GottaGoGolf's June special on The Rules looks at why women take them so seriously

June 2, 2011 - PRLog -- When it comes to “The Rules of Golf," women indeed deserve to be known as the "fairer sex," according to the experts whose works appear in this month’s issue of GottaGoGolf, the online magazine for women who love the game.

The monthly magazine is free online at http://www.gottagogolf.com.

Golf travel writer and humorist Kathie Dyson vents about a round with the “Rules Nazi” – perhaps known in some quarters by an even less flattering moniker – who thinks she knows all of the rules and makes it her life mission to enforce them. “I had never played with her before, but her moniker said it all,” Dyson writes. “Terrifying.”

And accomplished amateur Michelle Smith investigates why men give each other 5-foot putts and women seem not to know the words “that’s good,” “c’est bonne” or “eso es bueno.” Her column –  He says ‘That’s good.’ She says ‘Oh really?’ – theorizes that women have tended to feel like golf outsiders and have tried to make up for that by thoroughly learning and strictly observing the rules.  

GottaGoGolf's monthly Guidance columnist, former USGA rules official Gail Rogers, has a few theories of her own on that latter topic.

“I think women try to do everything right and do their best to keep their handicaps accurate,” Rogers observed. “Men seem to look at the game a lot more as leisure. Traditionally they’ve had serious jobs and looked at golf as the escape. Also, for whatever reason, the trend is that women do not do a lot of match play, which is where the concept of the free stroke came from, and so they may not even know that it’s a common practice.”

Rogers’ June column explores how the USGA goes about changing the rules – which already has happened once in the past year (Decision 33-7/4.5).

Her experience officiating high-caliber, high-stakes golf – including the U.S. Women’s Open – taught Rogers that intensity has no gender. “Some players are pleasant when they’re winning, but when they’re not, you don’t want to be their rules official,” she said.

She also observes that European and Swedish players rank far ahead of American pros in rules knowledge. “I’ve had pro players tell me they had enough to worry about with the golf swing – ‘it’s your job to take care of the rules,’ “ Rogers said, citing Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam as exceptionally schooled among pro players.

And regarding the Rules Nazi, Rogers offers this advice to players in her foursome: “The best defense is to say, ‘That’s interesting. Could you show me that rule or that decision?’ Every club has someone who is really intense about the rules, and a lot of the time they base their knowledge on partial information or old wives’ tales. Asking ‘could you show me that?” takes the stress out of the situation and also allows both players to learn from it.”

Other features in this month’s issue of GottaGoGolf – online now and free and www.GottaGoGolf.com – include eight scenarios that confounded the pros and eight good manners that guarantee a return invitation, as well as travel, trends, entertaining and reviews geared for women who love the game.

Upcoming GottaGoGolf themes include the July Beat the Heat issue, and for August, the “Golf in Style” special featuring fashion and apparel.

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About GottaGoGolf: Susan Fornoff, former sportswriter, newspaper editor and author of “Lady in the Locker Room,” launched the media company in 2010 with assists from other former newspaper journalists and freelancers to fill the void left by the demise of Golf For Women magazine in 2008. GottaGoGolf Magazine, with the tagline “for women who love the game,” operates on the premise that women play golf for fun and exercise and so it focuses on issues and trends rather than tips and lessons. It premiered on Oct. 1, 2010, and now publishes digitally every month from February through November within the website http://www.gottagogolf.com. The site also houses back issues and resources for advertisers. For more information on GottaGoGolf or its Women Welcome golf course evaluation program, email Publisher and Editorial Director Susan Fornoff at editor@gottagogolf.com.