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President of Golfdom - What would you do?

deuce

deuce

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So imagine a world where you have been elected the President of Golf. You are allowed to make any (and all) changes to golf as you see fit. What would be your agenda? Do you have specific things you would change on Day 1? Any long term changes to the sport of golf that would - in your estimation - make it more palatable for the masses?

ETA: This may not be in the proper forum, please move if necessary.
 
Stop having amateurs act like they're on the pro tour and just step up and hit the ball!
 
Reduce the price it costs to play!
 
Divots! Hitting out of divots would be against the law punishable by death. Just a stupid rule.
 
I would require a series of lessons at your home course and certification from the pro before you could play.
I would institute a salary requirement for pros, so that lesson would be affordable.
I would require each public course have premium time slots available at a reduced rate.
 
Etiquette lessons and testing before heading out on the course
 
If you require tests prior to playing golf, you're essentially going to kill any new growth of the game.

First thing I would do is revisit the rules and see if any need updating.
 
Make it legal to beat those who don't fix ball marks. You get to subtract a stroke too
 
1) No more hitting out of divots. Free Relief
2) Every group on the Pro Tours will have a designated timer. If you exceed the allotted time to make your stroke you are penalized 1-stroke
3) Mandatory 10 minute minimum spacing of tee times at all courses
4) White Stakes are no longer in existence. Treat like a lateral hazard
 
I would put mandates on pace of play. A casual round of golf should take about 3 hours to play on good days and absolutely never take over 4 hours. Start by addressing the worst offenders on the planet, professional golfers. Start penalizing them strokes, followed by suspenions if they can't pick up the pace. JDay and Spieth are teaching a whole generation of juniors that they should take 5.5 hours to play a round of golf. People with lives off the golf course struggle to find the time to spend 6+ hours trying to get a weekend round in.
 
The pace of play thing rings true... I take it a step further by sitting down major offenders on the tour like Jason Day and tell them to pick it up as they are setting a bad example. I'd also tell him to keep his foot out of his mouth when addressing pace of play, citing "I know the pro tour is different than amateurs, but amateurs are paying your salary and you need to set a better example"
 
First thing is allow anyone to wear shorts anywhere.

Second is picking up the pace of play.
 
For me, I'd separate the rules between the pro's and amateurs. In the short term, I'd leave the pro's rulebook alone, but for amateur's I'd change the following immediately:

1. Change the OB rule. For a ball hit out of bounds, take a drop along the line of where it went out of bounds and take a two stroke penalty (avoids having to go back and re-tee the ball, and takes "stroke and distance" into account).
2. Eliminate the ban on anchored putters and square grooves.
3. Change it such that removing rocks from a bunker does not result in a penalty.
4. Eliminate the inability to record singles rounds towards handicap.

A long term agenda item would be to consider lifting the ban non-conforming equipment such that they can be played by amateurs and a handicap can still be recorded.
 
I'd shorten rounds to 12 holes, simplify the rules, relax (or eliminate) dress codes, require more time between groups teeing off, and reduce the number of clubs in the bag to 10. I'd also put Bluetooth speakers and GPS in all carts.
 
President of Golfdom - What would you do?

This is an older thread but an idea popped in my head recently - I would consider making the hole larger. I know this would infuriate purists, but the benefit would be to speed up play/shorten rounds. Don't really know how big I'd like to make the hole but anywhere from 5 to 10 inches sounds fine with me.


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I also think putting plays too big a part in golf, so increasing the hole size would help in that aspect too.


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Tweet Bats**t nonsense all day?
 
President of Golfdom - What would you do?

Otis32 said:
Tweet Bats**t nonsense all day?
Click to expand...

Yeah I figured it wouldn't be the most popular idea, but some ideas to speed the pace of play are going to me more drastic than others. Plus, if the hole were five inches it wouldn't be a dramatic change.


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ArmyGolf said:
1) No more hitting out of divots. Free Relief
2) Every group on the Pro Tours will have a designated timer. If you exceed the allotted time to make your stroke you are penalized 1-stroke
3) Mandatory 10 minute minimum spacing of tee times at all courses
4) White Stakes are no longer in existence. Treat like a lateral hazard
Click to expand...

Amen!! You nailed it!! I'm might go so far as to allow any shot the ends up in the fairway a free drop if needed. (On the course play, there is some nasty areas with no grass in the middle of the fairway!). Oh . . . and you get relief from roots and rocks.
 
- either everyone carries around a section of artificial turf - No matter where the ball is you get to place it on that and hit from there. or....
- why not eliminate all natural grass on a golf course. No more divots to hit from, no talk of free relief from rocks or roots - perfect lies all the time.
- no more OB. If you can find it you can play it from anywhere. In some one's back yard? Play it - they shouldn't complain - after all they bought a house on the golf course so what do they expect?
- double the size of the hole and only count putts as 1/2 stroke.
 
I would encourage all courses to have "beginner holes", where people can learn the game, learn the etiquette and feel what it's like to play on a real course without tearing up a nice course, or feeling like a total moron for holding up play and shanking all over the place. It would ease the blow financially, as well.

I know there are executive courses for this, but nothing like being on a "real" course.
 
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