Rules Of Golf In One Page (Maybe Two) Project

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangeclub

2.  Tending the pin.  Leave it in.  Make it a screw-in fixture so it can be removed for mowing the green, otherwise it stays put.  Provide a sliding plate that connects to the pin to lift the ball out of the hole.

Now I remember you. That screw in flag system gets lamer every time I read it.

[jamo]

Now I remember you. That screw in flag system gets lamer every time I read it.

Yeah, really. If taking the flagstick out and putting it back in takes you that much time, you're probably doing it wrong. The flagstick isn't what is slowing down/complicating golf.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

He may have made up a one page rule book, but it isn't for golf.  He has simply invented a completely new game to be played on a golf course.

What one page rule book would describe the weird and frequently inconsistent rules of golf?  A simplified game is dictated by the thread, in my opinion. (You can knock it off the tee by accident for free, but if you do it with a putter you're toast. pheeh.)  I don't consider riding in a golf cart golf, either, but people actually do that.  I played the ball down for 30 years, from the blues.  Sod that.  What does that sort of golf have in common with a scramble tournament?  None at all, so scramble tournaments aren't golf either one can assume.  I've made a LOT more money and won much better prizes on scramble teams than I ever did playing in tournaments or playing for $10 Nassau, and had a lot more fun to boot.

As I've gotten older, I have realized that the game isn't fun when every lie is bad because the fairways are longer than the first cut of rough in a PGA event, every round, like where I play.  It's odd that the PGA puts into play very similar ideas when their courses are not pristine, even going so far as to tee the ball up in fairways at times. lift clean and place even in the rough.  Guess they aren't playing golf in your opinion on those days.

Not everybody plays on froo-froo courses.  It's easy to say "play it as it lies" until you play the courses I play.  If the pros played the course I play practically every day, they'd be putting it on a peg in the rough as well as the fairway -- and that's when the weather's nice and they just mowed.  I've shot 6 under before and never touched the ball except to put it on a tee, mark it on the green and pick it up out of the hole, so I'm quite familiar with what you're talking about.  A one page rule book is not that game.

Actually, I like to play the ball down when the conditions permit it.  Many people, me included, can't really afford those conditions very often.  I'm hoping to shoot 68 this year and shoot my age.  Thought I had it 2 years ago, but blew it on the last three holes.  If I shoot it, it will probably be from the white tees and with winter rules, and I'll still feel like I played a good round of golf, despite what you froo-froo players might think. And yeah, I've played it down a lot with virtually no grass on the fairways whatsoever, too -- played in Kansas and Texas, back before watering systems were commonplace.  You guys would be tearing your hair out on the course I grew up playing.  It'd be intolerable to your golfing sensibilities.

You could leave the pin in the hole for every stroke down to 6 inch putts when I was in high school.  Lots of people played without hassling with taking the pin out of the hole.  I've seen Arnold Palmer tap in many a one or two foot putt with the pin still in.  You guys really think dicking around with the pin is sacred to the game.  You are very young.  If you want to keep the game "pure", get rid of the hole entirely, since the hole is a fairly "recent" innovation; they used to just play to hit a stick hammered into the ground in the next town and added up the shots it took to get there, playing across hill and dale.  Now THAT'S real golf, eh Laddybucks? I'm sure the rules for that game fits on one page quite easily.  And it would certainly be real golf, especially with a gutta percha.

You know, I posted a few things here last year and ran into the same sort of humorless people then.  Looks like I probably don't belong here with all you serious golfers.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangeclub

You could leave the pin in the hole for every stroke down to 6 inch putts when I was in high school.  Lots of people played without hassling with taking the pin out of the hole.  I've seen Arnold Palmer tap in many a one or two foot putt with the pin still in.  You guys really think dicking around with the pin is sacred to the game.  You are very young.  If you want to keep the game "pure", get rid of the hole entirely, since the hole is a fairly "recent" innovation; they used to just play to hit a stick hammered into the ground in the next town and added up the shots it took to get there, playing across hill and dale.  Now THAT'S real golf, eh Laddybucks? I'm sure the rules for that game fits on one page quite easily.  And it would certainly be real golf, especially with a gutta percha.

You know, I posted a few things here last year and ran into the same sort of humorless people then.  Looks like I probably don't belong here with all you serious golfers.

