9/26/2026 - Native Oaks

The rules on giving advice came up as a topic for discussion on the course, so I thought I would read up on what the actual rules are.

This is covered under Rule #10.2.  The basics:

• You can't give advice
• You can't ask for advice
• You can't touch another player's equipment

Advice generally includes club selection, strategy for the shot / hole, or technique on how to play a stroke.  It does not include factual information such as distance (unadjusted), wind, or rules.  So it's perfectly acceptable to tell your opponent that they are 120 yards out from a blue pin, and the wind is helping off the right.  The wind part surprises me a little, since there is a bit of judgement involved in determining the wind.

The obvious thing with the last bullet point is that it is acceptable to look in your opponents bag to see what club they played.  It's not a violation of the rules, but it is often considered poor form.

Any violations of Rule #10.2 earn you a 2-stroke penalty.

Another topic that came up in the course of conversation was listening to music on the course.  I was shocked to read Rule #4.3-a4 that says you can't listen to music to eliminate distractions or help with swing tempo.  You are allowed to listen to music, but not if you are doing so to eliminate distractions.  Knowing intent is always tricky, so I don't see how this rule is enforceable.  And listening to Metallica is not going to help your tempo unless you have Jon Rahm's swing.

Given that our golf club has "Casual" in the name, I don't think we will be stringently enforcing these rules, but it's always good to know.

 

9/24/2026 - Mount Woodson

We started the round from the blue tees, but there was discussion of switching to the white tees at the turn.  Can you do that?

I couldn't find anything definitive in the rules of golf.  AI told me that this was "discouraged," but I'm not taking that as gospel.

Based on the Rules of Handicapping, I can't find anything that says I can't do it, so I believe that it is acceptable (even if discouraged). 

Rule #2.1 of the Rules of Handicapping says that a score is acceptable if all of these conditions are met:

• authorized form of play
• in the company of at least one other person (marker)
• played by the rules of golf
• on a course with a course rating
• during the active season

All of those conditions were met, so I believe that it is acceptable to post two separate 9 hole scores if you changed tees.

And I'm going to run this by our handicap chair....

 

9/3/2026 - Coronado

I hadn't played Coronado in years, and I found an unusual tee in the fairway (see below).  It seems unusual to find a tee in the fairway as well, but that's a different topic.  Anyway, I suspected that the tee was illegal.

ChatGPT tells me that it's a FlightPath golf tee.  I suspected that it would be illegal due to the arrow on the right side of this picture.  The equipment rules (Rule 6.2 covers tees) explicitly say that a tee may not be designed or manufactured in a way that it could indicate line of play.  The arrow on the right side, and the shape when you look from above clearly indicate line of play to me.  But FlightPath seems to have received an exception that allows the tee.  Specifically, USGA Decisions #2017-0650 and #2018-0219 indicate that the tee is legal.

 

Huh.  Maybe it's because you can't really see the line indicators when there's a ball on the tee?

The rules also say that the tee may not "unduly influence the movement of the ball" or "otherwise assist the player in making a stroke."  It looks like it's designed to influence the launch to me, but I guess not.

FlightPath notes on the product page that it's USGA Approved.  And they even brag that their "patented directional design reduces friction and spin so you drive farther and hit straighter — every round."

 

Huh, again. 

 

Unrelated - Should it be "farther" or "further?"