The rules of golf...

Lets get back to the original thirteen.

The first known rules of golf date from 1744 and were formulated for the Annual Challenge for the Edinburgh Silver Club. These thirteen rules which form the oldest code read as follows:

Articles & Laws in Playing at Golf

1. You must Tee your Ball, within a Club's length of the Hole.

We would upset the head greenkeeper following this one but it would be a lot less fuss if we were to tee up one club-length from a marker on the teeing ground.

2. Your Tee must be upon the Ground.

Yes, there's not much to say about this one. I couldn't imagine sticking my tee into anything else. I welcome any suggestions that would be in any way advantageous.

3. You are not to change the Ball which you Strike off the Tee.

I really like this one, probably more than all the other original rules of golf. If you cause damage to your ball: thin it, hit it off something or score it with the deep club face grooves, it should be your problem.

Let's face it it's only for one hole. I think it would add to the fun of the game if we had to finish a hole with a deformed ball. As a youth I often played with 'totties' balls that were shaped like potatoes.

4. You are not to remove, Stones, Bones or any Break Club for the sake of playing your Ball, Except upon the fair Green/& that only/within a Club's length of your Ball.

This would save a lot of time on the green where I find some players would like to get a vacuum cleaner out before every putt.

There was no marking your ball on the green in those days and the stymie was a part of the game. This made playing on the green a little more strategic. 5. If your Ball comes among Watter, or any Wattery Filth, you are at liberty to take out your Ball & bringing it behind the hazard and Teeing it, you may play it with any Club and allow your ambersant and a Stroke for so getting out your Ball.

Wouldn't it be a little nicer being allowed to tee up after this penalty. I would use this rule for casual water and plugged balls etc.

6. If your Balls be found anywhere touching one another, You are to lift the first Ball, till you play the last.

This is a laugh and would be fun for the player who was to play first if the balls were a millimetere apart.

7. At Holling, you are to play your Ball honestly for the Hole, and, not to play upon your Adversary's Ball, not lying in your way to the Hole.

But if it is in your way you can attempt to blast it off the green with your ball. I think it would be great to have a pool cue in your bag for this shot if the rules of golf would allow it.

I wonder how big the drivers would be now if the equipment rules hadn't been put in place

8. If you shou'd lose your Ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to go back to the Spot, where you struck last & drop another Ball, And allow your Adversary a Stroke for the misfortune.

In the original rules of golf, there's nothing about re-teeing your ball for this one. We would have to accept what nature throws at us here and hope that a stray dog or a local youth doesn't run off with your ball.

On a course where this was commonplace, a local rule (see rule 13. from the rules of golf) could be adopted but only in extraordinary circumstances.

The very thought of golfers getting a trowel out and scoring a groove into the grass makes me giggle. I do however know a few who make various impressions beside the hole before they put

10. If a Ball be stopp'd by any person, Horse, Dog or any thing else, The Ball so stop'd must be play'd where it lyes.

This is a little vague as we would have trouble playing it if it was lodged in a dog's fierce growling mouth. As far as I know we do play this rule more or less to the word. Don't we?

11. If you draw your Club, in order to Strike & proceed so far in the Stroke, as to be bringing down your club; If then, your Club shall break, in, any way, it is to be Accounted a Stroke.

They had fragile weapons in those days and it was more common for them to disintegrate during a swing. This rule has been modified to, if it breaks or not, a shot is deemed to have occurred once you start the downswing

12. He, whose Ball lyes farthest from the Hole is obliged to play first.

I think the match play version of this rule should be enforced in stroke play. No penalty but your playing partner may demand that you play again in turn.

13. Neither Trench, Ditch, or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, nor the Scholar's Holes or the Soldier's Lines, Shall be accounted a Hazard; But the Ball is to be taken out/Teed/and play'd with any Iron Club.

This rule would seem to take care of most local rules and conditions and would let the greenkeepers mark off areas of ground under repair. I think obstruction would replace the word hazard for the sake of free relief.

Again its great to be able to tee up with a minor clause that an iron must be played.

Six other societies, apart from the Honourable Company, issued their own Rules of Golf between 1754 and 1786. They varied in size and content from 6 rules for Crail in 1786 and 22 rules for Aberdeen in 1783.

The information highlighted in bold is taken from The Rules of the Green - A History of the Rules of Golf by Kenneth G. Chapman (1997) and A Round of History at the British Golf Museum by Peter N. Lewis, Fiona C. Grieve and Elinor R. Clarke.

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