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Thursday, June 02, 2005
Chiongbian: Golf character
By Edgar R. Chiongbian
Teetime
Charactes makes the man. Is that why man tries so hard to become a character? The word character is rarely used in a good sense but rather as a measure of one’s person so it must be a misunderstanding of words that make man fail in its meaning.
Anyway, our column on etiquette last Thursday was huge because of character. Comments we received echoed similar situations and they were all glad to know that it is a shared experience.
On the funny side, Geoff Phoon said that he was so conscious about giving the honor at the tee box that he teed up last even when it was his honor. Okay Geoff, but you couldn’t stop muttering so that cancels your good deed. It is all or nothing, you know!
Our biggest problem is when we play with the same people all the time; there is a tendency to forget the courtesies you are supposed to extend to your playing partners. This applies in real life, too, and that is why many best friends become bitter enemies.
Talking and chatting between shots is quite acceptable, but one should be ready to yield proper courtesy when someone is setting up for his shot. There is plenty of time for anything else in the veranda. I am sure everyone will listen to all and everything you have to say. But if you’re a senior golfer, it might be hard to remember and that’s why it happens. Each player should be given the time and freedom to set up his play like figuring the distance and doing practice swings. Everyone will get a turn by rotation on who is farthest from the hole. We may think we are already doing this but we only practice this on the putting green in reality.
There was a question on whether a flight of players is allowed to pass the group in front of them during a tournament. The answer is no, with some exceptions. If the issue is slow play, the whole flight can be penalized two strokes each for every infraction.
On the assumption that there is a hole or holes open in front of the slow players, the proper way is to inform players that they are playing out of pace and they should speed up or be penalized. If they still cannot make the pace, they will be penalized by properly informing the committee about the infraction.
The match play competition of the club championships at Cebu Country Club is underway. Except for a couple of blowouts, most of the matches were very close with winning margins of one or two up. The Super Senior class this year is also getting fierce with former PAL players Tony Jackson and Chaki Endo getting on with age and now battling for the top spot.
Like every year, Class A is a competition to watch. This year, almost all the A players are former champions and it can go either way. It only depends on who is hot and lucky in a particular day. If you have the time, go and watch the competition with many others forming the gallery.
I was informed by some Club Filipino members that some changes in their club tournaments have made it unfair to the players who normally are in the Class A and D. The tournament committee has compressed the field into only three divisions or Class A, B and C, probably because of low participation.
The problem is that players that fall in the Class B and C generally score way below their handicap or around 6 under par. And Class A players rarely go 4-under because of their small handicap. D players also generally don’t go as low as C players.
I can see why the two extremes are not happy with this decision. But the question is whether a B player is entitled the bragging rights for winning the Class A trophy?
(erc@skyinet.net)
(June 2, 2005 issue)
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