). Looking at it from a simple math perspective seems sensible. If you round off the indexes then yours would be 13 and his would be 8 (5 strokes difference). And if you round off the difference between your indexes (13.2 - 7.8 = 5.4) it's still 5. So from the math perspective your playing partner is correct. (Unless you make a huge stretch to assume that any fraction of a stroke (.1 or more) means you should get a whole stroke. That seems ridiculous to me -- like the phone company charging you for a full minute when you only used 4 seconds.)

Again, always refer to your tournament committee for specific details. And your local golf association -- in your case the Southern California Golf Association (SCPGA) -- can help you with matters of this type also. Thanks for visiting PGAProfessional.com and best of luck with your game. MB

Grooves shmooves... snooooze.

Speaking of grooves, though, here's an idea. Professionals should have to start playing with NO grooves on ANY club -- completely smooth faces side to side and top to bottom.

It would actually have very little impact in most situations where the grass was short and dry. But where the grass was long and/or wet HOOAH! The ball would shoot off the face in much more random directions, making the game even more unpredictable and exciting -- like what most golfers typically experience.

I can just hear the interviews... "Well, luck just wasn't with me today."  Oh... wait... that sounds kind of like what they say already, sometimes. Nevermind, I guess.

Question:

A dog steals a golf ball while we are playing. Happened more than once. What are the PGA [sic] rules? Do I have to take a penalty stroke or can I shoot the dog? Thanks.

Erich Serrano
Sacramento, CA

Answer:

Hi Erich,

Here's the answer but (for you and all others interested enough to ask rules-related questions) please look at this FAQ on golf rules questions before sending in questions of this type. There is only one of me, but thousands of golfers with questions.

First, it is the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R&A) that jointly write, interpret and maintain the rules of golf; not the PGA. If a ball is moved by an outside agency (e.g., a dog, a spectator, a dinosaur) it is to be replaced, no penalty. If you don't know exactly where the ball was

***** quote from the Decisions *****
"...drop the ball in an area which was neither the most, nor the least, favorable of the various areas where it was equally possible that the ball originally lay."
***** end quote from the Decisions *****

That's pretty vague, I suppose, but it just means be reasonable or fair (also vague, but there it is - see Rule 1-4 and the Dictionary definition of "equity" for more). Thanks for visiting PGAProfessional.com and best wishes for success with your game. MB

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