I actually didn't have much of a problem with your post - except that f'd up flagstick screwed into the hole idea. I've played a lot of golf and to be honest even though I prefer the pin out, I could get used to it pretty fast. I've also worked a few summers on the grounds crew at 3 courses and if I had to unscrew the flag before cutting the greens somebody would have eaten that flagstick.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Now I remember you. That screw in flag system gets lamer every time I read it.

Yeah, screwing it in is a bad idea. I yield.  I was trying to subconsciously trying to get even with all those people who dig the ball out of the hole with their putter head or something.  The screw-in flagstick would probably just chew the cup up worse.  I do think futzin' with the pin slows things down some and tacks on some unnecessary rules, though.  There's really no reason to take it out except to retrieve your ball or mow the green.  Leaving the pin in might have one other advantage -- at least some of the people will take their ball out of the hole (or pick up a gimme) and NOT step on the hole as they get out of the way for the next player.

[Fourputt]

Well, I've never shot -6, I've never tried to make a living by ripping off yokels in charity scrambles, but I have been playing since the mid 60's, and playing avidly since the mid 70's. I'm 64, so I' guess I'm old enough to comment.   I play 99% of my golf on munis.  I've played in the northeastern Colorado hinterlands on a course carved out of rocky pastureland.  I still play it down.  I will always play it down.  I don't do froo-froo (your word, not mine).

The challenge was to write a single page of rules for GOLF.  You wrote a page for a game barely recognizable as golf.  So I simply state again that you have failed to meet the challenge, the same as you apparently fail to meet the challenge of golf unless the setting is pristine.

[Shindig]

The challenge was to write a single page of rules for GOLF.  You wrote a page for a game barely recognizable as golf.  So I simply state again that you have failed to meet the challenge, the same as you apparently fail to meet the challenge of golf unless the setting is pristine.

Reminds me of a joke. A friend meets me on the first tee, and asks if we are playing winter rules today. I tell him that I'm here to play golf, but he's free to play what he wants.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangeclub

What one page rule book would describe the weird and frequently inconsistent rules of golf?  A simplified game is dictated by the thread, in my opinion.

Actually, as Fourputt said, the goal is to create Rules for the game of golf - not some other variation involving balls and sticks like you've invented - in one page. You don't get to drastically alter the premise of the game.

Originally Posted by Fourputt

The challenge was to write a single page of rules for GOLF.  You wrote a page for a game barely recognizable as golf.  So I simply state again that you have failed to meet the challenge, the same as you apparently fail to meet the challenge of golf unless the setting is pristine.

Exactly.

[utztech]

While I too have no interest in playing the game described by Dr. Strangeclub, I think some of you are being unfair by saying it holds not resemblance to the game of golf, or that it drastically alters the premise of golf.  The basic premise of golf is to hit a ball with a club across some stretch of land into a hole and count your strokes.  I think that was pretty much how the game was invented, so I think Dr. Stangeclub's game maintains the premise.  Also, his game would be played on the same courses as golf, using the exact same equipment, and having the same goal.  So I think someone watching it on TV would recognize it as golf.

I also agree that a decent version of the rules of golf cannot be defined in a couple of pages, but I think the rules could be simplified.  The way I would simplify the rules would probably make the game less fair, but I think that is in keeping with the original spirit of golf.  Golf was and is a betting game and that is why 'play it as it lies' is important.  All good betting games need both a component of luck and skill.  Here is a couple of examples of how you could simplify the rules, but the game would be less fair.

1.  The Pin - You can leave it in or take it out for any stroke, but you cannot tend it during a stoke.  That would eliminate all the wording on how to tend and who can tend.

2.  Movable/immovable obstruction and loose impediments - You can't touch them, play it as it lies. That would eliminate all the wording on what is/isn't an obstruction or impediment and how to deal with them.  If you don't want to deal with an immovable obstruction then don't go near it. Loose impediment ruining your lie? Tough luck.

3.  Advice - give it, take it. If you happen to be paired with a buddy who wants to give you advice, then tough luck for everyone else.  This is just another break you can get or not get like landing in a divot.

4.  No drops ever - If you can't play your ball, or don't want to, then you must replay from the previous spot with a one stroke penalty.  This would eliminate so many rules, including the ones about the condition of your ball.  If you think your ball is unplayable because of a tear or other condition, then go back to the previous spot and play again with the penalty.

