New Golf Rule Stirs Up Few Questions
By Peter Contreras | Monday, December 14, 2009 12:09 PM
When the Legislative Council approved the rule change to allow golf coaches to coach their players during competition, I thought I would get more questions. To my pleasant surprise, I was wrong.
The new rule and language that was added to the UIL Coaches' Manual reads:
UIL Golf Coaches: (Guidelines for coaching players from green to tee)
A coach may engage (coach) with the player(s) once all players in that playing group have completed the hole and prior to the player teeing off on the next hole.
At district, regional and state competition, only one coach is allowed to coach that team/individual once play has begun that day for that team or player(s).
Penalty Structure:
First Offense – Warning.
Second Offense – Stroke penalty for player and loss of coaching privileges for the coach.
Third Offense – Disqualification of the player for the entire tournament.
The intent of the one coach rule per team or individual is not to limit a coach from coaching but rather limit the amount of coaches per school.
A coach and player also must be aware of the pace of play. If this can be done, I believe we will have very few issues with this rule.
To accommodate this rule change, tournament administrators must create some form of identification (i.e. credential) to identify the coach of the team for the tournament.
Then, the administrators can distribute the coaching credentials at a coaches meeting prior to the start of the tournament. Also, officials need to have a plan in case a school requests a different coach for a different tournament round. I can envision several valid reasons for a school wanting to do this.
Finally, I also strongly suggest that tournament officials and coaches discuss the penalty structure so that everyone is on the same page.