Many\nof our readers will by now have seen or read about the so called cheating issue\ninvolving USA Professional golfer Patrick Reed and the claim that he improved\nhis lie in a waste area and although he received a 2 shot penalty may observers\nwere not impressed by his explanation about what actually took place thereby fuelling\na cheating debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nhas also been on facebook clips of Gary Player playing a left handed shot with\nhis putter against the clubhouse at Lytham in 1974 on his way to winning the\nBritish Open where he is seen to move sand with his putter in a practice swing\nin a similar fashion to Patrick Reed but received no penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now\nin both instances there is probably no intent at improving the lie but with TV\ncamera\u2019s at every event it is clear the golfers need to be careful that any of\ntheir actions can\u2019t be misinterpreted by the watching public and media to avoid\nthe good name of golfing being dragged through the mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So\nhow does this apply to you playing your amateur society golf here on the Costa\nBlanca?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most\ncourses here in Spain have numerous waste areas as part of their design and\nthese are different to bunkers in that you can ground your club and remove any\nloose impediments near you ball, without\nimproving your lie and the problem on some local courses is determining what is\na bunker and what is a waste area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\na rough guide waste areas are darker in colour than bunkers and the sand is \u2018grittier\u2019\nwith larger grains and waste areas are not provided with rakes, unlike bunkers\nand my advise to all golfers is if in doubt ask your playing partners for guidance\nor agreement on what you think constitutes\na waste area on the course and rather than cause a delay on the course, raise\nthe issue with the society organiser after you leave the course and before you\nhand your score card in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nwill avoid any misinterpretation of your actions by any fellow society member\nwatching the events unfold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"