I admit that numbers 1 and 4 would slow the game down, and number 4 is very draconian, but number 4 alone has the potential to eliminate rules 25 through 28 and greatly simplify others.  I guess my main belief is that most of the rules added over the years are trying to eliminate the unfairness or component of luck.  If you accept that the game has a significant component of luck then you can eliminate some rules and simplify others.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by utztech

...I also agree that a decent version of the rules of golf cannot be defined in a couple of pages, but I think the rules could be simplified.  The way I would simplify the rules would probably make the game less fair, but I think that is in keeping with the original spirit of golf.  Golf was and is a betting game and that is why 'play it as it lies' is important.  All good betting games need both a component of luck and skill.  Here is a couple of examples of how you could simplify the rules, but the game would be less fair.

1.  The Pin - You can leave it in or take it out for any stroke, but you cannot tend it during a stoke.  That would eliminate all the wording on how to tend and who can tend.

2.  Movable/immovable obstruction and loose impediments - You can't touch them, play it as it lies. That would eliminate all the wording on what is/isn't an obstruction or impediment and how to deal with them.  If you don't want to deal with an immovable obstruction then don't go near it. Loose impediment ruining your lie? Tough luck.

3.  Advice - give it, take it. If you happen to be paired with a buddy who wants to give you advice, then tough luck for everyone else.  This is just another break you can get or not get like landing in a divot.

4.  No drops ever - If you can't play your ball, or don't want to, then you must replay from the previous spot with a one stroke penalty.  This would eliminate so many rules, including the ones about the condition of your ball.  If you think your ball is unplayable because of a tear or other condition, then go back to the previous spot and play again with the penalty.

I admit that numbers 1 and 4 would slow the game down, and number 4 is very draconian, but number 4 alone has the potential to eliminate rules 25 through 28 and greatly simplify others.  I guess my main belief is that most of the rules added over the years are trying to eliminate the unfairness or component of luck.  If you accept that the game has a significant component of luck then you can eliminate some rules and simplify others.

The "bad cop" version of my rules!

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Well, I've never shot -6, I've never tried to make a living by ripping off yokels in charity scrambles, but I have been playing since the mid 60's, and playing avidly since the mid 70's. I'm 64, so I' guess I'm old enough to comment.  ... So I simply state again that you have failed to meet the challenge, the same as you apparently fail to meet the challenge of golf unless the setting is pristine.

First, the teams in these scrambles have much better players than I am in them and winning is a team effort.  If there is a "ringer" on my team, it's my Truly Fair, who putts lights out.  And it's the skin money that matters!  The prizes are useless.

Second, since I've been playing about 20 years longer than you (since 1954), and never been a member of a private club, I certainly have some experience on munies.  The one I play now is the worst maintained course I've ever played, almost, certainly the worst I've ever played regularly.  Belonging to the US Air Force when it was a "base course", it once had some of the best greens around and the fairways were quite nice.  The current owner does not play golf, so has no idea what the minimal requirements are for ordinary play.  It's the only course I've ever played where there are NO fairways at all.  There is first cut of rough and deep rough, period.  He mows the fairways fairly regularly, but the mower is set to rough length, ie, about 2 inches, so there is never a time when one can get a decent lie (even if you bump it).  It's one thing to have fairways that aren't mowed *enough*, but quite another to have them NEVER mowed to ordinary fairway length.  The greens are similar.  The owner doesn't seem to fathom that there needs to be at least some period during the season (six months is a long time to play around here) where you are permitted to play on a decent surface that isn't under some sort of repair.  He's like a cook following a recipe who has no idea what the final meal is supposed to taste like or something -- plug, sand, verticut, spray...the cycle never ends.  It isn't that he doesn't try, he just doesn't get it.

But that's not all about the greens.  The mower has probably never been sharpened since he took over the course, so it doesn't really cut well at all.  Add to that that the people mowing the greens go as fast as they can (also non golfers).  The periodic "sanding" contains rocks that are the size of peas, that are gradually ground in or broken up in the blades of the mower, further dulling them.  Setting the pins involves placing them on inaccessible surfaces on at least three or four of the nine holes.  The grass around the greens is probably a bit severe for a US Open, actually, but I do play it down in the rough which includes the virutally unplayable greenside grass.

