Rules Guy: Is it legal to caddie for another player after finishing your round?
What do the rules say about caddying for someone after finishing your own round?
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The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
Can someone who has finished his round come back out and caddie for another player? It doesn’t seem right, but is it legal?
—Dan Kelly, Hopkins, Minn.
Dan, you know the saying, “There’s an app for that”? Well, the USGA has an Interpretation for that, specifically, 10.3a/2.
To spare you the suspense…it’s entirely legal.
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For more caddie-related rules guidance from our guru, read on …
On my home course, a friend and I are each playing a singles match in the same foursome against other opponents. If my friend labels me his caddie at the start of the round, can I give him advice during his match, even though I’m playing my own match concurrently? We will be riding, so I definitely won’t be carrying his clubs.
—Kevin Woods, Belmont, Calif.
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” Polonius advises his son Laertes in Hamlet.
In his unpublished play Golf and the Man*, Shakespeare writes, “Either a golfer or a caddie be.” And as we know, the Bard knew his stuff, on and off the course.
Can you legally multitask as both competitor and looper? Verily, you cannot. The player would be penalized the general penalty under Rule 10.2a each time he asked your considered opinion.
Remember, “Always the wrong person gives you the right lesson in life.”**
* Please, scholars, save your letters and e-mails: This is pure malarkey.
** This is indeed Shakespeare.
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