GolfTalkCentral

Golf Rules Plain and Simple

By Steve Sands
Apr 1, 2010 1:46 AM ET

Remember when we were kids and our parents caught us doing something wrong? The first reaction was to lie. Then we’d climb up the defensive pole until it became so ridiculous that even we couldn’t keep our balance, eventually falling back down to Earth to admit the truth.

Sunday, Michelle Wie played her own balancing act when she tried to say a wedge in her left hand was helping her from falling in the water despite clearly leaning to her right. Never before have we seen a prodigy, man or woman, have so many problems with the rules. The LPGA is trying to gain traction in an ever-splintered sports landscape. And Michelle is the face of that tour.

Sunday’s incident isn’t alone. There was the illegal drop at the Samsung, not signing her scorecard at the State Farm, and at the 2006 Women’s British Open she received a two-shot penalty after touching the sand illegally.

Maybe instead of trying to win her first major this week at the Kraft Nabisco, Michelle ought to read my good friend Mark Russell’s book, “Golf Rules, Plain and Simple.”