A golfer at Shady Canyon in Irvine hit a rock with his swing from the rough and ignited a 25-acre blaze this summer. of the Couples’ Club Championship at Mira Vista...Ken Morton Sr., CEO of Morton Golf LLC was ranked number seven
WHY DON’T TOUR PROFESSIONALS KNOW THE RULES BETTER?
From DUSTIN JOHNSON’S two- stroke penalty for grounding a club in a “bun- ker” at the PGA Championship to JULI INKSTER getting disqualifi ed for swinging a weighted device to warm up in the middle of a
stipulated round, observers are moved to ask: they call them- selves pros, so why don’t they know the rules of the game? The probable answer is
illuminating especially when compared to professionals in other sports. “Since they can depend on offi cials and call for a ruling, professionals don’t bother learning the rules better,” says NCGA Junior Tour Manager John Vander Borght, a longtime offi cial and one of the most knowledgeable rules afi cio- nados in the country. “If an offi cial can make a ruling, they think they’re not going to get into trouble.” But when compared to other major sports such as baseball, basketball or football, it sometimes seems that ignorance of the Rules of Golf rears its head at inopportune moments. “The responsibility to know the rules in other sports is not on the player,” Vander Borght says by way of explanation. It’s interesting to note that
Inkster was DQ’d because of a phone call from a television viewer, an unheard of situa- tion in other sports, but that’s a debate for another occasion. Johnson and Inkster are
just two in a tradition of tour [
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professional ignorance dating back to the origins of play for pay. Perhaps part of earning a tour card should be following ANNIKA SORENSTAM’S example several years ago. The world’s best female golfer attended a USGA Rules School becom- ing one of the more unlikely students in the seminar’s his- tory. “If nothing else, it (at- tending the Rules Seminar) reinforced what I thought when I started,” Sorenstam told the USGA Golf Journal. “You’re surprised how much you don’t know.”
Goats for Hire
PASATIEMPO GOLF CLUB has some new employees on its maintenance staff—175 goats, who began service in late September and will continue at the course into November.
“They’re cleaning up all sorts of invasive plant material we don’t want growing on the course,” says Superintendent Paul Chojnacky. A solar-powered electric fence contains the goats within a 1/2 to full-acre enclosure (at a time) while two to three dogs help protect them. The club has about 11 acres to cleanse in steep canyons and barrancas and on hillsides in efforts to restore the Alister MacKenzie classic to its original look from the 1930s. “The goats eat everything and they go at it 24
hours a day,” Chojnacky says. “That way we don’t have to cut that stuff and it shouldn’t grow back as thick.”
Sounds like a win-win for goats and golfers.
Hualalai Golf Course, Hole #17 •
4o28 square miles of pure adventure.
From natural wonders to uncommon luxuries, discover more of what you come to Hawai‘i for.
bigisland.org FALL 2010 / NCGA.ORG / 17 8/27/10 8:06:36 AM
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