Now, why would I bring this up?  If I played the ball down out there, I probably wouldn't shoot much worse, really, it would simply be a chore.  If I were playing a money match, I would be more than happy to play the ball down, indeed, I would prefer it.  As for my handicap, simply playing on such a course guarantees that it's a bit higher than it would be on a real course.  The course has three par fours over 400 yards, one 440 into a stiff prevailing wind, and two par 3s that are 180 and 220 from the tips.  The course was never easy and not short, like so many munies I have played.  The ball does not roll at all in the fairways most of the time since they are generally 2 or 3 inches deep, minimum, making it play extremely long for its measured length.  Since the course rating was done when it had nice greens and fairways, establishing a handicap index on this course playing the ball down would be a license to steal.

Why do I play it?  There is frequently no one behind us and no one in front of us, as if we were playing our own course.  A round, even on a crowded day, never goes much over 2 hours.  It's flat, which makes it easy to walk.  It's fairly cheap, which means a lot when one's only source of income is Social Security.  And it is a real golf course and plays like one a few times a year at least.

I guess I'm being a bit defensive, but sheesh, you're making me out to be some sort of monster.  Isn't playing the ball down from the blues for 40 years enough dues to pay to be considered a real player?  Am I never to be allowed to enjoy a nice shot from a decent lie once in a while?

[Fourputt]

To reply to your latest post, I guess I wouldn't consider ever playing such a course on a regular basis.  It wouldn't be golf to me unless I was trying to play a special round replicating what the Scottish shepherds did when they were "inventing" the game.  And if I did that I would still be playing the ball down because that is how the earliest documented rules (ca. 1744) required it.  By the way, those rules did fit on one page, but they were written for just one course, and it was quickly found that other courses had other circumstances which those rules didn't allow for.  As a result, every course added their own "local rules".  Eventually someone (The Royal and Ancient Club at St. Andrews) had the good sense to consolidate most of those local rules into more standardized general rules which could be applied to any similar situation.  That necessarily took more than a couple of pages to document.  The R & A has more or less led the way ever since - for the last 100 years in conjunction with the USGA.

I'm retired too, and to support my golf habit I work as a starter at a local muni.  That gets me cheap golf, deals on anything I buy or order through the pro shop, and just generally makes the game affordable to play 3 or more times a week.  It also lets me have a week or 2 each summer when I can splurge and play some of the Colorado mountain courses, or visit my brother in Idaho and play some courses up there which are very different from those here at home.  I also buy the Colorado Avid Golfer Passport each year for $79 and it gets me some great discounts on many of the nice courses here in the state - for example, Pole Creek which is normally $93 drops to $45.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by utztech

I also agree that a decent version of the rules of golf cannot be defined in a couple of pages, but I think the rules could be simplified.  The way I would simplify the rules would probably make the game less fair, but I think that is in keeping with the original spirit of golf.  Golf was and is a betting game and that is why 'play it as it lies' is important.  All good betting games need both a component of luck and skill.  Here is a couple of examples of how you could simplify the rules, but the game would be less fair.

1.  The Pin - You can leave it in or take it out for any stroke, but you cannot tend it during a stoke.  That would eliminate all the wording on how to tend and who can tend.

2.  Movable/immovable obstruction and loose impediments - You can't touch them, play it as it lies. That would eliminate all the wording on what is/isn't an obstruction or impediment and how to deal with them.  If you don't want to deal with an immovable obstruction then don't go near it. Loose impediment ruining your lie? Tough luck.

3.  Advice - give it, take it. If you happen to be paired with a buddy who wants to give you advice, then tough luck for everyone else.  This is just another break you can get or not get like landing in a divot.

4.  No drops ever - If you can't play your ball, or don't want to, then you must replay from the previous spot with a one stroke penalty.  This would eliminate so many rules, including the ones about the condition of your ball.  If you think your ball is unplayable because of a tear or other condition, then go back to the previous spot and play again with the penalty.

I admit that numbers 1 and 4 would slow the game down, and number 4 is very draconian, but number 4 alone has the potential to eliminate rules 25 through 28 and greatly simplify others.  I guess my main belief is that most of the rules added over the years are trying to eliminate the unfairness or component of luck.  If you accept that the game has a significant component of luck then you can eliminate some rules and simplify others.

In reply to #2 and #4, instead of just requiring the player to replay the shot, why not just institute Rule 28 for all such situations.  If the ball is unplayable, you have the 3 options for an unplayable ball - no free relief ever.  If the ball is not locatable on the course, then stroke and distance is mandatory.  Of course nobody is going to want to play a game which is so unforgiving.  There is already endless dispute about stroke and distance for out of bounds and lost ball.  You would driver more people away than you would attract by such a change.

