JohnV:
It's a very interesting chapter by Tufts in his book "The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf" that we've been quoting from, don't you think?
Certainly the "experimental rule" of 1960 (distance only--no stroke penalty) that he was discussing (in part of the chapter) was something he apparently did not support, but I get the feeling from his entire tone and much of what he says that he really did not seem to support the fact that the rules of golf were beginning to tamper with the fundamental principle that "like situations shall be treated alike". Would you agree?
He seemed to even imply that the four situations that shall be treated alike, ie,
1. When the ball is lost
2. When it goes out of bounds
3. When it is unplayable in a water hazard
4. When it is declared unplayable by the player,
should all be treated alike without exception. Of course, that would all be stroke and distance (as it was pre-1960)!!
It would seem so when he ended the first paragraph with;
"In fact, from the standpoint of equity it is almost impossible to defend any other treatment of these four analogous situations."
Obviously, to Tufts this may have been based more on NOT tampering with even more ancient and fundamental rules of golf!
It should be pointed out that this little book of Tufts which in many ways is still today the "logic Bible" behind the USGA's Rules of Golf", cites the "12 Principles behind the Rules of Golf" broken down into the "The Two Great Principles" and the remaining ten principles known as "The Working Principles".
In the context of what we've been discussing here about lost ball OB, lost ball, lost ball in water hazard and ball unplayable, it appears Tufts might even be concerned about tampering with one of the two "Great Principles" which is;
2. "Put your ball in play at the start of the hole, play only your own ball and do not touch it until you lift it from the hole".
Clearly touching your ball during the play of a hole was not taken at all lightly in those days (to protect the fundamental principles of the Rules of Golf).
For those who have not seen Tuft's book the other (and first) "Great Principle" of golf is;
1. "You play the course as you find it".
Since Tufts wrote this book in 1960 I wonder how he REALLY felt about dropping the stymie rule! Obviously he probably voted for dropping it because he was on that 1950-2 committee that unified the rules with the R&A but I wonder how he REALLY felt!
PS:
I do know from personal experience that another American member of that committee (to unify the rules with the R&A), Ward Foshay (USGA Pres) may have voted to drop the stymie rule too (perhaps not) but personally he was very much OPPOSED to doing that, simply because he felt it weakened the second "Great Principle" of golf!