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Changing the rules of golf

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by ken2v, Jan 28, 2016.

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  1. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I think we kicked this around a while back. I'm finishing up an article on what I'd do with the Rules of Golf if they gave me a pair of scissors and a pen.

    Are there some rules you'd like to nuke? Anything you'd like to see written into the code?

    I'm thinking y'all have some peeves of which I've not thought. You'll get no money for participating. No attribution. No fame. I doubt I can bestow on you total consciousness. But thanks for your thoughts.
     
  2. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

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    Eliminate any rules that slow down play.

    We played today. It was going kind of slow anyway, but then we see the marshal bringing a walking player back to the tee box in the marshal's cart. The kid had lost a tee ball. So now the "rules" say go back to replay the shot. DUMB DUMB rule. Drop where you assume it was. Who cares if it improves where your ball could have been. I don't care if you moved it 20-30 yards for the drop...it cost you a stroke. Same with OB. Why is OB so much more punitive than a hazard? Go OB, drop where it crossed, and go on. Don't go back to replay the shot. Most people play this way anyway. Make it official.

    Another one that I would like to see is to make the flag stick stay in all the time. Strange concept maybe, but think of how much screwing around, and rules involved, in messing with the stick. It should stay in all the time. It would speed up play.
     
  3. Franken Dean

    Franken Dean Newbie

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    I'd like to see them pull 2 clubs from the bag on the PGA tour events.

    Let's get these robot swings trying to make some shots with less weapons. This will add some more variance and get scores closer to par.


    Too many utility clubs and wedges. These clubs allow them more distance than the past. This lets get them remove 2 irons and carry 4 wedges in some cases.

    Golf has become boring because par is too easy on most courses.(excluding the majors)
     
  4. Fafa2e

    Fafa2e High-Roller

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    I would eliminate the rule that you can't ground your club in a bunker or hazard.

    I mean Dustin Johnson lost a major because of this stupid rule and I still don't think he's fully recovered.
     
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  5. merlin

    merlin MIA

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    Other than the pro's, does anyone follow the rules of golf?
     
  6. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

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    That is a good one. My group plays by this rule, but why does it exist? It's just one more rule to worry about, and open to interpretation a lot of times, therefor more controversy. Sure it might help to ground your club in a sand trap. So? If it is the same rule for everyone, what's the harm?

    You can justify changing it in my quest to speed up play. It would eliminate the "Hey guys, can you come over here and tell me if I am in the hazard or not?" moments.
     
  7. DaiLun

    DaiLun R.C., L.C., and A.A.N.G.

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    My biggest pet peeve is "stroke and distance" on OB. Not saying that it should be removed or modified, it is fair.

    This rule IS necessary, but I believe that it is one of the biggest causes of slow play on public courses.
     
  8. Rush

    Rush MIA

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    You should be allowed to pick clean and drop a ball that is in a divot. That's the dumbest of all of the rules of golf, that you can stripe one down the runway, and get a bad lie!
     
  9. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

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    I really hate that whole "lowest score wins" rule. It has burned me more than all the others combined!
     
  10. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    In polling across many of my golf "groups," the divot thing by far is #1, followed by OB needing to be treated like a lateral. I'd say (no) grounding in a bunker/hazard is third.

    More to come.
     
  11. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    I think for sure the 1 and 2 make most sense for me. Not sure why a Divot is different than a sprinkler head (though I suck too much for it to matter!)

    And the stroke and distance for ob slow down rec games if people follow it (I don't, my 3 digit scores do enough slowing).
     
  12. Rush

    Rush MIA

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    If we hit OB in our groups, we often times just play distance and TWO strokes. It equals the same penalty as if you went back and hit it into play where you are dropping it.
     
  13. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    How do you guys decide where to drop?
     
  14. joespoolhall

    joespoolhall VIP Whale

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    Ditto on the divot rule. Just hate to see a good drive penalized. Ditto again with stroke and distance, but just to speed up play. Where to drop is a good question though. Dropping at the start of the hazzard probably wouldn't be too popular. Dropping at the entry point could reward bad shots too much. A midpoint between start of hazzard and entry point wouldn't bother me. Either way you should add two strokes. You might want to treat tournament play differently. I don't play tournaments, so I'll leave that thought to those that do.

    Good Luck!
    Ric at Joes
     
  15. Nevyn

    Nevyn VIP Whale

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    I kind of liked what they did at Royal Hawaiian where they essentially treated anything out of play (not even OOB) like a hazard, and had a drop marker on each fairway.

    Now, I think their markers were a tad generous, but you could easily tweak the oob and even the provisional rule by having a marker near the start of the fairway (or like 150 from the tee depending on the hole layout) which you can drop at and/or play a provisional from if your ball might be lost.
     
  16. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    The lateral is pretty self-explanatory. Treat the OB the same way. Where'd you cross, drop with one added. I don't really see where OB warrants twice the damage? Yes, every ball field has lines of play and you need to be in play, but what's the effective difference if water runs down the left side of a hole, and ob is beyond the outside edge of that red hazard, and I hit it in the lake an inch from the edge or I hit it OB? Assuming this ball was over land before veering off course, for the lake say I stride 200 yards downrange and drop, for the ball another two inches removed I stand and re-hit. And so much OB isn't about bounds of play, it's about real estate. And what about internal OB?

    I don't agree with the possible "reward" of a spot at the head of the fairway or a specific point, versus what you might get with the drop, perhaps in the cabbage or maybe even a bunker.
     
  17. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

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    The divot thing is good. My group plays that way.

    Being in a footprint in the sand is the same principle. It is not right to have a player in front of you to alter the "level playing field" by not filling divots or raking sand. It is a fact that the guy that plays at the end of the day is playing on a more difficult course than the earlier player because of man made alterations to the fairways and traps.

    I don't really know how to address the sand thing as that gets more complicated.
     
  18. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    We did were it crossed with a stroke.

    Same with a lost ball... kinda where I thought it was with a stroke...

    Happens too many times I may have a stroke!
     
  19. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Another is the ball that goes into a tree, and I mean clearly goes in the tree as witnessed by 300 spectators and 1.7 million on TV but cannot be "identified," and the player must declare it lost and has to head back. There's a hole here at La Purisima that is a blind dogleg. You snap it left and are all but in a lake, but you can't see the lake or the margin. There's also some dry land over there. The flight of the ball logically suggests it went in the hazard and you can't find the ball ... go back to the tee.
     
  20. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    [​IMG]

    OR this ken! [emoji12]
     
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