THE ETHICS OF GOLF

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Found this today, sorry if already posted ....

THE ETHICS OF GOLF

What if you were playing in the club championship tournament finals and the match was halved at the end of 17 holes. You had the honour and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin.

Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway.

Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball. Just before the permitted five minute search period ends, your opponent says "Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don't find it in time, I'll concede the match".

You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin.

About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods "I found It!" The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole.

Now here is the ethical dilemma:

Do you pull the cheating Bar Steward's ball out of your pocket and confront him with it or do you keep your mouth shut?

take the last line out of the equation - at the end of the day if you really knicked his ball by cheating- and he then cheats and wins the match- he is just better at cheating than you!!- However i take its a joke- therefore pretty decent!!

Anyway I have been in this sort of situation in junior match(same club) . Guy went in the woods with a titleist 4 and out with an titliest 8- i pulled him up for cheating and ended up getting the blame- lol, due to the way i reacted and because i was abit of a lad with a bit of a rep!!!

Mac: be at one with your surroundings! Are you known in some circles as Tai Webb! Next you'll be spouting the Mitch Cumstein tip that Tai gives "be the ball Danny be the ball"

Are you secretly a tree hugger that dresses like Jonathon Creek.

Should by the same token, Tennis go back to Wooden rackets and white balls, Footballers go back to kicking an actual pigs bladder whilst wearing hobnails and pantaloons. Perhaps aviators should go back to flying wright brother designed air planes.

Think you need to accept as with life, sport evolves and where its at now is not worse than years past its just different and evolving. Queue you now saying I have no room to comment based on my limited experience!

McLaren wrote:It should be played in a way which pits the players mind and body against the natural features of the course in the most enjoyable way possible. It seems clear to me that the most enjoyable way is the one in which the player is presented with the most interesting problems to solve. The more the mind has to work the better the playing of the game becomes.

We do not need technology 100 years old to achieve this, only a sensible approach to how the development of the technology effects how the game is played. There will have been a point where the interest of the game was maximised and where the technology used meant as many people as possible could enjoy the game. You have to think this balance was long before adjustable drivers, very long ball, DMD’s, long putter, 460cc heads, massive cor’s etc

The technology has increasingly removed the player from the land over which he is playing the game, which given the importance and interest the land holds seems and odd way to go about development. This will sound very hippy indeed; but you really ought to feel at one with your surroundings while playing the game.

If a ball brushes your trousers and no one sees or feels it are you still cheating?

Doon the Water wrote:If a ball brushes your trousers and no one sees or feels it are you still cheating?

Not cheating. In amateur golf no one is any the wiser. In professional golf by the time they have replayed it on super slow high definition and it's proven to have touched the trousers a penalty would be applied.