Question about golf in the "good old days"

[hawaiiandude]

I was watching a documentary on TV about Byron Nelson and it showed a video footage in black and white where he was putting about a two footer and there was another ball directly in front of his ball. He proceeded to putt it over the other ball and into the hole.

 

I thought this was bizzare, as this doesn't happen in this day and age.

We would have just had the other ball marked.

What is the story behind this?

[jeffreyl]

Stymie....rule abolished in 1952

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stymie"]My link[/url]

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/golf-talk-live-byron-nelson-transcript-segment-6-1829/

[morganmonroe]

http://golf.about.com/od/golfterms/g/bldef_stymie.htm

[hawaiiandude]

Stymie - so thats what it was called

Thanks guys i just looked it up!


[i]The "stymie" is an archaic part of the game that required quite a bit of inventiveness (and probably invective) on the greens. [/i]

[i]In singles match play, back in the day, if an opponent's ball was in the way of your ball, but more than six inches away from your ball, it was not lifted. You were just out of luck. Your options would be to slice or draw your putt around the ball in the way, or chip or pop your ball up over the offending ball. [/i]

[i]If the opponent's ball was in your ball's way, but the balls were within six inches of each other, then the offending ball was lifted. [/i]

[i]If your ball struck your opponent's ball, your ball would be played as it lie. But your opponent would have the option of putting his ball from its new position, or replacing it at its previous position. And if your ball knocked your opponent's ball into the cup, your opponent was considered to have holed out. [/i]

[i]You can still occasionally catch footage of players dealing with stymies in broadcasts of pre-1952 match play matches, such as the PGA Championship. [/i][i]Beginning in 1952, stymies were eliminated from the Rules of Golf.[/i]

[dgs]

Something else to look out for when watching the pro's from the 40's, 50's and 60's on the green: They usually have a very wristy putting stroke. The greens they played on back then, the grass was longer than the tee or fairway you're playing from today.

We play a version of the stymie rule, once a year, with the provisio that the stroke should not damage the green in any way. It's a hoot!!!


dgs

[Buddyjay]

[quote name='dgs' date='26 May 2010 - 03:49 PM' timestamp='1274903346' post='2468894']
Something else to look out for when watching the pro's from the 40's, 50's and 60's on the green: They usually have a very wristy putting stroke. The greens they played on back then, the grass was longer than the tee or fairway you're playing from today.

We play a version of the stymie rule, once a year, with the provisio that the stroke should not damage the green in any way. It's a hoot!!!
dgs
[/quote]


Yep. You can see that all the time with the "classic" guys. Very wristy. Palmer, Nicklaus, Player and many others.

[boxen]

Surely the Big Three played on reasonably well-kept greens. Didn't they? When did they start making those nice Toro's?

[olegolfer]

The stymie was still played in 1980 in caddyshack by Chevy Chase ( actually by the local pro who played
the shot with what appeared to be a 8802 type blade )