The Stymie

photo credit: star5112   The stymie is part of golf’s quizzical past.  Many golfers today may not have even heard of a stymie. 

Prior to the mid-twentieth century, the stymie was part of match play.  If an opponents ball lay in your line on the green and if it was more than 6 inches away from yours, it would remain in place as you played.  A golfer was required to find a way over or around it.  Scorecards were made to be precisely 6 inches long to help measure the 6 inches.  To deliberately “lay a stymie” on an opponent was considered to be bad sportsmanship.

A ball sitting in front of the hole could easily leave you stymied, consequently, there was no penalty for hitting an opponents ball in match play.  After much consideration, in 1951, the USGA eliminated the stymie altogether.