Veteran RDGA Rules Team to be Joined by
Several Qualified Recruits This Year
By DAVE EATON
There’s probably more than a few golfers out there that think the Rules of Golf exist to penalize them for doing the wrong thing and that when they see a Rules official heading their way, they must have done something wrong.
But ask one of the RDGA’s senior Rules officials what they actually do and they are more likely to tell you that they are there to inform golfers of their options – especially under difficult situations – sometimes resulting in a more positive outcome than golfers might expect.
“What happens when your ball ends up in a spot that is impossible to play from?” asks Paul Turner, the RDGA’s Chief Rules Official. “The Rules give you a fair and equitable way to put a ball back in play and continue.”
For Turner, one of nearly a dozen veteran Rules officials who volunteer their time and knowledge to the RDGA, being a Rules official is about education – of the golfer, as well as Rules officials themselves.
Turner has certainly invested a large portion of his time to learning and understanding golf’s Rules. For nearly 20 years, he has read and re-read the official Rules of Golf Handbook. Many times, he has also had to re-learn the Rules, when they have been periodically updated by the USGA.
That dedication to self-education of the Rules has paid off handsomely for Turner. In a recent 100-question exam of the Rules over the winter, he answered 97 questions correctly, placing him among the elite practioners of the Rules who qualify as “expert” for scoring above 90 in the annual exam – a status that makes them eligible to serve as an official at major championships such as the U.S. Amateur or U.S. Open.
But Turner isn’t alone in that category. No less than five RDGA Rules officials scored as “expert” in this year’s Rules Exam, with Jim Niziurski (who scored 96), Andy Conway (94), Dennis Olbrich (94) and Dan Overbeck (90) all joining Turner in that category.
Other RDGA Rules officials scored highly in the exam this year, including John Crawford (83), Mike Sorce (79) and Alan Pritchard (78). The RDGA is indeed blessed to have so many capable volunteer officials willing to give their time and share their knowledge at RDGA Tournaments.
“I am convinced that our current stable of officials is one of the best in the entire country,” said Conway. “There are a number of us who are now qualified to officiate at U.S. Opens and U.S. Amateurs.”
But each year, time moves on, and so do some officials – some of whom step away for one reason or another. To combat this natural attrition, Turner and RDGA Director of Rules and Competitions, Ty McHerron, ran a series of educational Rules sessions this winter that aimed towords recruiting new officials to join their ranks.
For several Saturdays between late January and early March, these sessions hosted a number of promising new recruits, with as many as eight attending and taking an 80-question exam at the conclusion of the sessions. Two of those recruits – Jeff Reynolds (73/80 questions correct) and Tim Hayes (71/80) – registered as “advanced.” In total, these efforts yielded six potential officials, who will be given supplemental on-course training during RDGA Tournaments this season – with the goal of eventually becoming fully-qualified RDGA Rules officials.
Anyone interested in becoming an RDGA Rules Official is invited to reach out to McHerron at: TyMcHerron@RDGA.org. Those interested in learning the Rules in greater detail can receive the Rules of Golf Guide to help them study for the exam.
“My advice is that someone who is interested in becoming a Rules Official needs to understand that it requires a pretty significant time commitment, both on and off the course,” added Conway, one of the RDGA’s “expert”-rated Rules officials. “They need to be passionate about the game of golf, and passionate about the constant challenge of learning. And they need to understand that being a Rules Official is different than being an umpire or a referee in other sports because in golf we want to help a player avoid suffering a penalty rather than looking strictly to call penalties as they do in other sports. It’s a lot of work, but the rewards are very gratifying.”
Anyone who is simply interested in the Rules of Golf and would like to read more, can go to the USGA.org website and click on “Rules of Golf” to view the entire set of official Rules. (CLICK HERE to go directly to the Rules section.)
Knowing the proper application of the Rules of Golf won’t necessarily make you a better golfer – but it just might help improve your score.
