Most of us like a little niggle about the Rules of Golf – especially when we’ve had to penalise ourselves for something trivial or when we perceive our heroes have been dealt with unjustly on the TV.
It’s part of human nature to rail against rules, isn’t it? But we also love talking about them. It gets the conversation going and, much like handball, offside, or VAR in football, it’s keeping writers like me in a job.
So in the spirit of extending my employment further – and not at all for the likes, clicks, and memes – I present to you a top 5 of the harshest rules in golf.
Many of you will agree with these, and some of you really won’t. But it’s all about the conversation, isn’t it? Here are those, however, that come up most often and why you might think they could do with a total re-write…
Are these the worst golf rules?
Stroke and Distance
Lose a ball, or hit one outside the course boundaries, and not only do you add a stroke to your score but you lose the distance as well.
This has been a long-time ‘favourite’ of mine – mainly because the punishment is brutal at club level and because the penalty has had many faces since the first Rules of Golf appeared in 1744. It wasn’t always as awful as it is today.
It’s a scorecard wrecker now. It slows down play – because we’re going to spend every second of that three minute search time desperately hunting. And even if we would normally hit a provisional there is always that occasion where a ball has just dropped into some light rough, everyone is convinced they’ll find it, and then the clock runs out and the long walk back is the only option.
The R&A and USGA, to their credit, did propose a solution – a Local Rule. At least it was until handicap chiefs got sniffy about it and wouldn’t allow it to be used in competitions.
That rather killed it because what club in their right mind brings in a Local Rule that can’t be used in events?
My major gripe with stroke-and-distance is that a lost ball in other areas of the course is treated differently. How is this situation really any different from smacking your ball into a pond? If it’s known or virtually certain, you take relief at a cost of a stroke. But you don’t have to lose the distance too.
There’s not a club golfer on the planet who goes back to the tee in a friendly game. We should just drop a ball, accept a penalty, and carry on.
Accidentally moving a ball
The Shane Lowry, as it will now forever be known. We used to associate accidental ball movement on the green with Dustin Johnson before the rules authorities realised it was a bit daft and removed the penalty forever in the 2019 edition. Now we’ve got a new poster boy.
So if you accidentally move your ball on the green, don’t stress. Just put it back where it was and get on with it. It’s similar on the tee too. It’s how you can get away with hitting a ball with a practice swing a la Zach Johnson at the Masters.
But anywhere else? That’s a different matter – as Lowry found out to his cost at The Open.
He was given a two-shot penalty for causing his ball to move on the 12th hole of his second round at Royal Portrush.
It barely moved a fraction, but it was enough. It didn’t matter either that Lowry hadn’t even seen it happen, someone else had.
And because if Shane had been looking the movement would have been visible to the naked eye, he had to be penalised one stroke.
When a ball moves like this it has to be replaced. But because he hadn’t seen the ball move, Lowry didn’t know he had to put it back. So when he failed to do that, and hit his shot, his one stroke penalty became two.
Now, isn’t that a bit of a nonsense?
Signing a scorecard
You’ve got one job. Yes, I know, and I’ve certainly argued this point in the past. But if you’ll allow me to flip-flop like a slippery politician, in this glorious age of technology it’s really a bit 1950s isn’t it?
The computer does all the heavy lifting when you enter a score – or the app if you do it on your phone – and you’re essentially checking and confirming your gross totals through that anyway.
Many apps – like England Golf’s MyEG – don’t even bother to ask you to ‘sign’ a card in the conventional sense. You just confirm the score and your playing partner gets a message asking if everything is above board and correct.
No one is getting disqualified there for forgetting to scrawl a scribble on a bit of card. And as someone who has had to hand out that sanction – to a medal winner no less – I can tell you from first-hand experience it sucks.
It’s also pretty hard to explain to that crestfallen golfer why you are disqualifying them from the competition but because there’s nothing actually wrong with their score it will still count towards their handicap. It’s quite the double whammy.
Even the major tours have softened their stance on this one, mainly thanks to Jordan Spieth. They’ve not removed the rules requirement, but players have now got 15 minutes to correct scorecard errors.
You’d like to think club committees might take this on board. But could you even find the key to the scorecard box? Good luck.
The ball in a divot
Any time a social media editor wants some cheap engagement they wheel this one out because they know it’s guaranteed to send a lot of you into a fury.
A reader sent me an email about an entirely different topic the other day (it was WHS, of course) but couldn’t resist adding this as an addendum.
I think if we did a poll of the ‘worst rule in golf’ (that’s an idea, actually) this one would comfortably come out No. 1. But it isn’t a chart any golfer wants to top.
That’s usually what happens to their ball when they try and delve it out of the crater in the ground their otherwise perfect shot has fallen into.
I know plenty of you hate it but I’m ambivalent about, if I’m honest. I don’t think the shot is anywhere near as difficult as many make out. Hint: don’t take a 3-wood.
I also think it would be widely abused in the same way golfers seem to think any slight scrape qualifies as an animal hole. Another hint: It does not.
But if we wanted to cheer up players in one stroke then allowing them relief in a similar way to taking preferred lies – remove from the divot and place within six inches – would stop a load of unnecessary rancour.
And if it means I don’t ever have to see another Facebook post encouraging people to get into another pile on? Well, I suppose I could get on board.
Flooded bunker? Pray your committee are on the ball!
The good old weather, eh? We’re either worried the water might run out, or we’re scrabbling to build an Ark before God tries to drown us for the third time this month.
The latter is much more annoying from a golfer’s perspective – as courses are filled with obstacles that seem to love nothing more than welcoming a wealth of H2O.
Bunkers are particularly vulnerable and here is a very harsh rule that can easily catch you out if your committee aren’t paying attention.
You can take free relief from temporary water in a bunker. But you’ve got to drop the ball in the bunker. If that bunker is completely flooded, so if you can’t make a stroke or find a place to drop, then you can either go swimming or take penalty relief outside the bunker.
It’s ridiculous. It’s also easily remedied. Your club can bring in a Local Rule which treats flooded bunkers as ground under repair. It makes them part of the general area and means you can get a free drop outside.
But they’re supposed to do it on a bunker by bunker basis. That means specifying them. Is your committee course walking right before a competition to see if they need to bring in a Local Rule? Fair play to those whose are. Many of you, though, are forced to take penalty relief.
Just make totally flooded bunkers GUR as standard within the rules and get rid of this silliness.
Now have your say on these worst golf rules
How many of these golf rules strike a chord with you? Or are there other Rules of Golf that should be consigned to the dustbin? Which would you change? Let me know by emailing me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or by contacting us on X. If you’re looking at our new webpages, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the article.
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