In Golf, Brutal Honesty is Par For the Course

In what other sport do players call rules violations on themselves -- even when nobody else sees them?

September 27, 2010|David Wharton

No one else had to know about the extra club in Zach Nash's golf bag.
The five-wood belonged to a friend, and Zach forgot it was there as he played his way to victory in a junior tournament near his Wisconsin home this summer.
The 14-year-old accepted his medal, celebrated with grandparents who had come from Iowa to watch, and stopped by his country club to share the news. Then his golf pro noticed something amiss.

"Count your clubs," he told the teenager.
Fifteen -- one more than allowed. Zach's eyes filled with tears.
"It registered right away," he said. "I knew it was wrong."
If Zach had just won a basketball championship or a big football game and someone discovered a violation after the fact -- a technicality, really -- it would not have mattered. Bending the rules has become acceptable, if not encouraged, in much of sports.
Look at Derek Jeter, the New York Yankees star who recently faked being hit by a pitch, wincing and grabbing his arm in mock pain, to gain first base. He later acknowledged his deceit, but no one suggested that he be punished for it.
Golf is different. In a win-at-all-costs world, the game holds itself to a higher standard, demanding that competitors know every rule and call penalties on themselves.
"Even the slightest imputation of cheating, maybe you can get away with that in other sports, but not in golf," said Steve Schlossman, a history professor at Carnegie Mellon University who chronicles the game. "That will be used against you."
For Zach, informing tournament officials about the extra club would mean returning his medal. His golf pro told him to go home, think it over.
"It was between Zach and me," Chris Wood said. "It was up to him."
As a philosophy professor and former golf coach at Hamilton College in upstate New York, Robert Simon has some ideas about the nature of the game he loves.
"You could argue that it is a very useful counterforce to the 'if you can get away with it' model that dominates other sports and other parts of society," he said.
This isn't a game where referees watch closely and assume responsibility for the rules. In golf tournaments, dozens of competitors are spread across acres of land, so officials cannot hope to see each shot.