The Rules, have always been written in title caps. That’s how hallowed and sacrosanct playing by the book has been to the game. There have been revisions since a modicum of guidelines came into play 600 years back, but in the modern era, a review was direly required. So let’s get that straight—at least some of the Rules needed to be changed. If for nothing else then to ensure that egregiously ridiculous rulings didn’t malign the image of the game as some fuddy duddy sport played with antiquated rules that made no sense to anyone. Remember all those retrospective penalties called on players after being reported by armchair referees who would call in after watching television coverage? That’s not about the Rules but common sense, and players have finally been given benefit of doubt.
Moving on, the slew of changes that have taken effect in 2019 have already had some bad publicity. Case in point being the penalty called on the Chinese player, Haotong Li, by the European Tour referee at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, purportedly for getting his caddy to help line up a putt. LPGA fans are well aware of this practice: the caddy stands directly behind the player, aligned with the chosen line of the putt. More than anything else, this practice was responsible for unacceptable delays in the pace of play. There’s no debate on the merits of banning the practice, but in Li’s case, it was the typical, high-handed, rigid interpretation of The Rules that we’ve got used to seeing over the years. Li’s caddy was, at best, taking a last look at the line before moving away from behind his player who had just set up for the putt. Not surprisingly, the entire golfing world has leapt to Li’s defense and top players have publicly slammed the ruling. One can only hope that along with the changes, this attitude of Rules officials, that does not allow for any conditional interpretation and flexibility, will also change.
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What are the changes though? In case you’re not familiar then you ought to be because the amendments are significant and will affect every golfer, amateur or pro. Here’s a quick reckoner of some of the most relevant ones:
Damaged your club? We’ve all done it, whether in frustration or by accident. Now, that club, irrespective of its condition, will be deemed conforming. You could get it repaired in the middle of the round, but can’t replace it. This doesn’t work in case anyone or forces other than the player or his caddy have afflicted the damage.
Ever thought of changing your golf ball when dropping one in a relief area? Well, that’s kosher now; you can change your golf ball every time you drop or place one. And just in case you happen to drop a club onto your ball when taking relief, then you’re no longer penalised for being a maladroit. Also, most importantly, dropping the golf ball is now fine as long as it’s from knee-height.
For the worst possible situations, like when you take an almighty heave off the tee and the ball literally goes nowhere, you’re welcome to hit your second off a tee. As long as the ball is still lying within the periphery of the ‘teeing area’ (that’s the new nomenclature for teeing ground), that is. Just remember that the teeing area is classified as a “rectangle that is two club-lengths deep where the front edge is defined by the line between the forward-most points of two tee-markers set by the committee. The side edges are defined by the lines back from the outside points of the tee-markers.”
In your weekend Nassau, when there’s a fair bit of gamesmanship going on, remember that if you lost a hole on stable ford points, but had a lower gross score, then you still retain the honour on the next hole.
We’ve all heard this one: you needed to carry enough golf balls in your bag because if you run out during a competitive round, that’s pretty much the end of that. Well, that’s all history now; all you need to do is borrow a conforming ball from a good Samaritan on the course.
Here’s one that I would never be in breach of because I tend to pull blades of grass out of the fairway to check wind direction. Some better players often pull out handkerchiefs and that action or, for that matter, using any ‘artificial object’ will incur a penalty—two strokes the first time around and disqualification the next time. When in doubt, stick to grass.
Here’s a big win for common sense. If you’ve dropped a ball inside or outside a relief area and there’s no chance it’s going to stop in the area, you can stop it (before it rolls into the water or down a slope, for example). Hallelujah.
You’re going to love this one. You can actually ground your club in a bunker now as long as it’s not behind the ball. And in case you just can’t get out of the ruddy trap, just declare it unplayable, take a two-shot penalty and get out of there with your sanity intact.
Once you’re on the green and happen to be playing with an oaf who walks all over your line, please go ahead and repair spike marks or anything at all which you feel is going to impede the path of the ball into the cup on a green. And if you like to bang your putts in, by all means leave the flagstick in the hole. This one should probably do more to speed up play than anything else. Last but not the least, and don’t tell me it hasn’t happened to you: when you’re unfortunate enough to hit the ball twice in the same shot, your penalty is the unavoidable ridicule of your playing mates. It’ll be counted only as one shot.
And that’s just the start of it. I would strongly recommend logging on to the Royal & Ancient website and downloading the entire document to peruse at leisure. The Rules have changed all right. They’ve become slightly merciful on the hapless lot who toil away at this infuriatingly frustrating game.
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game