Growing the Game: Amended rules for beginners?

[Slice of Life]

The bottom line is this...

If you're not in a competition...there are no rules to golf except for the ones you choose to follow. If a beginner wants to make it easier on themselves, who's going to stop them? They aren't competing for anything. If someone on the course is going to yell at them or try to get them kicked off for taking an illegal drop, I'd argue that it's THAT self-righteous "enforcer" that's ruining the game of golf, not the beginner.

You want to play by the rules? Fantastic. I do as well. But I don't expect, nor do I care if anyone I'm not competing against follows all the rules while they're playing.

[geauxforbroke]

Anyone who thinks that allowing beginners to play by a separate set of rules would ruin the game is extremely naive. If I had to guess, I would say that 90+% of all golfers break at least one rule in every round of golf. Most people play by a modified set of rules. The guys I played with last week played nothing worse than a 3 putt, 2 mulligans per side, and triple bogey maximum. I played by all the rules, but it certainly didn't affect me when they took a mulligan or picked up after 7 strokes on a par 4.

These things go on all the time. They haven't ruined the game yet, have they?

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by geauxforbroke

Anyone who thinks that allowing beginners to play by a separate set of rules would ruin the game is extremely naive. If I had to guess, I would say that 90+% of all golfers break at least one rule in every round of golf. Most people play by a modified set of rules. The guys I played with last week played nothing worse than a 3 putt, 2 mulligans per side, and triple bogey maximum. I played by all the rules, but it certainly didn't affect me when they took a mulligan or picked up after 7 strokes on a par 4.

These things go on all the time. They haven't ruined the game yet, have they?

Nobody is saying that they can't play by their own modified rules.  What we are saying is that there is no logical reason to create a special set of "semi-official" rules for it.  All that would do is tend to do is create confusion.

[geauxforbroke]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Nobody is saying that they can't play by their own modified rules.  What we are saying is that there is no logical reason to create a special set of "semi-official" rules for it.  All that would do is tend to do is create confusion.

I don't disagree there.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

You lost me.  Beginners don't care.  Special rules would have zero effect on growing the game.  Just the opposite. A new player learns the "rules" you want to propose, then finds out when he decides to play golf with real golfers that the rules he thought he knew so well now are meaningless, as are any scoring milestones he thought he had achieved.  And that's assuming that he pays any more attention to your beginner rules than the current beginner does to the real rules.  Call me a skeptic, but the rules are the last thing a new player concerns himself with.  New players are generally satisfied initially with what they learn word of mouth.  Much of it may be wrong, but it allows them to function on a golf course until they have sufficient reason or interest to delve deeper into the rules.

You would be better served by putting your efforts into a campaign for teaching them etiquette, from care of the course to respect for other players, including maintaining a good pace of play.

This.

It takes a specific type of person and personality to enjoy and appreciate the grind that is golf. Regardless of your natural talent and accelerated adaptation to the game, you still grind your way through flaws and require practice to excel. I love this part of the game, hence I was never a club thrower or a golfer with a piss-poor attitude because I was accepting and welcoming failure in order to better my game and learn from my mistakes and flaws.

Beginners, in my opinion, do not require amended rules. If anything, they need a better understanding of the rules to gain a better appreciate of the game that they are investing their time and finances into. Then, they can make an educated and personal decision as to how much time/money/sacrifice they are able to, or willing to, dedicate to this game and decide the level of seriousness they will proceed with (avid golfer, weekend warrior, monthly hack/enthusiast).

My advice for beginners is to educate yourself in your new hobby and see how far you can go (while grinding it out!) and advance your game, or simply remain the monthly enthusiast who does not care about rules or the sanctity of the game.

Golf is a religion to me and I only took it more serious and became thoroughly obsessed when I began to understand the spirit behind the game. I can't walk away satisfied if I'm bending the rules because it bends my pride by doing so. I dedicate a lot of time into this game and I want accurate feedback via untainted results.

Just my humble opinion.

[Lihu]

I think this kind of happens naturally.

