We've launched the new forums! Read more here

What are your favorite dumb golf rules that should be eliminated?

neanderthaleggs

neanderthaleggs

New member
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
14
Reaction score
10
ball in divot.jpg
This is my favorite. And, to be clear, as I only play about 10 rounds a year and they're almost all practice rounds, I have nothing to gain from this, as I would just bump it out of there anyway (in the off chance I had hit the fairway). But when I'm watching a pro and they rocket a beautiful drive down the middle I contemplate that it was not an accident that they did so. It was years and years of work that launched that ball 300 yards down the middle in the air. So, when it comes to rest in a divot I gnash my teeth (even though hitting out of there is no thing for them). It's just the principle of the thing. The fairway is the choice place to land for a reason--it's the reward for hitting your shot straight, just like the rough and the trees, et al, are punishment for playing a bad shot. A divot, esp. on a nice course, should be considered 'ground under repair'. It's not like it's going to left like that after all. Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing what rules you think should be changed. If they can get rid of the greens books, surely they can get rid of something as dumb as not being able to bump your ball out of someone's unrepaired divot.
 
Daluteh said:
The scorecard signing and exchanging process. Especially at the pro level, it seems a bit antiquated.
Click to expand...
100% this...hate hearing about someone just incorrectly keeping score but millions of viewers know exactly what they carded.
 
neanderthaleggs said:
View attachment 9049336
This is my favorite. And, to be clear, as I only play about 10 rounds a year and they're almost all practice rounds, I have nothing to gain from this, as I would just bump it out of there anyway (in the off chance I had hit the fairway). But when I'm watching a pro and they rocket a beautiful drive down the middle I contemplate that it was not an accident that they did so. It was years and years of work that launched that ball 300 yards down the middle in the air. So, when it comes to rest in a divot I gnash my teeth (even though hitting out of there is no thing for them). It's just the principle of the thing. The fairway is the choice place to land for a reason--it's the reward for hitting your shot straight, just like the rough and the trees, et al, are punishment for playing a bad shot. A divot, esp. on a nice course, should be considered 'ground under repair'. It's not like it's going to left like that after all. Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing what rules you think should be changed. If they can get rid of the greens books, surely they can get rid of something as dumb as not being able to bump your ball out of someone's unrepaired divot.
Click to expand...
being new here you wouldnt realize we've had the divot rule discussion a hundred times over in the past. The problem (as some would suggest) is that it becomes too much a gray area and subjective opinion at best as for just exactly when one considers a divot repaired vs still being GUR.

But as for other rules? like score card signing or anything else at all which may have absolutely zero influence on the actual golf played would be and are ridiculous.

Stroke and distance for lost or OOB is ridiculous. Even the new amateur rule of dropping in fw with 2 stroke penalty is also (although much more practical) still ridiculous. I mean hit one into water on the left and you can drop one with a stroke penalty. How is that any different at all from, hitting one left (same exact shot) but instead of water is lost in woods or oob. Why does one get one stroke yet the others get S&D or 2strokes? ridiculous again.

On tha note of lost balls or wooded balls.....a found ball (lest say in woods) that has an unplayable lie dosnt guarantee the drop will be anymore playable. One should imo be able to take relief just like a lost ball via stroke and drop from about the area in play from which the ball crossed into the wooded area. again similar to the water ball.

The no closer to hole imo is nonsense. lets say one hits a green (or just off one) in which there is water or woods/weeds next to the hole and the balls ends up in any of those. The drop being no closer can often froce one to retake the shot or go to an area back across the body of water or weeds etc.... from afar. I mean imo no big deal to just drop at the spot of entry within the club length even if closer to hole (If no other option is available) . I mean heck its still costs a stroke anyway and its not like the player gained cheating advantage or anything. He was penalized and imo thats enough.
 
Divot rule
Score Card signing rule - pros only
Lost ball = Stroke & Distance penalty (same as OB)
OB provisional rule -- They should let you hit #4 from the fairway nearest your ball out of play resting spot.

Not all of those are popular but if you are in the fairway and find a divot that's just bad luck I think we should play lift/clean/place for ALL balls in the fairway. The score card is just dumb, like really? You've got 3 volunteers who follow you around as well as TV crews keeping your score, let the golfers golf. Lost ball is incredibly frustrating to me especially this time of year with leaves and long dormant rough. The pros have spotters and volunteers that make sure they don't lose a ball under a leaf, so why should our handicaps/scores be penalized for not having the volunteers. The OB rule is ridiculous for 90% of amateur golfers, due to pace of play and enjoyment we should never be sending a +15 handicap back tot he tee again. With the net double boggy max rule its fairly likely an 18 HC is going to be taking a max score ANYWAYS if they are hitting #4 as the approach.

end rant, welcoming offended traditionalist
 
rollin said:
Stroke and distance for lost or OOB is ridiculous. Even the new amateur rule of dropping in fw with 2 stroke penalty is also (although much more practical) still ridiculous. I mean hit one into water on the left and you can drop one with a stroke penalty. How is that any different at all from, hitting one left (same exact shot) but instead of water is lost in woods or oob. Why does one get one stroke yet the others get S&D or 2strokes? ridiculous again.

