Dr. Robin Farran teaches Advanced Rules at the Golf Academy of America and is widely regarded as one of the USGA’s top rules officials. He’s very well-connected in the Rules community.
On an almost-weekly basis, Dr. Farran emails out various Rules scenarios, a segment I’ve reprised on my website in Diary of a USGA Rules Official. With all of the Rules changes coming in 2019, I’m going to be leaning on Dr. Farran pretty heavily through the transition. Two of his friends, Ron Gaines and Mark Wilson recently published the following article in Golfweek.
Gaines is Golfweek‘s Director of Rules and Competition. He has officiated and administered tournaments at every level and serves on the USGA Senior Amateur Committee. Wilson is the Director of Player Development in the PGA Golf Management Program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. He is the past chairman of the PGA of America Rules Committee and has officiated 60 major championships:
The Reasons Behind the Rules
By Ron Gaines & Mark Wilson
golfweek.com
The USGA and the R&A’s first major re-write of the Rules of Golf in the last 35 years has a lot of heads spinning.
Although the game will still be played with a club and ball, almost everything else we’ve known for the past three decades was fair game for change. Anyone who is a tournament player, club member, avid golfer, or Rules geek has some studying ahead before the new Rules of Golf implementation on Jan. 1.
“You can’t go through the rest of the year and start 2019 without a basic understanding of the modifications of the Rules of Golf,” said Rules expert Peter McGeoch, the official in charge of the NCAA Women’s Regional at University Ridge Golf Course in Wisconsin May 7th through the 9th. “If that happens, it will be a nightmare for both the Rules official and player. Education is key here.”
The last major revision to the Rules of Golf was completed in 1984. The project was initiated and led by William J. Williams Jr., who served as USGA President from 1984 to 1986. At the time, it was looked on as a major revision, and while it was significant because of its collaboration with the R&A, it was more of a reorganization than revision and included only two major changes.
For the committee that was formed in 2012 and tasked with bringing the Rules of Golf into the 21st century, a major concern became clear: The Rules were too complicated, sometimes hard to find in the Rule book, and not always clear to most golfers. The bottom line: The Rules of Golf are complicated. With a book that contains hundreds of Rules along with 500-plus pages of decisions, it was clear that a thoughtful look from a new perspective would be in everyone’s best interest.
In the new code, words such as “hazard” and phrases like “through the green” are gone. They have either been taken out completely or replaced with simpler to understand words or phrases.
A perfect example would be “through the green.” As golf has grown as a universal sport, the phrase “through the green” was almost impossible to understand when translated into different languages. It has been replaced with the term “general area” to cover all the course except four defined areas: the teeing area on the hole the player is starting, all bunkers, all penalty areas, and the putting green of the hole the golfer is playing.
Significant help in making the new Rules of Golf easier to use and more understandable is also found in the first sentence of each Rule. It’s called the purpose statement. No more hunting around trying to find the relevant section or digging in the decisions book. The first sentence gives the purpose for the Rule and in many cases, the rationale for its inclusion.
In an effort to bring clarity to the changes in the Rules of Golf, here are some things to know about a few common Rules situations along with the rationale for each:
Rule 7.4 Ball Accidentally Moved in Trying to Find or Identify It
Under this new Rule, if a player accidentally moves his ball while searching for it anywhere on the course, there is no penalty for causing it to move, and the ball will be replaced. If the exact spot to replace the ball is not known, the player will replace the ball on the estimated original spot instead of dropping it, as is currently the case.
Rationale: Because a principal in the Rules of Golf is to play the ball as it lies, it is only fair that the Rules provide some way for the player to find the ball and play it from that spot. When a ball is not readily found, players often need to move long grass, leaves, and bushes, which makes it more likely the ball will move.
The current Rules penalize a player or his caddie for causing a ball to move during a search, creating a situation where opponents, fellow competitors, and others are able to search without consequences, while the owner of the ball must watch, somewhat helplessly, for fear of penalty if he causes the movement.
