Voltar
The rules of golf are so complicated and annoying, we all bend them from time to time.
Who hasn’t given themselves a breakfast ball, been a little generous with getting relief, or given themselves a questionable free drop? We’re all playing for fun after all.
Unfortunately for the professionals, they don’t get that same luxury. They have to abide by the rules no matter how nonsensical they may seem. Well, in most cases anyway.
But the pros dare to dream, even the very best in the world. Women’s world number one Nelly Korda recently revealed which rule she’d love to break if she knew she’d get away with it.
The rule that frustrates Korda the most is probably the same rule that bothers most amateurs. She does not like that players don’t get relief from divots in the fairway.
It’s controversial because players are punished for hitting a good shot, which doesn’t feel in the spirit of the game. On the “Hey Jonas!” podcast, she was asked which rule she’d break if she could get away with it, and Korda responded:
“Hitting from a divot when you are in the middle of the fairway. It’s tough, but I always say – and it’s come up in conversation a couple of times with my friends – there is an art to hitting out of a divot from a fairway.
How did you end up falling in love with the game?
“You put it more back in your stance, grip a little bit down on the club, because in a way it is like a bunker shot, so you are trying to hit the ball first. You are just a lot steeper. So there is an art.”
You hear people complain about the rule all the time, but you rarely hear a golf tip explaining how to hit a good shot out of that situation. That’s why she’s the world number one!
Even the best in the world can have their fair share of embarrassing moments on the golf course, and Korda is no different. She recalled a frustrating moment that left her with egg, or rather mud, on her face afterward.
She said, “I never slam my clubs and the first year Jason started caddying for me, I took the butt end of the club and slammed it into the ground right in front of him, and it ricocheted back and hit me in the mouth, and I had a bloody lip.
“I thought it had knocked out my teeth. He said ‘I thought if I laughed I would get fired right there’. That would probably be the most embarrassing thing, because that is karma right there.”
That’s a lesson to us all. Sometimes when we take frustration out on the golf course, it can hit back!