It's not like I sat down and read the PGA rules book and memorized everything before going on my first round. Although, I am going to take one of those PGA tests every Friday before a round.

Everyone I know follows the rules to the best of our knowledge.

Every round we go on is a learning experience, and we learn from the better golfers as we play new rounds.

The vast majority of the rules are pretty straightforward. The basic rule is to not touch any ball when not intending to do so. Count every time you hit the ball, or even intend to hit the ball. Pretty simple to grasp. Sort of like ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law.

The rules get pretty complicated, when you encounter a bad lie. Like when balls go into a gopher hole, a building, or inside a hole in a tree root. This has happened to me and my friends. Generally, we just take a drop and a stroke, or stroke and distance if you declare it unplayable. Otherwise, we end up looking like Mr. Bean playing a shot from inside a garbage truck...

There should not be separate rules for beginners, just an understanding from more experienced golfers that it is up to them to educate us.

[Rulesman]

Originally Posted by Lihu

It's not like I sat down and read the PGA rules book and memorized everything before going on my first round. Although, I am going to take one of those PGA tests every Friday before a round.

You may have a problem with that. The PGA don't produce a rules book. They are published by the USGA and the R&A.; Both their websites have good rules quizzes for all levels of knowledge.

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by Rulesman

You may have a problem with that. The PGA don't produce a rules book. They are published by the USGA and the R&A.; Both their websites have good rules quizzes for all levels of knowledge.

Right, I meant the USGA link Fourputt sent everyone )

[YFM700]

Whenever I've played with newbies (and when I was one) we only loosely scored the beginner, but they played all their shots. Giving them freebies seems counterproductive to learning how to play through the "blowup" hole and playing different lies. Besides, how can you start tracking score improvements if they're not "real" scores?

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by YFM700

Whenever I've played with newbies (and when I was one) we only loosely scored the beginner, but they played all their shots. Giving them freebies seems counterproductive to learning how to play through the "blowup" hole and playing different lies. Besides, how can you start tracking score improvements if they're not "real" scores?

Meh, we went with a good friend of mine last weekend, and it was his first time out. We gave him a double par max for each hole. It's pretty easy to see when you're improving when you max out almost every hole.

It was hilarious seeing how frustrated he was by hole #2. Just swearing up a storm. "Why the F*** am I playing this stupid ass game, I could be sleeping or doing anything else. I can't believe I spent money on this bullshit..."

Eventually he started hitting the ball and making good contact, so he ended up enjoying himself.

[geauxforbroke]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Meh, we went with a good friend of mine last weekend, and it was his first time out. We gave him a double par max for each hole. It's pretty easy to see when you're improving when you max out almost every hole.

It was hilarious seeing how frustrated he was by hole #2. Just swearing up a storm. "Why the F*** am I playing this stupid ass game, I could be sleeping or doing anything else. I can't believe I spent money on this bullshit..."

Eventually he started hitting the ball and making good contact, so he ended up enjoying himself.

Good point. There's a delicate balance for beginners between learning to deal with bad holes and getting so frustrated you quit the game. That's why I have no problem with beginners playing a loose version of the rules. If it keeps them playing, then I'm fine with it.

[zipazoid]

It's tough enough for a beginner to learn how to make contact with the ball, let along making it go in a forward direction & in the air...not to mention the various swings, chipping, putting, bunker play, etc., to place on top of all that strict adherence to the rules & you'll get a lot of beginners saying eff it & never picking up a club again.

First, learn the mechanics involved with hitting a ball, then, in good time, learn the rules. Let the golf bug grab them first.

[Tigerboy]

I love that game---- Golf:

Golf is a game of luck, talent, patience and wit and it should be a Gentlemen sport; yet I see many who will never be referred to as a gentleman let alone a good man or woman—I do see many drinking smoking loud mouth hackers, phone talkers and others who are out to kill some time and even damage a nice course. While it’s easy to be critical…. It’s not hard to see discarded cigarette butts on the course even on the greens, coffee cups, paper trash on the ground, beer bottles on the fairway, people backed up 3 and 4 groups talking on their cell phones while waiting for the duffers ahead to find their ball, or figuring out how to putt their ball.

