Stymied

[EnglishGolfer]

When did they get rid of the stymie? I can't imagine why anyone ever thought this should be a part of the game, it's just plain ridiculous!

 

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

When did they get rid of the stymie? I can't imagine why anyone ever thought this should be a part of the game, it's just plain ridiculous!

http://golf.about.com/cs/historyofgolf/a/hist_stymie.htm

I don't think it's surprising it was originally part of the game. I can see how it could add some thinking to the guy with the longer putt, thinking that if he's going to miss it, it would be better to miss to a side and stymie his opponent.

 

[EDSGolf]

WOW, I did not know that even existed, imagine the fights that broke out!

 

[SiberianDVM]

That's why Bob Jones' teaching movies has a clip on chipping over your opponent's ball.

That same golf history site has a good explanation of "bogey" and "par" as well. In the golf stories of P.G. Wodehouse, written in the very early part of the 20th century, "bogey" is used to describe what we now call "par". That had me confused when I was reading the stories.