Rule 6 - Scoring and the Maximum Number
Scoring is where events become numbers, and numbers become literature. Rule 6 sets the maximum, defines the Quick 7, and draws the line between the scorecard, which is fiction, and the Damage Report, which is the truth.
The Rule (reproduced verbatim from the Dad Golf Handbook)
Purpose of Rule: governs the transformation of events into numbers.
6.1 The maximum score on any hole is a 7, unless the true number is being used as evidence against another player, in which case precision to the decimal is required.
6.1a A Quick 7 (see Definitions) written before anyone asks becomes a 6. This is not cheating. This is rounding.
6.2 Whiffs count as practice swings if the player maintains the practice-swing face. The practice-swing face must be adopted BEFORE contact is missed, not after.
6.3 All scores must be reported immediately upon holing out. A player who waits until the cart to "count it up" is doing forensic accounting, and the audit committee (everyone) must be present.
6.3a "What did you have?" answered with "eh, put me down for bogey" is admissible once per nine. The second use triggers a full stroke-by-stroke reconstruction with witnesses.
6.4 The scorecard is a legal fiction. The Damage Report is the truth. Both are canon. Only one gets posted.
6.5 A player's score, once accepted by the Crew and written down, is history. History is written by whoever holds the pencil. Guard the pencil.
PENALTY FOR SCORECARD FICTION BEYOND COMMUNITY STANDARDS: the Crew recounts your hole shot by shot, out loud, with gestures, one beer.
Official Ruling 6.2/1: Matt swung, missed, and immediately checked the face of his club as if it had betrayed him. The Committee rules the practice-swing face was adopted after the miss, the whiff counts, and the club is innocent.
Report your number the moment you hole out, and above all, guard the pencil. History is written by whoever holds it.