You may have wondered: where do the Rules of Golf come from? Who has the authority to shape the game of golf?
There are two primary organizations that are charged with maintaining the Rules of Golf: The United States Golf Association (USGA) and The Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A), St. Andrews, Scotland. The USGA governs golf in the United States, it’s territories, and Mexico. The R&A governs golf pretty much everywhere else.
Since 1952, the USGA and R&A have come together periodically (currently every four years) to jointly issue the Rules of Golf. The two bodies review, refine, and clarify the rules. No change is made without acceptance from both bodies. This allows for uniformity in the rules all over the world.
It might seem like there wouldn’t be a whole lot to do with less than 40 rules on the books. On the contrary. There are hundreds of decisions on the rules. Situations arise on the course all the time that stress the wording and intent of the rules, so the governing bodies release decisions to guide players through unusual situations.
Also, as technology changes, the governing bodies have to address things like maximum club head size and other things that affect how the game is played. One of the more recent examples of this was the allowance of the establishment of a local rule permitting artificial distance measuring devices. It also seems likely that the ball may get some attention in the future. As driving distances continue to increase, there is a big push to start limiting ball characteristics to keep that trend in check.
Loading ...
Informative post.
So the rules are a few pages, and the decisions are probably hundreds?
That’s right. There are 34 rules of golf, plus 3 appendices. Each one has a number of sections and paragraphs, but the book itself is quite small. You could easily fit it in your back pocket. On the other hand, the decisions would do better on a book shelf.
It’s actually an interesting way of doing things. The idea is to keep the rules as simple as possible. But when you do that, you leave open so many questions. Golf is a very dynamic game played in a large place with lots of outside influence, so situations that require clarification are quite common.
For instance, consider loose impediments (defined as “natural objects”). Rule 23-1 gives you the ability to move loose impediments except within a hazard.
Decision 23/6 covers the situation where a ball lodges against a dead land crab in a bunker. The question is whether the crab is a loose impediment or an obstruction. In a bunker, loose impediments may not be removed, while obstructions can be. The ruling deems the crab to be a loose impediment, and thus relief is not allowed.
This might seem like a ridiculous low-odds situation, but it happened. That’s why there’s a decision on it. The golf course presents such a dynamic set of variables that these things are common enough to warrant a book of decisions.