The Old Committeeman sat down in his usual chair at the octagonal table and then spread on it the Rules book, the Rules in Brief and the one-stroke penalty sheet with the remark for the few regulars at the table, "These three empty chairs are for my partner, John, and our opponents today. They are posting their scores and will be along in a few minutes. To fill you in, our discussion will be about settling Rules questions quickly and accurately during play. And we had an incident today that was challenging and did not go as smoothly as it could have.

"On hole #15, John's opponent hit his drive in the lateral water hazard to the right of the fairway. As you know, the hazard crosses the hole in the rough some 80 yards in front of the tee, then turns left and runs parallel to the fairway almost to the green. Well, you can guess what happened. The flight of the drive of John's opponent was a push and it crossed the hazard at the bend in the creek and flew straight up it until it landed some hundred yards up from its crossing. John's opponent finds his ball and proceeds to drop it under the lateral water option, i.e., outside the hazard within two club-lengths no nearer the hole. John observed this and asked him about his procedure: Did he note where his ball last crossed the margin of the hazard? My partner was informed that doesn't make any difference because he must take a one-stroke penalty from the hazard anyway. My partner said to him, 'If you play from where you have taken your drop, you will be playing from the wrong place and you will be subject to that Rule, which will be loss of hole to me in our singles match and disqualification from the hole in our four-ball match.'

"My partner's opponent played his ball from the wrong place and lost the hole and was disqualified. The match, for the remaining few holes, was played in cathedral silence."

The O.C. continued, "At the scoring tent, I told our opponents to join our group in the XIX Hole, so I could review my procedure to get good answers to Rules questions on the golf course when you need them."

The O.C.'s partner and their opponents finally joined the group at the octagonal table. Introductions were made and golf pleasantries were exchanged. The O.C. then said, "In our brief discussion at the scoring tent, I promised to give you my procedure to answer Rules questions."

The Rules book, the Rules in Brief brochure and the one-stroke penalty sheet were all brought to everyone's attention with this comment by the O.C.: "When you are on the course and a Rules question arises, often you find that there is too little time to get an answer easily. As we all know, we probably know the Rules better than we believe we do, and where we may be weak is in recalling the precise application of a Rule. Here is where these three Rules items come into play. First, consult the one-stroke penalty sheet, containing 18 rulings. You know most of them and a quick review will let you know if you have a one-stroke penalty on your hands. If not, it must be loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. Review the Rules in Brief for a further answer, and if you are not happy with what you find, you then need to go to the Rules book. In it, first check the table of contents, then go to the index if needed to find where the answer is. All three of these items should be in your bag and available for immediate answers for Rules questions. As you know, you can order the Rules book and the Rules in Brief from the USGA, but I must give you the one-stroke penalty sheet. And here are a few copies from my club locker supply. Put them in your bag and make copies for your friends.

"Now, let's apply all this to our lateral water hazard problem on hole #15 today. The one-stroke penalty sheet indicates the penalty; the Rules in Brief indicates the procedure to take a drop by using the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard, in this case some 100 yards back towards the tee; and the Rules book covers the penalty for playing from the wrong place. I hope that there are no questions. If so, we can discuss them another day because you have heard enough from me."

With this, the opponents thanked the O.C. for his enlightenment and apologized for their improper Rules conduct today. They did, however, thank the O.C. and John for the game, collected the on-stroke penalty sheets, said their goodbyes and departed.

The O.C. turned to his partner, who must have had a bad go with all this, and said, "I hope we have helped our opponents with all this. Time will tell. Let's hope for a better golf round tomorrow."

John agreed, said his goodbyes and excused himself. Then the Old Committeeman asked James for his tickets to sign. After the ceremonial signing, the O.C. said, "It's over for today and good night, James."

"Good night, sir."