Friday, January 12, 2018

Stymie Cards Set # 4

Stymie Cards 
Set # 4

Up through 1951 when The USGA and Royal & Ancient Golf Club drafted uniform rules, golf was played a bit differently once everyone was on the putting green.

The rules were strict. You could not pick up your ball before holing out* as you may do now. If it was your turn to putt and a competitor's ball was in the line of your putt, you had to go around that ball or over that ball. Your opponent could not be made to mark his ball.  When you were thus prevented from reaching the hole directly, you were said to be "stymied".

There was no specific rule intended to introduce stymie play into golf. Stymies resulted from the general principle in golf that you do not pick up your ball until you have holed out. So stymie situations accidentally occurred in the beginning.  Some golfers realized the competitive advantage that could be gained by intentionally stymieing your opponent's ball.  And just as in billiards, one opponent could confound another repeatedly.

In 1951, when the USGA and Royal & Ancient agreed to consolidate the rules on both sides of "the pond", the Brits insisted upon maintaining the rule preventing the picking up of a ball on the green. The Americans lobbied for adoption of a rule permitting the marking and picking up of a ball on the green because stymie's slowed play and American golf course operators wanted to squish as many foursomes onto the course as possible. Well, you know the outcome. And when the rules became effective in 1952, the stymie was dead.

Today among golf scorecard collectors any stymie cards they have in their collection are considered to be gold.



























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