| Play the Ball as It Lies |
|
|
|
| Written by Henry Chow | |
| Saturday, 24 March 2007 | |
|
Illustration by Cheri Fakes
Imagine yourself standing behind the tee, visualizing your target while taking a couple of practice swings. Confident that you’ll hit your target, you step forward and address the ball. After a full swing, you look up and your eyes bear against the bright sunlight, tracking the ball’s flight. But the ball seems to have disappeared from thin air. You become eager and ask your partner if he saw your ball. He points toward the last place you want it to be: the left side of the rough next to a tree. You go to the ball and observe its lie, trying to decide how you are going to play your next shot. As soon as you arrive at a decision, another thought comes rushing through your mind and stops you from hitting your second shot: You could lift your ball from the trouble spot and place it in a more desirable location. Doing this will allow you to increase your opportunity to escape with ease and achieve a possible runaway birdie. Temptation further tells you that the round of golf you are currently playing should not be taken seriously because it is not a golf tournament; plus, no one is watching. This may sound like a perfect crime to commit on a golf course while playing a round with friends who do not take the game seriously. However, bending a rule—even one as small as “playing it as it lies”—will not only diminish the rules of golf, but also your respect from the other players. Players of all skill levels need to accept that their balls are not always going to land where they want them to land. When the ball flight does not favor the player, and the player decides to move the ball to a simpler lie, he’s putting his own honesty, integrity and character in jeopardy. A player’s actions could mean not only a loss of respect and trust from the other players, but also a loss of self-respect. Cheating will not help a player learn from his own mistakes. You may say that golf is only a game and no harm is committed if the player makes a promise never to do it again. But what if the player makes a birdie as a result of bending the rules? Will that player take pride in the shot, or will he step forth and confess to the crime? It all depends on the player’s character. No matter what the stakes may be in the round, players need to abide by the rules and be aware of their actions in the game. They need to learn the responsibility of accepting a ball’s lie no matter how troublesome it may be. When a golfer accepts a bad lie and proceeds with the intention of playing it as it lies, that shows respect for the game and shows a player who is being true to himself. -Henry Chow enjoys playing golf in his free time. He lives in Los Angeles. |
| Next > |
|---|