“The Brassie”

Is the title of the Australian Golf Heritage Society newsletter.

The editor seeks articles from AGHS members. These articles should relate to some historical aspect of golf, particularly as it applies to golf in Australia. The articles can be scholarly or light-hearted, and preferably accompanied by photographs or illustrations.

Articles are best submitted in electronic form to the editor Gerry Bush at <bushmail@tpg.com.au>

Reproduced following are the last three articles as published in hard copy in “The Brassie”.

Article :: Historical Rules Incident

The Rules of Golf are fascinating. They are an integral part of the game. Sometimes the Rules seem unnecessarily harsh. Yet, if we think the current Rules are harsh, we should remember that they were a lot harsher in days gone by. This leads me to a famous Rules incident in Australian golf history. The 1907 Australian Open was won by Michael Scott. This result carried a great deal of bitter controversy. On the 12th tee Scott played by mistake from outside the teeing ground, in fact to one side of the teeing ground. Many contended that he should therefore have been disqualified. The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the host club and administrators of the event, waived any penalty for this breach of the Rules. As the runner-up, Dan Soutar, had most reason to feel aggrieved by the RMGC ruling. Soutar’s disappointment is revealed his letters to his wife (see “Pro Golf: Out of the Rough” by Colin de Groot and Jim Webster, 1991). RMGC did, after the event, seek a ruling from the R&A, who ruled that Scott should have been disqualified. Nevertheless, RMGC allowed Scott’s win to stand, presumably on the grounds that, as organisers of the event, their decision

was final, the result had been declared and the competition closed. Some aspects of this incident have always puzzled me, and they sent me back to that excellent website <www.ruleshistory.com>. The fact that he played his tee shot outside the teeing ground was brought to Scott’s attention by his fellow-competitor,

Victor East. Why did Scott not replay his tee shot from the correct place under penalty of two strokes? That would have been allowed under the current Rules (11-4b). There was no such leniency in 1907. Once the golfer had played from outside the teeing ground, the penalty was immediate disqualification – no second chance (1907 Special Rules for Stroke Competitions: Rule 5). So if you think the current Rules are harsh, this is a nice reminder of how the Rules generally were much harsher in bygone days.

There was at the time a strong suspicion that RMGC decided against Soutar because of a prejudice against professional golfers (not uncommon in 1907) and a favourable bias towards Scott, who was not only a distinguished amateur golfer but also a member of RMGC. There were, however, plausible mitigating circumstances to support the RMGC ruling. In 1907 common practice was to indicate the teeing ground by the sand box on one side and a tee marker on the other. For the 1907 Open RMGC used two tee markers and, the sand box, which had

no standing to define the teeing ground, was placed to one side. What is known for fact is that on the 12th tee the sand box was mistakenly placed differently, and this mistake caused enough confusion for Scott and others to tee off from a wrong place. Scott’s mistake was understandable and none of the erring players would have gained a significant advantage by playing from the side of the teeing ground. RMGC would have had problems identifying precisely every player who had made the mistake. Also, there was no doubt that Scott was the best player as, without the disqualification penalty, he finished eight stokes ahead of the runner-up. RMGC may therefore have decided their ruling on the basis of equity (1907 Rule 36). However,

the 1907 equity Rule is the same as it is today (1-4): an equity ruling cannot overrule a Rule of Golf. Does it recall the R&A ruling on the Bobby Locke incident in the 1957 British Open?

Michael Sheret

Notes:

§ For more on Dan Soutar see: “Soutar” by John Scarth and Neil Crafter in the series “Great Australian Golf Architects”

published in “Golf Architecture” the journal of the Society of Australian Golf Architects. It can be downloaded from

<www.golfstrategies.com.au/graphics/articles/Soutar%20GA7.pdf>. § Despite his outstanding record as a golfer, not much has

been written about Michael Scott. The Wikipedia entry under “Michael Scott (golfer)” is as good a source as any.

§ Reports on how exactly the sand box was placed on the 12th tee are inconsistent. For the various explanations of the

mix-up and opinions on the Rules refer to: The Royal Melbourne Golf Club – A Centenary History by Joseph Johnson, 1991, p70;

The Argus, 28/9/1907, p16; The Advertiser 28/9/1907, p11; The Sydney Morning Herald 18/10/1907, p10, letter from

William Archibald Windeyer. I thank John Green of RMGC for pointing me to the RMGC Centenary History.

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