Time to celebrate
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His sweetly struck 6-iron over water to 25 feet which, I converted, just about made our day (with a high five thrown in for good measure) and made up for three double bogeys in a round of 81 strokes.
The foursomes format, which demands accuracy, patience, good course management and solid short games from both team members, also throws up a few vagaries in the Rules.
Foursomes is a whole new ball game – as far as the makers of Rule 29 are concerned. Here’s a few examples:
*If a player plays out of turn, whether off the tee or during the completion of a hole, it’s loss of hole in matchplay, two stroke penalty in strokeplay.
*In a mixed foursome in which men play from the back tees and women from the forward tees, if a man hits a tee shot out of bounds his partner must play the next stroke from the back tee.
*When player A drives and there is doubt whether the ball is out of bounds, player B must play the provisional ball from the same tee.
*In foursomes, penalty strokes do not affect the order of play, so if A hits a wrong ball, he/she must play the next shot.
*If a ball is required to be dropped for free relief or a penalty, the player required to make the next shot must make the drop.
*A player must not purposely miss a shot to allow a better partner to, for example, play a lob shot over water or a hazard. If a player has no intention of making a stroke it will remain his/her turn to play.
Though we rarely get the opportunity to play foursomes, a group of us are now pushing for further similar competition, especially during the winter months, when it speeds up the pace of play considerably.
What do you think of foursomes? Tell us your views – and your experiences on the forum.
