Hey, They Are Right…There’s No “i” in Team!

(Rules for the Game of Golf)

If you have been closely watching or listening to all the talking heads in the sports media lately, everyone is trying to decide which player, coach, team, executive and laundry manager is the “Greatest of All Time.” Do not think I am downgrading the laundry managers in this statement. They have my highest respect always.

Picking out one of these categories to scrutinize, let’s look at what we consider makes a great team. Does it matter how many championships they garnered, how many players were recognized for their contributions, what impact they made on their communities, how big was their fan base or how many people are wearing that team’s uniforms around the world?

As far as the number of championships trophies in the case, the New York Yankees have 27 MLB championships, the Montreal Canadiens have taken home 25 Stanley Cups, there are 13 soccer championships that belong to Real Madrid and Yale University holds the record for the most college football championships with 18 titles.

Getting to our specialty in this article, the team category is not only on our minds during Ryder Cup years, but we have a fairly new rule devoted entirely to team competitions. Before we move ahead, the record is United States (27 wins) vs. Europe (14 wins).

Rule 24 – Team Competitions covers either match play or stroke play, where multiple players or sides compete as a team with the results of their rounds or matches combined to produce an overall team score.

In Rule 24.2, the terms of the competition illustrate how the scoring is used to determine the winning team. In match play, the number of points awarded for winning or tying a match is the team’s total. In stroke play, the number of scores to count in each team’s total score determines their score. Whether the competition will end in a tie or not is also included in the terms of the competition.

This is the one form of play where there is a team captain that can make decisions such as which players on the team will play in which rounds or matches, in what order they will play and who will play together as partners. A team captain can also be one of several people that can give advice to the players, but that person must be identified prior to the round and no more than one person can be that advice giver, unless authorized by the Committee or governing body.

The rules include some restrictions such as if the Advice Giver is also a player on the team, they are not allowed to act in that role while playing a round in the competition. The players, unless paired together as partners, must not ask for or give advice to a member of their team playing on the course. This is true whether they are in the same group or another group on the course. The General Penalty (2 strokes) applies to any breach under this rule.

Furthermore, the Committee may establish guidelines for Advice Givers such as permitting only amateur golfers to be advice givers, not allowing advice givers access to the putting greens, or using an electronic device such as a radio to communicate with the players.

Referring to the Ryder Cup again, this is a perfect example of Team Competitions. There are players that make up teams and there is a captain (with assistants) who is allowed to provide advice during the competition. The scoring is a combination of Four-Ball, Foursome and Singles Match Play for points. The final total is a combination of all these formats. For any match that ends in a tie, the teams split the point equally.

If you have been involved in youth golf, high school, or collegiate competitions, you are aware that teams compete against other teams and the score for a team is the best four scores out of the five players on that team per round. All players are also competing in an individual stroke play competition.

We have become huge fans of team sports and spend a vast number of hours cheering on those teams either in person or in front of the television. If you are one of these fans, enjoy the competition and try to remember there are very few times when a team does not either win or lose. I have heard it said, a tie is like kissing your sister!