THE STYMIE.

Taihape Daily Times, 24 September 1919, Page 3

THE STYMIE.

SHOULD IT BE ABOLISHED, The question of whether the stymie is fair or not, a.nd“wlletllel- it Ollght to be abolished, divides golfers into two (:l~1"-see. 11. seems to be generally agreed tliat if me gets oneself :1. stymle it right; that :1 pellalfy should be illcm-xwl, or mtller than the plaV~r :11»:-.'d be l::;11led up to execute a difficult stroke to |'v‘,’..\'<‘.ll' the faulty forerunner, but that ii’. on the other hand, a player, in m:lk'lng :1 faulty stm-ke_. gets his uppr:-:. -..-:xi‘ :1 .‘~'fyn'lie., :.nlcl so robs him '».*_' ‘1 well-e:n'ne<l hole, if is g:'os;~'l.y n.nl‘:.lr

that it should be SO. In the I:t.~f‘~x: event I m a stymic abolitionist.

America has in parts already done away with the styniio, but the 'e.Hl‘tr:ll body is asking the Royal and All(~,ir-1:: Rules Committee to give eonsir,l:.':lti;):l to its abolition. There is little chance of it doing so_ The matter was first brought up in 1789, when in minute “the society I'esolVed that in all time coming, in course «of playing over the links any ball shall lye in the way of his opponent at the distance of six inches ‘Ji.(‘Yl the hole green, it shall be in the power of the party playing to cause his opponent to remove the said ball.” Before this six-inch rule 3'-tine into operation the game must have be-on fertile in interesting episodes. Suppose the game was all square and one to play; let the balls be not touetiing but within a quarter of an -inch of each other, in a straight line for the hole, and a drive, approach, 01' long putt to .be played when nearing, or ell':3:~L'_iy upon the last green. If the man to play the odd happened to be a. man 7-f laiiguage, it would be his chance. Fur-

fher, it will be lldtecl that the rule applied only to the balls when on the green, though in 1812 the rule was remodelled fo allow the lifting of the stymied ball anyxvhere upon the course, excepting the putfing green, unless the bull‘ lay directly between the other and the ho‘:e———wit‘llin a distance of six ineheé. ' THE DAYS OF OLD. Advocates for the retention of the Stymie may be interested to learn that for :1 year the ga-nle was played without them, but-, presumably; the change was not regarded as an improvement, for, whereas in 1833 a motion for their abolitionhas unanimously carried, in 1834 fhenew rule was rescinrled, and the former practice reverted to.

In 1888 Mr Horace Hutchinson pro.posod the following nlotion:— “If the opponent’s ball lie in any degree between the player’s ball and the hole, or if it interfere in any way with his stroke or stane, it may be removed at the opti-on of the player. But his opponent has ‘the choice -of lifting the ball or playing first. This motion was defeated b an overwhelming majority. The scconder of the motion, three years later, nlove.d':— A “That in all competitions which are decided by holes the player may remove his ~opponent’s ball from any position it may occupy upon the putting green, -but such act of removal sha.l_l be equivalent. to the opponent having played his ball in turn and holed it.” ' The proposer argued that no man could reasonably object to having a putt given to him, and thus be saved the necessity of holing out. Mr Mure Ferguson seconded, but it was lost by a large majority, and so the stymieis with us, and, I think, always will be.