CJGA Volunteer Profile: Rules Officials

By Jenna Wasserman
jenna.wasserman@cjga.com

Rules Officials play a vital part in the success of each tournament the CJGA conducts on its Junior Tour.  They are there to ensure that the game runs smoothly and that all players have an equal and fair chance of victory.  Moreover, they are on course to educate and help the juniors to the best of their ability.

According to Hugh Borthwick, a longtime rules official and golf connoisseur,  “there is no better reward than to see a players face light up when they realize that their newfound knowledge of the rule will get them out of a difficult situation.”

           

Borthwick is one of approximately 25 rules officials who donate their time and knowledge to the CJGA on a national scale.  For most, it is their general interest in the game that has led to a passion for the rules of golf.   For Borthwick, who started his golf career in Clydebank, Scotland nearly 60 years ago, it was a natural progression.  He began by caddying and graduated to caddy/player in 1950.  By 1966, he was elected as Club Captain at his club in Scotland and quickly realized that administering the rules was an integral part of his new appointment.

Over the past 40 years, Borthwick has continued his involvement with rules officiating in one way or another.  He believes that the role of the rules official role is one of education as they are given an opportunity to help a golfer deal with a situation that could result in penalties without guidance. 

Layne Magee has been the Director of Rules & Competitions for the Canadian Junior Golf Association since 1999.  His interest in officiating was initially sparked while competing at the Ontario Amateur Championship many years ago where he was given a ruling that he questioned. 

In 1990, Magee was a starter and scorer for the Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) and by 1992, he decided to enter the world of rules as well.  Not only did he receive his Canadian certification from the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), but also chose to become certified by the United States Golf Association (USGA). 

Magee was appointed Chairman of the Rules Committee of the GAO in 1998, and was a rules official with the Canadian Tour that same year. 

“The history of golf is based on volunteers.  When I could no longer devote the time necessary to play competitively, I still wanted to be involved with the game and felt that it was my turn to put something back into golf,” admits Magee. 

For this reason, Magee works eight or nine events each year on the CJGA tour including the Lipton Brisk Canada Cup as well as the Euro Junior Golf Cup in Scotland where he is the head rules official for the prestigious international tournament. 

Magee believes that “a good working knowledge of the rules can save junior golfers strokes on the course.” He also believes that most juniors can greatly improve their game by focusing on course management. According to Magee, juniors must learn when to be aggressive and when par is a very good score. They must also learn to accept when they have made a bad shot and minimize the error rather than trying to recover by making a "hero shot" that usually results in further trouble. 

Both Magee and Borthwick agree that the best part of being a rules official is watching the juniors grow and mature both as golfers and as young adults. Learning the respect and etiquette of the game tends to carry over into most juniors’ every day life in dealing with others and learning to treat people with respect. 

“It is very gratifying to watch and to be able to play a small role in their development as golfers but more importantly as good citizens,” says Magee.