U.S. Golf Association official regales Kiwanis about work
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 6, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/PHYLLIS MOORE
David Norman, a former golf rules official with the U.S. Golf Association, speaks to the Golden K Kiwanis Club on Tuesday morning.
David Norman did not look like the typical sports official when he showed up Tuesday to address the Golden K Kiwanis Club.
He was decked out in khaki pants, a light blue button-down shirt and a fanny pack containing binoculars -- not a black and white stripe in sight.
But that was the point, the former rules official with the U.S. Golf Association said.
"I'm in the background. I do not want to be on TV. I would get reprimanded if I'm on TV," he said.
The Winston-Salem native worked 13 U.S. Opens and was referee at three President's Cups. Now based in Richmond, Virginia, he runs a management company specializing in golf, works closely with golf course superintendents and owners, said club member Gordon Combs, who introduced the speaker.
Unlike the typical golfer who holds onto the occasional scorecard for bragging rights to a hole in one or other win, Combs said Norman has kept virtually every scorecard since probably 1984.
"He's got like 3,000 scorecards, which amounts to seven shoeboxes full," Combs said.
Norman regaled the club with stories of being a walking rules official and the "complicated rules" of golf.
Unlike other sports, where officials must make split-second decisions, in golf they have to pay attention to every angle, compounded when even TV viewers can weigh in.
"Everyone is a rules official," Norman said. "What sport do we know of where people can call in when they're sitting at home, watching things on TV and say, 'I think it's a bad ruling' and (officials) have to go investigate it.
"Where do you draw the line? In the past the rules have always said we want all the information we can get, we just want to get it right."
He hinted that revisions are afoot, since the sport of golf is struggling and has lost some of its fun edge, he said.
"We're going to see some new rules in 2019," he said. "That's going to be really interesting. You'll see some things change about this, too, this calling in."