You want to grow the game of golf then you need to get real—it has become the money game for courses and equipment manufactures—the word Gentleman has gone out the door in exchange for $$ and of course politics ---gone are the days when people moved aside to let a better or faster group play through..Indeed many on the course don’t even know even the basic rules let alone know the word etiquette. I can understand why better golfers refuse to play certain courses even though these are challenging and nicely kept courses…..courses are going broke from lack of play secondary to lack of $$ yes of course………golf is the sense of challenge and beauty when you have both it is almost irresistible not to play—keep it that way and the ‘golfers’ will keep coming back….

[NJpatbee]

I do not see a need for a second set of rules.  I have been working with my 9 year old grandson who enjoys golf and I certainly teach him the rules but I do give him relief in sand traps.  He is just learning how to hit out of a bunker and really has not spent much time practicing it.  He has to give it a try getting out of the bunker and if he does not, he has to take a stroke and gets a drop out of the bunker.  He understands you cannot ground the club and gives it a try, and I expect in a year or two he will no longer need this break.  He is nowhere near keeping a handicap or playing tournaments, but I do try to teach him the rules of golf and he understands that we are making an exception in the sand.

The greatest addition to novice and youth golfers are the "green" tees offered by a few courses.  They are about half the distance as the men's tees, and they provide a venue for the new golfer to play the game and not have to take double par every hole.  It also makes the novice feel that they are really playing the game since there are tees for them and the distances are on the scorecard.  My grandson was not happy when I first suggested that we pick a location for him to tee off from and insisted on playing  from the red (forward) tees and struggled on most par 4's and 5's.  Now that he plays the green tees he has a chance to make par on every hole and has a couple of birdies under his belt. On a good drive he can drive the ball up to 150 yards, so a 220 yard par 4 is not unreasonable.

We will work the sand traps into his game as he progresses, but it is important that he understands the rules of golf.  And like his grandfather he does not like a couple of them but they are the rules.

[turtleback]

I do not see a need for a second set of rules.  I have been working with my 9 year old grandson who enjoys golf and I certainly teach him the rules but I do give him relief in sand traps.  He is just learning how to hit out of a bunker and really has not spent much time practicing it.  He has to give it a try getting out of the bunker and if he does not, he has to take a stroke and gets a drop out of the bunker.  He understands you cannot ground the club and gives it a try, and I expect in a year or two he will no longer need this break.  He is nowhere near keeping a handicap or playing tournaments, but I do try to teach him the rules of golf and he understands that we are making an exception in the sand.

The greatest addition to novice and youth golfers are the "green" tees offered by a few courses.  They are about half the distance as the men's tees, and they provide a venue for the new golfer to play the game and not have to take double par every hole.  It also makes the novice feel that they are really playing the game since there are tees for them and the distances are on the scorecard.  My grandson was not happy when I first suggested that we pick a location for him to tee off from and insisted on playing  from the red (forward) tees and struggled on most par 4's and 5's.  Now that he plays the green tees he has a chance to make par on every hole and has a couple of birdies under his belt. On a good drive he can drive the ball up to 150 yards, so a 220 yard par 4 is not unreasonable.

We will work the sand traps into his game as he progresses, but it is important that he understands the rules of golf.  And like his grandfather he does not like a couple of them but they are the rules.

Nice job on growing a golfer.  Your grandson is lucky to have such a comprehensive and responsible introduction to the game.

[Tigerboy]

Amen to that—6 hours to play 18 average holes……….wow I guess I’ve graduated to the PGA..

[RH31]

What every beginner needs to learn on the course is....no hole should take longer than 12 minutes to play(on average).

Pick up, throw it, do whatever just play 18 holes in 4 hours or less.

[turtleback]

What every beginner needs to learn on the course is....no hole should take longer than 12 minutes to play(on average).

Pick up, throw it, do whatever just play 18 holes in 4 hours or less.

Violators will be executed.

The point being, you can make all the guidelines and rules you want, but the problem is enforcement, or the lack thereof.