Many of our readers will by now have seen or read about the so called cheating issue involving USA Professional golfer Patrick Reed and the claim that he improved his lie in a waste area and although he received a 2 shot penalty may observers were not impressed by his explanation about what actually took place thereby fuelling a cheating debate.
There has also been on facebook clips of Gary Player playing a left handed shot with his putter against the clubhouse at Lytham in 1974 on his way to winning the British Open where he is seen to move sand with his putter in a practice swing in a similar fashion to Patrick Reed but received no penalty.
Now in both instances there is probably no intent at improving the lie but with TV camera’s at every event it is clear the golfers need to be careful that any of their actions can’t be misinterpreted by the watching public and media to avoid the good name of golfing being dragged through the mud.
So how does this apply to you playing your amateur society golf here on the Costa Blanca?
Most courses here in Spain have numerous waste areas as part of their design and these are different to bunkers in that you can ground your club and remove any loose impediments near you ball, without improving your lie and the problem on some local courses is determining what is a bunker and what is a waste area.
As a rough guide waste areas are darker in colour than bunkers and the sand is ‘grittier’ with larger grains and waste areas are not provided with rakes, unlike bunkers and my advise to all golfers is if in doubt ask your playing partners for guidance or agreement on what you think constitutes a waste area on the course and rather than cause a delay on the course, raise the issue with the society organiser after you leave the course and before you hand your score card in.
This will avoid any misinterpretation of your actions by any fellow society member watching the events unfold.