Unfortunately, you also haven't addressed a great many things which happen on the course, and from which a player could gain an unfair advantage over an opponent.  Something as simple as accidental or incidental movement of the ball.  When the rules are oversimplified, you raise more questions than you answer.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by utztech

1.  The Pin - You can leave it in or take it out for any stroke, but you cannot tend it during a stoke. That would eliminate all the wording on how to tend and who can tend.

That's not nearly as much text as you seem to think. Even if you entirely eliminated Rule 17, it's not exactly a massive chunk of the Rules.

Originally Posted by utztech

2.  Movable/immovable obstruction and loose impediments - You can't touch them, play it as it lies. That would eliminate all the wording on what is/isn't an obstruction or impediment and how to deal with them.  If you don't want to deal with an immovable obstruction then don't go near it. Loose impediment ruining your lie? Tough luck.

That one won't fly. Neither the movable or immovable parts, actually. It's one thing for an immovable obstruction to be a building. But what if it's something over a hill and you can't see it? "Oops, I hit it right near this tractor being used to repair a part of the course." That hardly seems equitable. And, what, if you hit your ball into a plastic cup that some litterbug left on the course, tough beans? Nah.

But okay, suppose this rule is in place, too.... you're still nowhere near one page.

Go on - edit the wiki article. Write a full list of rules that fairly wholly covers the game of golf as we know it. It has to cover average play by weekend duffers and tournament play by the world's best, and everything in between, because that's what golf is.

Originally Posted by utztech

3.  Advice - give it, take it. If you happen to be paired with a buddy who wants to give you advice, then tough luck for everyone else.  This is just another break you can get or not get like landing in a divot.

So if you're playing in a match against a guy, it's okay if you have nothing but he's local so he's constantly getting information about the wind direction and strength, the humidity, his swing is being recorded and his instructor is constantly giving him tips, he has people running ahead and mapping the greens so they can give him the exact reads on any putt he's got, etc.?

But okay, take out the advice rule. It's barely two sentences long! You're still a loooooooooong way from one page.

Originally Posted by utztech

4.  No drops ever - If you can't play your ball, or don't want to, then you must replay from the previous spot with a one stroke penalty. This would eliminate so many rules, including the ones about the condition of your ball. If you think your ball is unplayable because of a tear or other condition, then go back to the previous spot and play again with the penalty.

Heh, yeah, good luck with that one.

Again, stop posting stuff here. You're saying "eliminate this, eliminate that." That's not the goal.

Go to the wiki, and don't eliminate - CREATE - a set of rules that covers golf as we know it in the forms we know it (I'm not talking about scoring for foursomes or fourballs or whatnot). It would have to cover match play and stroke play. It'd have to cover weekend duffers and tournament play. It'd have to at least mostly resemble the game we play today.

It simply can't be done. You might get the Rules down to 15 pages, maybe 10... but there will be tons of obvious holes in even those rules.

---

The simple truth is this: the Rules of Golf are fairly well thought out. They're also very simple 99.9% of the time.

It's only 0.1% of the time that the Rules are tricky, and even then they're usually not too bad at all. If golfers took a little time to understand them, they'd find that 99.9% of the time they were fine.

---

Fourputt, I have a deal for you. How about you and I write the rules in as short a span as we can. Nobody else seems willing to do it. The original goal was to use this thread to discuss the changes made to the wiki article, so that edits weren't made haphazardly. How about you and I do it? Then people can access the wiki and comment on our changes. They can tell us "we don't need that part."

Let's see how short we can get it.

Whaddya say?

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Unfortunately, you also haven't addressed a great many things which happen on the course, and from which a player could gain an unfair advantage over an opponent.  Something as simple as accidental or incidental movement of the ball.  When the rules are oversimplified, you raise more questions than you answer.

I think this "incidental movement" really is one of the rules that doesn't make much sense.  If the rule were simply, [in my best Gene Wilder impersonation] "Put za golfball beck," it doesn't seem as if anybody gains or loses anything.  Obviously, the rule is "waived" on the tee, but why does it exist at all?  It seems that its only result is being unfair.  The nicety about grounding the club to "qualify" for the ball-moving penalty never seems to lead to anything but a grossly unfair ruling, for example Padraig Harrington at the Open when the wind moved his ball after he grounded his putter.  True, it could happen to anybody but Jack Nicklaus, but it shouldn't happen, period.  It can lead to disastrously unfair situations, like when Davis Love III, after placing next to a bunker after a drop that wouldn't stay put, addressed the ball (with no intent to play it), then left to study the

green.  As he returned to his ball, it rolled into the bunker.  He was at least ten feet away, but they ruled that he had caused it to move from what he did earlier or something.  It's a terrible rule.  Just put the ball back and nobody gains or loses or gets completely shafted.

