Friday, June 12, 2009

Sandy, Birdie, Chippy, Poley

I hung with the guys at the neighborhood bar after work today. A new character to this blog, but not in my life, Mac was there. We are playing golf in the morning and have a usual quarter a hole bet, match play. He proposed raising it to fifty cents. I agreed and proposed fifty cents for fringes. He agreed.

For most of you, a fringe bet definition is in order. You win the side or fringe bet by scoring a birdie, sandy, chippy, poley, Cousteau and a few others on a hole. A birdy: less than par for the hole. A sandy: par or better with a stroke coming from a bunker. Chippy: last shot from off the green. Cousteau: same as a sandy but a stroke from a water hazard. Poley: the last stroke (a bone of contention as you will see), par or better, from a distance longer than the length of the flagstick.

The parameters of our game defined, I recounted the story of my last (and only) sandy, birdie, chippy, poley, or so I say.

Mac and I played hooky from work a year or so ago to play golf. It was a pretty day and pretty much no one else was on the course. Somewhere on the back nine there was a short par four hole. The fairways were running fast, I had a great tee shot and hit my second shot down the fairway and it ran into the front left bunker.

I pulled out my sand wedge and chipped it into the hole. Birdy, as I holed the ball in less than the par four of the hole. Sandy, as one of my strokes was from the bunker. Chippy, my last shot was from off the green. Poley, as my last shot was from a distance longer than the flagpole.

Mac demurred. You can’t have a poley unless your last stroke is a putt. Who says?, I said. Everyone, he said. We argued for a bit.

I decided to solve the issue the way we used to solve any question of a wager. I called Tony (for anyone new, do a search for Tony on the blog). I laid out the issue to Tony. A poley is a last shot longer than the length of the pole, I chipped in, I got a poley.

Mac’s right, you got a birdie,a sandy, a chippy, no poley, you only get a poley for a putt. I argued for a bit while Mac, hearing my end of the conversation, grinned.

The sports and betting god having ruled, I didn’t get a poley. Bastard.

6 comments:

Jeni said...

Well, think positive thoughts for your game today and who knows, maybe you'll get all of that stuff this time around.

Sonja's Mom said...

Are these your rules or do they apply to everyone? I didn't know golf was such a complicated game.

Dave said...

An update, Jeni, I lost $3.00.

SM, they're rules for side bets among the golfers. And if you think they're complicated, read the official rules of golf sometime - they're crazy.

One example: if your ball is on the green and you stand over it "addressing" the ball to putt, and the wind moves the ball, you get a stroke penalty. What kind of sense does that make.

One more for good measure. Again on the green, as you look at the path your ball will take towards the hole, you can tamp down a spike mark; but, you can't fix a ball mark (made when a ball hits the green on the fly).

dr sardonicus said...

All the arcane rules are what make golf such a great sport for lawyers...

Anonymous said...

Hey-
Responding to Dave's comments---you actually have it backwards. You CAN repair a ball mark NOT a spike mark. My son just lost a junior tournament for tamping down a spike mark...lost by one shot after a 2 stroke penalty. See USGA rule 16.

Dave said...

Anon, you're right, not sure what I was thinking. You have a copy of the rules? Cool.