John Companiotte - Golf Rules & Etiquette Simplified: What You Need to Know to Walk the Links Like a Pro

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ISBN: 978-0-07-179737-5
MHID: 0-07-179737-8

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Excerpts from The Rules of Golf are reprinted from The Rules of Golf Effective January 2016 2015 United States Golf Association, with permission. All rights reserved.

The Rules of Golf, effective on January 1, 2016, will remain current until they are next revised. Readers should refer to the full text of the Rules in the official publications, The Rules of Golf and The Decisions on the Rules of Golf, which are published by the United States Golf Association and R&A Rules Limited.

This publication summarizes some of The Rules of Golf as interpreted by the author. The United States Golf Association does not warrant the accuracy of the authors interpretations.

The author thanks Layne Williams of the Georgia State Golf Association for his assistance on the book, Warren Grant for the interior photographs, Todd Sentell for serving as the golfer, and the Atlanta Athletic Club for permission to use its golf courses as the site.

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This book is for the staff of the Georgia State
Golf Association and their contributions
to the game of golf.

Raymond Floyd

At the age of 20, I won the St. Petersburg Open in 1963. That was a great start to my career as a golf professional, and I eventually won the Masters, the PGA Championship, and the U.S. Open among my other PGA Tour victories. No matter how well I played, though, if I had made mistakes regarding the Rules I would not have won. As much as a shot hit into a water hazard or a topped tee shot, a lack of knowledge about the Rules can hurt a golfers score. That was instilled in me at an early age, and it has remained important whenever I step onto a golf course.

Dishonesty is a rarity in golf. I think that I know the reason why. While there may be training aids to assist you when you practice, and anyone can benefit from good instruction and playing tips, once youre on the course you make each shot by yourself. Unless you are in a tournament, you are responsible only to yourself for following the Rules. Any golfer who takes the time and effort to learn the game, whatever that persons ability, wants to play the game as it should be playedand that means playing by the Rules.

Knowing the Rules well can also save a golfer strokes during a round. The strategic benefit of realizing your best option in any situation on a golf course may be the best reason for knowing the Rules well.

There is always room for improvement for anyones golf swing. Knowing the Rules is another aspect of preparing for a round of golf. Knowing the Rules also contributes to a golfers confidence during a round, and a good mental attitude should help a golfer make better shots. The more you know about golf the more you will enjoy every round, whether you are in contention in the final round of the Masters or trying to break 90 for the first time on your local course.

Raymond Floyd won 21 times on the PGA Tour. He played on seven Ryder Cup teams from 1969 through 1991, and he was the nonplaying captain of the 1989 U.S. team.

Louise Suggs

I took to golf at an early age, being instructed first by my father, who himself was a good enough athlete to play professional baseball. I also had the good fortune to play with and watch Bob Jones play golf at what is now East Lake Golf Club, which in the late 1930s was the site of the Atlanta Athletic Club. He arranged for me to have playing privileges at the club. When I once asked Mr. Jones how hard I should hit the ball, he replied, Hit the hell out of it; itll come down somewhere.

I won the Georgia State Womens Amateur at age 16 in 1940, then repeated as champion two years later. I won the Southern Womens Amateur Championship in 1941 and the North and South Womens Amateur in 1942, when I was still not yet 18. At that time, prior to the formation of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, womens amateur golf attracted the best players in the game. Further evidence of how good the amateurs were is that Polly Riley, as an amateur, won the first official LPGA event in 1950, the Tampa Womens Open.

From my earliest days in competitive golf, I had to compete against and beat women with far more experience than myself. Knowing the Rules of the game and how to conduct myself on the golf course was as important as my golf swing in scoring well. If I made mistakes relevant to the Rules, penalty strokes would have spoiled my score. My fathers influence was important in this area of the game, and knowing the Rules gave me the confidence I needed to compete at the highest levels of the game.