"BACK NINE" of 2014.

Rusty had a pretty nice "up-and down"
on #16.

We are right in the middle of the "back nine" of this season, feels like "putting for eagle" on #15. Why? Thus far, it has been a very good season, all despite the largest number of days closed due to weather, both, at the beginning and during the summer. All official tournaments are over, and all were successful, each one in its own way.

Don Murphey is always "smiles"...
butt probably more when he wins!

The last official tournament was the "End of the Year Sunday Shuffle"which hosted a field of 19 who played (pretty good, I might add), in 30-35 mph winds! That shows why the Sunday Shuffle is popular among what other members would call, "serious players". When you have an average of 16 players in this Sunday gathering during the summer, and you have winds of up to 35 mph and cool temperatures, For the record, while 19 players may not look as a large number, in this Sunday outing, realize that players are required to play the ball as it lies, there are no gimmies, no mulligans or "do-overs" of any kind and all players play by USGA Rules, which draws less people than the so popular "scramble" format. In fact, they are all so

Joby Gray, enjoying golf, even when
things are not going on as well
as expected.

serious about playing by the rules, that part of this column will deal with some of the questions posed to me during some of the Sundays, some of which are simple, but have been misunderstood by many.
you would not expect more players than the average, but that is the way it was!

HERE ARE THE RESULTS (10/12/2014):

Gross:
72 - Rusty Wilson
75 - Joby Gray
79 - Aaron Kauk

"Where are you going?"

80 - Craig Martin


Net:
63 - Don Murphey
67 - Brian Carnes
68 - Brandon Thomas
69 - Brad Gilbert

Congratulations to all!

Keenan Henderson, seldom misses
an opportunity to compete.

ON THE RULES:
One of the jobs of a golf professional is to deal with rulings, whether at a tournament or a simple friendly match. The rules are simpler than thought to be, because they all deal with fairness and orderly common sense. First, you have the definitions (which we will deal with in this column); then, the rules are organized in an orderly way, you start with the game, then the equipment, then the player, then the golf course, and then situations.

The definitions are most important: For instance, how do you want to deal with a ball against an obstruction, if you do not know the definition of what an obstruction is? Or how will you deal with a ball out of bounds if you do not know if the ball is indeed out of bounds?

Let's see this last question:

OUT OF BOUNDS (Definition): "Out of bounds" is beyond the boundaries of the course or any part of the course so marked by the committee (example: internal out of bounds on #18 on the left side).

BALL IS IN-BOUNDS
BECAUSE NOT ALL OF
IT LAYS OUT OF BOUNDS
(PART OF IT IS TOUCHING
IN BOUNDS)

BALL IS OUT OF BOUNDS BECAUSE
ALL OF IT LAYS OUTSIDE THE
GOLF COURSE.

... "When out of bounds is defined by stakes or a fence, the out of bounds
LINE is determined by the nearest inside points at ground level of the stakes or fence posts (excluding angle supports). When both stakes and lines are used, , the stakes identify the out of bounds, and the lines define it.

Now that we know where to measure from, this is the main part of the definition: "a ball is out of bounds when all of it lies out of bounds". That is simple, what part of  "WHEN ALL OF IT LIES OUT OF BOUNDS" would be confusing?

So "what if part of the ball is in bounds?" If you read above literally, since not all of it is out of bounds, then that means that a part of the ball is in bounds, which means that the ball is deemed to be in bounds. In short, if any part of the ball is not out of bounds - or rephrasing, if any part of the ball is in bounds-, then the ball is in bounds. See the pictures below.