On tha note of lost balls or wooded balls.....a found ball (lest say in woods) that has an unplayable lie dosnt guarantee the drop will be anymore playable. One should imo be able to take relief just like a lost ball via stroke and drop from about the area in play from which the ball crossed into the wooded area. again similar to the water ball.

The no closer to hole imo is nonsense. lets say one hits a green (or just off one) in which there is water or woods/weeds next to the hole and the balls ends up in any of those. The drop being no closer can often froce one to retake the shot or go to an area back across the body of water or weeds etc.... from afar. I mean imo no big deal to just drop at the spot of entry within the club length even if closer to hole (If no other option is available) . I mean heck its still costs a stroke anyway and its not like the player gained cheating advantage or anything. He was penalized and imo thats enough.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is mine. It makes absolutely no sense to me. For exactly the reasons you laid out. Seems like changing the rule also has the potential to speed up the pace of play as well.
 
Stroke and Distance for OOB is tops for me

followed closely by divot in the fairway
 
Rules.
They do nothing to make the fresh air fresher or the trash talk funnier.
I came to that observation playing in a group that apparently doesn't know any of them.
 
Relief from any kind of divot made by a club. I hit a drive into a divot so deep that I almost didn’t find the ball. I would have broken my wrist if I tried to play it
 
All OB/water hazards should be played in exactly the same way.
 
I'm talking just for the amateur ranks here. I would have no problem with having two sets of rules for amateurs, and professionals. Imo, the usga's rules book does help to contribute to slow play in the non professional ranks. The amateur hacker's rule book could easily consist of 5, easy to understand rules or less.

Any ball hit, and lost, no matter where, or the reason, should be treated just like a lateral water hazard. This would save some time. Take a stroke, drop a ball, hit it, and move on.

My other one is the 14 club limit. Back in the day there was no club limit. Golfers/caddies carried 20-30+/- clubs. The number of clubs carried, should be left up to the individual golfer.

I will show support, and throw my hat in the ring for hitting out of unrepaired fairway divots. GUR sounds appropriate, because the problem was caused by other golfers, not by accident. In my golf reality, divots are not that big of a deal, since I don't play from this situation very often as it is. Maybe 10-12 times a year? That said, I do practice this shot occasionally just in case.
 
Last edited:
I agree with some of the other posters that the OOB and lost ball rules are a bit much. If I could change it, I would say play it more like a hazard. Take a 1 stroke penalty and drop no nearer to the hole. I'm not overly concerned with the specifics of where you can drop it, but stroke and distance or a 2 stroke penalty seems excessive for a game that is already pretty dang difficult. At least for me it is. lol

It wouldn't be so bad if so many courses didn't have houses built right up to the edge of the fairway. Some I've played, if you missed the fairway, you were almost guaranteed to be OOB. There wasn't enough rough and it wasn't thick enough to slow the ball down and it would roll right into someone's backyard. Just seems excessive to make someone take a 1 stroke penalty AND have to go back to the tee box to hit again. Especially when you are standing there looking at your ball sitting less than a foot behind a white stake. But that's just my opinion on the subject.
 
Divot in the fairway is the big one for me. I feel that should be treated as ground under repair.

At the pro level the scorecard process is absurd. It is the only pro sport in the world that the competitors keep their own scores. It would be almost like pro tennis players calling the lines. There are walking scorekeepers with every group on tour why they aren't responsible for the official score is beyond me.
 
i thought to add in addition and sort of relevant to the lost or oob ball that many agree is a bit ridiculous........ with hat same ideology also do away with the provisional.
Since it would all be treated like a lateral water hazard whether the ball is lost or not then really no reason for a provisional at all. nothing worse than one hitting provisional and the player ends up just as poorly hit as the original yet on the complete opposite side of the layout. Now they have two balls to search for and opposite side of the everything to boot.
Whether water, lost, oob its all the same so just go and drop where appropriate. No need to hit another unless one hit so badly at the tee box where as the only other play is to hit another and therefore thats not a provisional anyway at all but simply is a 3rd shot.
 
The divot thing in general play should be lift and place. On Tour? Well, they should actually do a better job of replacing the divots in the first place. they get such perfect conditions (in general), why should they suffer from a perfect drive? ANY divot created should be replaced by player/caddie (fines or penalty if not) as best as possible. Not just the usual "plop and step". Following players should get relief on that day. At the end of play each day, the grounds crew should repair as best as possible to give the best possible conditions for the next day. Any divot deemed too damaged should be marked as GUR and a lift and place rule applied. Otherwise, play as it lies. They're good enough, or at least should be.