Under the new code, the player and caddie no longer have to hold back while others search, and because the ball’s location is not known, eliminating a penalty in this circumstance seems to be a reasonable exception to the general concept of a player being careful not to move a ball at rest.
Rule 18.2 Ball Lost or Out of Bounds: Stroke and Distance Relief Must Be Taken
The stroke and distance provision in this Rule is not new, but what has changed in new Rule 18.2a(1) is that a ball would be considered lost if it is not found within three minutes after the player or the caddie begin to search for it.
Rationale: A number of concepts in the new Rules emphasize the importance of prompt and continuous play. The reduction in search time from five minutes to three should help to accomplish this in a number of ways.
For example, it is often the case that a ball is found early in the search period and much less frequently after the first few minutes. The five-minute search period often results in much longer delays. Following the search period, players often have to walk back to the spot of the previous stroke and then forward again as play continues.
This process can take several minutes and has the effect of delaying not only that player’s group but following groups as well. On especially difficult holes, a series of ball searches can result in serious delays.
Ideally, if players recognize that search time has been reduced, they might be encouraged to play a provisional ball if they believe the original ball might not be found.
Rule 14.3 Dropping Ball in Relief Area
This Rule states the player must drop the ball from knee height and to let go of it so that it is not thrown, spun, or rolled in a way that would affect where the ball might come to rest.
In addition, the ball must not strike the player or his equipment before it strikes the ground. If the ball is not dropped in the proper manner, it must be dropped again, and failure to do so would result in a one-stroke penalty if the golfer played such an improperly dropped ball.
Rationale: When the new Rules were first proposed for public comment in 2017, dropping was to have been permitted from any height. This led to questions regarding drops from so close to the ground that it might be hard to distinguish a “drop” from a “place” – thus the change to knee height.
This is still much lower than the current shoulder height and should result in somewhat softer landings and thus, fewer re-drops, ultimately leading to improved pace-of-play.
Also new to this Rule is the concept that the ball, when dropped, must come to rest only in the prescribed relief area. For example, if a player decides to take relief for an unplayable ball and measures two club-lengths laterally from the ball, the dropped ball must stay in this two-club-length area. Previously, a ball dropped in the two-club-length area could roll up to an additional two club-lengths and possibly be played almost four club-lengths from its original location.
Finally, under the 2019 code, any time a player is required to drop a ball in taking relief, a new ball may be submitted. This is true if the player is dropping under penalty or is obtaining free relief.
Rule 13.2 The Flagstick
Another significant change for 2019 is that a player will have the option to play a stroke from anywhere on the course with the flagstick left in the hole, even strokes played from the putting green. A player would still have the option to have the flagstick attended or removed before the stroke.
Rationale: The change should help save time. Currently, if a group plays without caddies and if the players have long putts, each must take turns walking back and forth to the hole to attend the flagstick for other players.
This new Rule also allows players in match play to avoid a sometimes-awkward situation involving an opponent who fails to remove the flagstick while attending it, and the ball strikes the flagstick. This change could even save a little time on tap-in putts because players won’t need to remove the flagstick then replace it in the hole.
This change probably will not provide any real advantage or disadvantage, as sometimes balls that strike the flagstick will be deflected away and other balls will end up in the hole.
Rule 12.2 Playing Ball in Bunker
This is a specific Rule with testing the player’s ability to play the ball from the sand along with what the player can and cannot do before and after his stroke. One of the most notable changes to the Rule allows the player to remove obstructions and loose impediments, which includes reasonable touching or movement of sand in the bunker while doing so.
Rationale: The challenge is playing from the sand, not playing from the sand with an obstruction or loose impediment hindering the stroke. With the new Rule, there are fewer restrictions on the actions a player can take before the shot.
In the new code, the act of touching the sand in a bunker, other than immediately in front of or behind the ball, with a few restrictions, is no longer a penalty unless the player deliberately touches the sand to test its condition.
Two notable additions to the Rule indicate it is no longer a penalty to lean on a club to rest, stay balanced or prevent a fall, or if the player strikes the sand in frustration or anger after his stroke.