The Meaning of 'Golf Lawyer'
The reference work Davies' Dictionary of Golfing Terms (affiliate link) defines "golf lawyer" this way: "A golfer who makes pettifogging use of the rules." ("Pettifogging" refers to placing undue important on minor details or using a precise knowledge of minutiae to gain advantage.)
A more straightforward definition is provided by a dictionary of golf slang: "A person intent on ruining everyone else's day by insisting on a strict respect of the rules."
Not all golfers, nor all groups of golf buddies, are strict about the Rules of Golf. Many of us like to play loose with the rules when playing friendly games. We're not going to walk all the way back to the tee to replay the drive we discovered is out of bounds when we could just drop a ball near the OB marker. A "golf lawyer" is someone who is going to join up with such a group and start pointing out every rule being broken and, probably, berating those golfers for doing so.
The term has always, from it earliest uses, carried the whiff of insult. For example, an 1898 article in Harper's Weekly magazine states that "... the golf-lawyer must be placed equally with the duffer."
In those early days, the term implied that a golfer cared more about standing on technicalities than he did about about sportsmanship. Today, calling someone a "golf lawyer" not only means they are someone who will constantly try to throw the rulebook at you, but that their tendency to do so makes them very annoying — someone you might not enjoy playing with.
Golf lawyers, a writer with the London Daily Mirror stated in 1925, are apt to have "a deplorably contentious and argumentative spirit."
The term was often expressed as "golfing lawyer," but you don't see that usage much anymore. And an old synonym for the term, albeit one no longer used, was "rulebook demon."
Having said all that, just remember this: It is the obligation of everyone who plays golf to have a basic understanding of the rules. And if you play tournament rounds, handicap rounds, play for money, then your understanding should be more than basic. A good knowledge of the rules is a good thing, and there may be times when you have to call a penalty on yourself, or when you see a fellow-competitor or opponent do something so egregious that you have to speak up (unless your recreational golfing group is very casual by agreement). But meeting these criteria is pretty easy to do without becoming a "golf lawyer" and making an annoyance of yourself.
More definitions:
- Explaining the term 'golf widow'
- What does it mean to be 'pencil-whipped'?
- What is a 'member's bounce'?
Davies, Peter. Davies' Dictionary of Golfing Terms, 1980, Simon and Schuster.
Harper's Weekly. "Golf Ethics," October 8, 1898.
London Daily Mirror. "Is Golf the Evil Genius of Sport?", March 9, 1925.
Pedroli, Hubert, and Tiegreen, Mary. Let the Big Dog Eat! (affiliate link, commissions earned), William Morrow Publisher, 2000.