The difference between a lateral and an OB penalty does have some merit. The idea of "Out of Bounds" is to actually keep you ON THE PROPERTY (in most cases). OR in the case of internal OB, safety of others. I do like the local rule addition of dropping nearest point where it went out and hitting 3, or in the FW and hitting 4 (essentially the same as S&D without the trudge of going back to tee hitting another on a busy course).

There are so few original "Actual Rules" that are there for a reason. The rest of the USGA rule book seem to be variations of "what if" this or that happens, which are usually covered by those original rules. PGA Tour (or whatever tour) rules like shorts, swearing, drinking, card signing, etc... are not usually applicable to the general golf population, so a lot of the 'silly' rules have nothing to do with the "Rules of golf" in the first place.
 
WLG1952 said:
I'm talking just for the amateur ranks here. I would have no problem with having two sets of rules for amateurs, and professionals. Imo, the usga's rules book does help to contribute to slow play in the non professional ranks. The amateur hacker's rule book could easily consist of 5, easy to understand rules or less.

Any ball hit, and lost, no matter where, or the reason, should be treated just like a lateral water hazard. This would save some time. Take a stroke, drop a ball, hit it, and move on.

My other one is the 14 club limit. Back in the day there was no club limit. Golfers/caddies carried 20-30+/- clubs. The number of clubs carried, should be left up to the individual golfer.

I will show support, and throw my hat in the ring for hitting out of unrepaired fairway divots. GUR sounds appropriate, because the problem was caused by other golfers, not by accident. In my golf reality, divots are not that big of a deal, since I don't play from this situation very often as it is. Maybe 10-12 times a year? That said, I do practice this shot occasionally just in case.
Click to expand...

This. When you're a pro playing for millions of dollars, very exact rules matter. It's almost like contract law. For a weekend hack, it's not so much.
 
rollin said:
being new here you wouldnt realize we've had the divot rule discussion a hundred times over in the past. The problem (as some would suggest) is that it becomes too much a gray area and subjective opinion at best as for just exactly when one considers a divot repaired vs still being GUR.

But as for other rules? like score card signing or anything else at all which may have absolutely zero influence on the actual golf played would be and are ridiculous.

Stroke and distance for lost or OOB is ridiculous. Even the new amateur rule of dropping in fw with 2 stroke penalty is also (although much more practical) still ridiculous. I mean hit one into water on the left and you can drop one with a stroke penalty. How is that any different at all from, hitting one left (same exact shot) but instead of water is lost in woods or oob. Why does one get one stroke yet the others get S&D or 2strokes? ridiculous again.

On tha note of lost balls or wooded balls.....a found ball (lest say in woods) that has an unplayable lie dosnt guarantee the drop will be anymore playable. One should imo be able to take relief just like a lost ball via stroke and drop from about the area in play from which the ball crossed into the wooded area. again similar to the water ball.

The no closer to hole imo is nonsense. lets say one hits a green (or just off one) in which there is water or woods/weeds next to the hole and the balls ends up in any of those. The drop being no closer can often froce one to retake the shot or go to an area back across the body of water or weeds etc.... from afar. I mean imo no big deal to just drop at the spot of entry within the club length even if closer to hole (If no other option is available) . I mean heck its still costs a stroke anyway and its not like the player gained cheating advantage or anything. He was penalized and imo thats enough.
Click to expand...
It doesn't seem objective to me. You've hit your ball within the bounds of the fairway and it's not resting on a normal fairway surface (divot, GUR, a sprinkler head, etc.). And especially in the pro game, those divots are symmetrical and clearly outlined when they're in the fairway.
 
neanderthaleggs said:
It doesn't seem objective to me. You've hit your ball within the bounds of the fairway and it's not resting on a normal fairway surface (divot, GUR, a sprinkler head, etc.). And especially in the pro game, those divots are symmetrical and clearly outlined when they're in the fairway.
Click to expand...
obviously you meant to say "subjective" I assume...lol
But anyway....so while i agree about the divot thing.....but just exactly when does one determine a divot no longer GUR?
That is subjective opinion at best. If there is any exact defining line one can always argue if the divot meets it or not. There is nothing else that can ever be except personal judgement cause it could never be exact.
 
With all this talk of divot scenarios.....what about chunks of mud on the ball? I dont mean rainy day but often enough on a normal day I can find a chunk of ground just wet enough to stick on the ball. To be honest that happens imo far more often than the divot lie.
 
rollin said:
obviously you meant to say "subjective" I assume...lol
But anyway....so while i agree about the divot thing.....but just exactly when does one determine a divot no longer GUR?
That is subjective opinion at best. If there is any exact defining line one can always argue if the divot meets it or not. There is nothing else that can ever be except personal judgement cause it could never be exact.
Click to expand...

yes, subjective 😂 my English Phd papa is rolling in his grave...
 
You folks must play a lot of sanctioned events. The gang I play with does not, and we routinely ignore every one of these rules.
 
A sand filled divot should be ground under repair.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top