Of course, a more draconian golf-like misery could be imposed, by simply expanding the rules for grounding your club in a hazard through the green, ie, NEVER ground your club.  At least now if it moved, you'd just be playing like Nicklaus did on every shot (so I'm told) and wouldn't have to suffer a penalty.  This isn't as clean as getting rid of the rule, though.

[sean_miller]

I'm somewhere in the middlie on this because although I wonder why there's suddenly a need to make the rules into a one page document, I also wonder why the average weekend hacker who isn't playing for money, doesn't carry an index, and never plays in tournaments, should be expected to follow every rule anyway?

Well, those people aren't playing golf, are they!?!? They're playing something that doesn't even resemble golf. Well that's a load of BS and we all know it. Are kids playing 3 innings of 5 a side sandlot baseball playing something other than baseball? Is scrub some other sport and not related to baseball?  Say you can't compare sports if you want, but kids seem to be able to get their rules down to about 2 or 3 sentences before they hit the field. Weekend duffers and hackers should be able to do it too. After all, are we not trying to encourage faster play and such in other threads and discussions? What could be faster than, "just drop another one and let's get moving."

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by iacas

Fourputt, I have a deal for you. How about you and I write the rules in as short a span as we can. Nobody else seems willing to do it. The original goal was to use this thread to discuss the changes made to the wiki article, so that edits weren't made haphazardly. How about you and I do it? Then people can access the wiki and comment on our changes. They can tell us "we don't need that part."

Let's see how short we can get it.

Whaddya say?

Erik - As much fun as such a project might be, I doubt that my input would change much.  The issue being that I think that I understand enough about the rules and their history to believe that any significant simplification would create holes which would be either exploited if an advantage could be worked out, or the gap would create an unsupportable inconsistency.  If people would just realize that all they really have to learn is the procedures set forth in the book, this discussion wouldn't even exist.

This is what too many fail to understand, that the Rules of Golf weren't written to punish anyone.  They are simply written to tell you how to play the game.  Most of the penalty clauses only come into play when you fail to follow those "how to play" procedures.  Learn what those procedures are and how to implement them and you will almost never run afoul of the complexities of dealing with multiple penalties, thus you don't really need to worry about all of those complex penalty statements.  The worst you will ever face is taking the stroke for getting out of a water hazard, or for taking a drop for an unplayable ball.  Often you will be taking a free drop from an obstruction or from abnormal ground  If you know the correct procedures for locating your dropping area, you never have to worry about playing from a wrong place because you measured wrong or identified your reference point incorrectly.

I"m going to have little time for at least the next week for any such project anyway, as my brother in in town and we will be playing golf every day, all over the state of Colorado.  Then a couple of weeks later I'm going up to Idaho to reciprocate.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I'm somewhere in the middlie on this because although I wonder why there's suddenly a need to make the rules into a one page document, I also wonder why the average weekend hacker who isn't playing for money, doesn't carry an index, and never plays in tournaments, should be expected to follow every rule anyway?

Well, those people aren't playing golf, are they!?!? They're playing something that doesn't even resemble golf. Well that's a load of BS and we all know it. Are kids playing 3 innings of 5 a side sandlot baseball playing something other than baseball? Is scrub some other sport and not related to baseball?  Say you can't compare sports if you want, but kids seem to be able to get their rules down to about 2 or 3 sentences before they hit the field. Weekend duffers and hackers should be able to do it too. After all, are we not trying to encourage faster play and such in other threads and discussions? What could be faster than, "just drop another one and let's get moving."

My only dispute with this is that they are actually playing to a lot more than "2 or 3 sentences".  The special rules they create are on top of the standard procedures for playing baseball, as far as pitching, hitting, running bases etc., rules which are simply known to all kids almost instinctively.  Their added rules are more similar to golf's "local rules", which are additions to the standard set and used to address particular situations which aren't faced on all courses.  Kids add their own rules to address a shortage of players or oddities in the field of play like trees or limited playing area - we did the same thing when I was a kid.  It's necessity in a game which normally requires at least 18 players and a specific field structure.... not easy to have all of that in a pickup game played in a vacant lot.