Golf needs a separate set of rules for seniors

Been away for two weeks. Hope you missed me. Nice to be back.

Sports has always been a big part of me, less now that I’m too old to play most of them. I hesitate to write about sports because lots of people don’t care about sports and might, therefore, skip my column. Please don’t do that. I need you.

Twice a year, I write about baseball, which is my favourite. In the 50-plus columns that have appeared here I’ve never written one about golf, probably because like you, I’ve already got enough frustration in my life. I have gone from a singledigit handicap to an embarrassing handicap, which I prefer not to share with you. I have almost conceded that my best golf is behind me.

In the real golf world, there are new rules coming into effect on Jan. 1, including one I’ve been harping on for years – a ball hit out-ofbounds will now be the same as a ball hit into a hazard – Both will be one penalty stroke. Currently OB is two, a hazard is one.

What we still need though are a set of rules for senior golfers only. Examples:

— If a tree is between the ball and the hole, and the tree is deemed to be younger than the player, the ball may be moved without penalty. This is simply a question of timing. When the player was younger, that tree wasn’t there. It is unsportsmanlike to penalize a player because of age.

— A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be placed on the fairway at point-of-entry, without penalty. The player should not be penalized for tall grass which the ground keepers failed to mow.

— There shall not be penalty for a lost ball. Eventually, this ball will be found and pocketed by another golfer (especially if lost in a pond), thereby making it a stolen ball. The senior player shall not compound the felony by charging himself with a penalty.

— Advertisements claim that golf scores can be improved by purchasing new equipment. Every day a new driver surfaces that is guaranteed to increase your distance by 20 yards. The purchasing of such equipment is out of the reach of most pensioners, so a half-strokeper-hole may be subtracted from your score for using old equipment.

— And putts which stop close enough to the cup that they could be blown in, may be blown in. This does not apply to putts more than three inches from the hole. No one wants to make a mockery of the game. Golf is, after all, a game of integrity.

If you play golf, you have my sympathies. If you don’t, you have my respect and admiration.

Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster living in Okanagan Falls. Email: fredtrainor@shaw.ca