Golf: A Complicated Game Needing More Simple

How can the best golfers in the world, the guys and gals who earn millions of dollars playing the game, not know The Rules of Golf?

The answer is simple: there are truly only a handful of people in the world that completely understand The Rules of Golf. It’s unfortunate that under the 34 basic rules listed in The Rules of Golf, there are thousands of decisions and circumstances that make playing the game as confusing as trying to read a foreign language.

Botched rule scenarios made more headlines in 2010 than any season in recent memory. Some of the best players made critical errors at improbable times, losing valuable prize money and world ranking points. Not to mention, it is embarrassing to the game when the world's best players don't know the rules.

The most widely publicized error occurred when Dustin Johnson grounded his club in a bunker that had been trampled by spectators during the PGA Championship at Whistling Straights. These circumstances led to a penalty on the final hole of regulation and kept him out of a playoff. That said, there were plenty of other less scrutinized blunders: Julie Inkster using an illegal swing weight, Ryuji Imada’s illegal drops that led to 26 penalty strokes, and Ian Poulter’s costly dropped ball that moved his marker on the final hole of the Dubai World Championship.

If the world's best can’t get it right, how do you think the general public feels in a heated Saturday afternoon four-ball match? I firmly believe that golf needs to be less complicated. Unfortunately, the United States Golf Association and R&A, the two governing bodies that oversee the rules, continue to add rules and decisions every two years. The added rules and decisions are published in a volume twice as thick as Gone with the Wind! I say it’s time we inject some common sense into the game. Here are five rules golf can easily live without.

Rule Change #1

• Get rid of the stroke and distance penalty if a golfer pumps a shot out of bounds. This simple addendum would make the game more fun and speed up play, the two complaints of golf most frequently brought up. Most players don’t know what the differences between red, white and yellow stakes are anyway. Just make every shot out-of-bounds a lateral hazard penalty to speed up play and end the confusion. No more losing a ball and having to make that long painful march back to the tee for the sake of the rules. Nearly 90 percent of golf is already played this way, so why not adopt the ways of the majority of golfers

Rule Change #2

• The controversial grooves rule, which mandated that club manufacturers no longer make U-grooved wedges and irons beginning this year. This rule was supposed to make golf harder for tour players not the general public. Yet according to the most relevant statistics charted by ShotLink, the pros had little trouble with the change to shallower V grooves in 2010. Unfortunately, it’s amateurs who are the victims in all this. Their shots spin less and are even harder to predict out of the rough. Why not bring back the old standards and give these hackers a fighting chance against par?

Rule Change #3

• You’ve just laced a great drive down the middle …only to see the ball come to rest in a fairway divot. The rules state that the golfer must play the ball as it lies. Common sense, which should prevail more often when it comes to The Rules of Golf, should allow relief from the divot for a clean shot from the fairway. You’ve earned that right.

Rule Change #4

• Golf’s most archaic rule involves disqualifying a player for signing an incorrect scorecard. It’s too steep a penalty for a simple scoring error that can easily be corrected using today’s technology. Golf is a game built on traditions, but this is one that’s got to go. I dread the day when Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson wins a historic major, and then is disqualified for signing an incorrect card. I’m sure their minds are racing when they’re in the scorer’s tent. It would be easy to overlook an error on the scorecard. Halt this train wreck before it happens.

Rule Change #5

• Last but not least, dropping a golf ball into play after losing a ball is a complicated process. A drop has the potential to roll back into the hazard or end up in an awful lie. Think about it. Your score is already in peril. Why not just place the ball on the ground? This simple rule adjustment would greatly enhance the chance for recovery.

Now isn’t that simple? Golf, the most complicated game on the planet, needs more simple.