I played golf recently with a good friend of mine who is a casual golfer. He hit a ball into casual water off the tee on one hole and was about to play it as it lies when I interjected: “You can get relief from that lie.” He looked at me as though I was from Mars! “What do you mean, take relief?” he questioned. I then had to explain the rule for taking relief from casual water, showing him how to identify his nearest point of relief, no nearer the hole, where the ground wasn’t saturated.
I was amazed that he had never heard of the rule yet alone used it (especially after last winter). This was not a stand-alone incident. In fact, I am staggered on a weekly basis, at how many golfers who are marking a card in a competition round don’t know even the most basic Rules of Golf.
