Revamp the Rules – Six Changes I’d Make

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I’m a law and order guy. I follow and respect the Rules of Golf. Honestly though, is there anyone out there that wouldn’t make some serious changes?

I’m not talking about changing the fundamentals of the game. I’m talking about a little face lift that would make the rules easier to understand and apply, and that would make the game more fun and maybe even quicker to play.

Here are my suggestions:

Have Competitors Record Their Own Scores

This month’s issue of Golf Digest featured Boo Weekly in the My Turn segment and that sparked this entire post.

He discussed the incident where he accidentally recorded the wrong score on a hole for Sergio Garcia. Garcia signed the card with the wrong score and was disqualified. He also mentioned that he did it again to Garcia during another tournament, but that time it was caught and corrected.

The most famous incident of this kind happened to Roberto DeVicenzo in the 1968 Masters. His fellow competitor, Tommy Aaron, accidentally recorded his score for the 17th hole as a four instead of the three that he had scored. DeVicenzo signed the card without checking and the higher score stuck.

The correct score would have put him in a tie for first place and in a playoff the following day.

Certainly, a player should check the scorecard before signing. But Weekly makes a good point: a player out there has so much to worry about during a round. Having to keep track of what the other guy is doing is an unnecessary burden.

Keep in mind that the player’s score is recorded by the “marker”, and the marker may be a fellow competitor, according to the rules. So the issue is more with the PGA Tour and other organizations that run tournaments and declare fellow competitors to be markers.

My feeling is that a tournaments should either assign dedicated markers to each group, or the Rules should allow a player to keep his own score, with the fellow competitor verifying it at the end to resolve mistakes. We expect players to call penalties on themselves, but we don’t trust them to record their own scores?

Don’t Disqualify (or Punish) for Clerical Errors

This is really a continuation of the item above about letting players keep their own scores. In the case of Roberto DiVicenzo, since his mistake was recording a score higher than his real score, the higher score stood. In the case of Sergio Garcia, he was disqualified because the recorded score was lower than the actual score.

In both cases, these actions stuck because the players had signed their cards.

Certainly, the idea is to prevent cheating. And again, I say that we trust players to call their own penalties, but we don’t trust them to record their scores in an honorable way?

I can even accept disqualification in the case of a player recording a lower score, just because there could be an appearance of cheating that would be a bad precedent. But in the case where the score was higher, there’s no reason to not accept the real score, just because the player scribbled on the card.

If an error is discovered before a winner is declared, let the corrected score stand. After that, it’s too late.

Simplify the Rules

The Rules of Golf consist of 34 actual rules (with sections and sub sections) as well as a few appendices. Yet, there are so many gaps that there is a book of rules decisions that spans hundreds of pages.

For instance, Rule 23 provides relief for loose impediments. Loose impediments are defined as:

natural objects, including:

• stones, leaves, twigs, branches and the like,
• dung, and
• worms and insects and casts or heaps made by them,

provided they are not: fixed or growing, solidly embedded, or adhering to the ball.

That seems simple enough, until you start having to apply the concept in real life. Now, there are over 30 decisions on this rule.

A dead snake is a loose impediment, but a living snake is an outside agency. Huh?

An acorn is a loose impediment. Unless it’s embedded in the ground. What?

A player shouldn’t have to go through a ridiculous amount of gyrations on the course just to determine how to play the game within the rules.

No Stroke and Distance for Shots OB

Currently, if you hit a ball out of bounds, you’re penalized a stroke plus distance. That means that you add a penalty stroke to your score and then have to hit the ball from the same spot again.

If you tee off and get down to your ball and find that it trickled out of bounds, that means you have to do the walk (or ride) of shame back to the tee to hit again.

For amateurs playing for fun on crowded courses, this creates an uncomfortable situation, making the players behind wait impatiently while the player hits his shot over. It certainly slows down play, as well, especially for Tour players that have to walk all the way back to the tee.

I think this rule is largely ignored by recreational players because of the situation it creates.

Why not make the out of bounds area play like a lateral hazard? After all, if there was a big lake there instead you’d go up there and find the place where the ball crossed the margin and take a drop and a penalty stroke.

More Uniformity

Often times, certain things are done in some situations, but not in other similar situations.

For example, when lifting a ball, sometimes it is permissible to clean it, other times it is not. Another example involves measuring for a drop. Sometimes two club lengths are allowed, but sometimes just one is allowed. Sometimes, the club used to play the next shot is used to measure. Sometimes any club can be used. Yet another example involves putting the ball into play after a penalty or relief situation. Sometimes it is placed and other times it is dropped.

It’s difficult to remember which options apply to a specific situation. Getting it right often involves referring to the rule book, slowing down play in the process.

Instead, make these options more uniform. Putting a ball into play? Drop it (except maybe on the green). Measuring for a drop or for relief? Take two club lengths, no matter the situation.

Repairing Spike Marks

A player can repair pitch marks made by balls and old hole plugs. What’s the downside in repairing spike marks?

I understand that it’s not good practice to get into having players doing green repairs before every stroke. But we’re talking about damage done by other players that came along earlier.

What’s to keep a player from purposely making spike marks near the hole to affect players that have to putt there next? I know there have been accusations of this sort of thing in the past, and I’m sure those accusations have been true at some time or another. Even when there’s no foul play, sometimes players drag their feet, or turn on their shoe and do a little damage.

Let players tap down spike marks. It’s not fair to pay the price for another player’s lack of consideration.

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I’m mostly a traditionalist and wouldn’t want to see golf fundamentally changed. I think there are things that make sense to do, but that still preserve the spirit of the game.

These are six that have been on my mind. I could go on for a while, but I’m really interested to hear what rules you’d change (or even add).