Okay, so, today I decided to finally figure out this whole “out of bounds” thing in golf. I’ve been playing for a while now, and, honestly, I’ve been kind of winging it when it comes to the rules. Mostly, I just try not to hit it too far off course. But today, I was determined to get it right.
My Mission: Understand Out of Bounds
First, I grabbed my clubs and headed to the local course. It wasn’t too crowded, which was perfect. I didn’t want an audience for my rules-learning experiment.
I started on the first hole, a pretty straightforward par 4. I noticed the white stakes along the left side of the fairway. Those, I knew, were the out of bounds markers. My first tee shot? Pulled it a little left… but it stayed in bounds! Success!
Then came the fun part – deliberately hitting it out of bounds. I know, I know, it sounds weird. But I wanted to see what would happen, how the penalty worked in real life.
- I took another ball (thank goodness I brought extras).
- Aimed for the houses well left of the fairway.
- Swung… and yep, way out of bounds. Over the fence, probably in someone’s backyard.
The Penalty in Action
Now, according to my earlier quick check on my phone, the penalty for out of bounds is stroke and distance. So, I re-teed, adding one stroke to my (imaginary) score. This time I kept it in the fairway.
I repeated this process a couple more times, on different holes, just to really drill it into my head. Hit one out, re-tee, add a stroke. It’s not rocket science, but it’s good to actually do it, you know?
My take away.
It finally clicked. It’s not just about knowing the rule, it’s about feeling the impact of the penalty. Now, I’m definitely going to be more careful about where I aim! It also helps the pace of play.
So, that was my day. A little bit of golf, a little bit of rule-learning, and a whole lot of appreciation for staying in bounds!
