What do you consider the most stupid rule in golf?

[Left Is Right]

That rule is stupid. . . if I'm understanding it correctly,

The ball was dead and when he addressed it, it rolled up to the green? If my interpretation is correct that is a terrible rule

[albatross]

Yep. That's the rule. Completely ridiculous. I can't imagine if that had cost him the tournament. Not sure who could have ever thought that was a good rule to make.

[golf_junkie27]

Boo Weekly this week at the TPC receiving a penalty for his ball blowing on the green. Why is this a penalty on the player once they address the ball?

This rule is give and take, too. We saw this at the TPC. A player went to mark his ball, the wind came up and blew the ball about six feet closer to the hole. Guess what? He gained six feet. He did not have to remark the ball and made birdie.

As for the wind, if Goydos hits a bad shot and the wind helps him, should he be rewarded? This is golf and unpredictability is part of the game.

[Shindig]

For the responses about the ball moving after you address it: on windy conditions, don't ground your club at address. Then if it moves, you haven't addressed it according to the rules, and it's not a penalty.

[iacas]

Boo Weekly this week at the TPC receiving a penalty for his ball blowing on the green. Why is this a penalty on the player once they address the ball?

Because he had addressed the ball. It's a widely known, easy to understand rule. If he was afraid of the wind moving his ball, he should have hovered his putter or something.

You're responsible if your ball moves after you've addressed it. Pretty simple.

I guess it's the stroke + distance rule for an OB shot. Laying two after the drop should be enough of a penalty, rather than laying 3 after re-hitting.

Don't hit OB. Lost ball is stroke and distance, too. OB, used strategically, can be a good thing from a course design perspective. Or to protect areas where golfers should do their best to avoid hitting the ball (given the strict penalty).

Yep. That's the rule. Completely ridiculous. I can't imagine if that had cost him the tournament. Not sure who could have ever thought that was a good rule to make.

It helps maintain consistency. Once you address the ball, you're responsible for it. If they suddenly started adding in a bunch of exceptions, the rule would be ten times as complex as it is now.

The rule is fine. And c'mon, how often does that ever happen? Don't ground your club. Simple solution.

[Backspin]

Golf has many stupid rules. You are better off missing the ball completely than you are hooking it into the water.

[Ruari]

Yeah, after the rehit (and if it was a second shot, lol..) I might have gotten confused.

You have.

On a tee ball you would be laying 4 on the drop as I understand the ruling. OB is bad news, man.

No. The penalty for hitting OB is stroke and distance - that's it.

That means you suffer a penalty stroke and have to play from where you hit the ball OB. If it's off the tee (first shot) you have to hit from where you hit OB (so off the tee) and suffer a penalty shot. After hitting, you will be lying three. The only way you'll be lying 5 is if you do it again!

[albatross]

All of you that are commenting back saying "It's simple. Don't address the ball if the wind is blowing", are missing the point.

Boo Weekly was being very careful not to address the ball when the wind was gusting. He waited a bit, but when he stepped back up and grounded his club the wind blew again. Your club needs to be grounded for at least 1 second to hit a decent putt.

You can't predict when the wind is going to blow and he can't sit down and wait 5 minutes to ensure the wind is gone for good. It's a stupid rule.

As far as Goydos getting robbed by the wind, he did. 72 holes of golf shouldn't be decided by one swing of the club. On any other hole, he hits that shot and comes up a little short of the green. If they were playing 17 followed by 18, maybe it's a little more fair.

Like many others have said on this board since Sunday, having a playoff on just #17 is just amateur.

[iacas]

All of you that are commenting back saying "It's simple. Don't address the ball if the wind is blowing", are missing the point.

No, we're not. We're disagreeing with your point, we're not "missing" it.

Also, see my post above about the massive number of exceptions you'd need to add.

Your club needs to be grounded for at least 1 second to hit a decent putt.

No, it doesn't.

[dkglf98]

I hate it when you are forced to hit out of a divot in the middle of the fairway. I think that is a stupid rule.

[iacas]

I hate it when you are forced to hit out of a divot in the middle of the fairway. I think that is a stupid rule.

And this is where I point out that

we've had this discussion before. Do a search. And for what I hope is the last time, "play the ball as it lies" is not a stupid rule just because you occasionally get a bad break. You get good ones, too.

[golfunit]

I really don't like the play it out of a divot rule, especially when there's a creek or something similar between you and the green, which normally wouldn't come into play.

I've seen this happen, and it happens daily, at my home course:

Crows early in the morning will flip divots up out of their hole looking for worms! There are these crazy divots lying out on the fairways AFTER the mower has been around. They steal my sammiches, too, if I'm careless.

[Dub]

I think having to play from a divot in the fairway is stupid. Particularly in PGA tournaments when on the last day a hundred or more players landed and hit a second shot from the same area. Why does one player have to be penalized for ending up in a divot. It is not the way the course was at the beginning of the tournament and it is not the usual state of the course.

I see your point...and get it!!! Through no fault of the player he has a bad lie.

+1 for your rule. The other one that has always bothered me is the ball moving after the player addresses the ball. Sure...if they are adressing the ball and doing weird waggles or pre-shot stoking, etc...then yeah, slap the penalty if they strike the ball. But having the wind blow your ball while you are about to putt.....ouch.

[Divot]

I think the OB rule should be changed to just distance. I think you should still have to replay the shot, but how many of us have it OB on a par 4, then hit a great drive and realized, crap, I've got to hole this thing just to make a par. Or, I've got to birdie it just to make a bogey. Most of us walk off the green with either double or triple. It is insane to me. Plus, it would speed up play in a lot of tournaments.

I agree on the distance rule. My "blow-up" holes usually begin with an OB drive off the tee, after which I am pressing to save bogey. It is usually downhill from there...

[T.J.K.]

Definitely the wind rule that Boo was hit with. It's just plain not fair.

People gripe all day long that Goydos' ball got hit by a gust of wind, yet a lot people think this rule is okay. I don't get it.

[golf_junkie27]

I really don't like the play it out of a divot rule

This should never happen. Golfers should replace their divots. It drives me nuts that they don't do this. I have playing partners that will search five, six minutes for a ball but won't take two minutes to grab the grass and fix the divot.

It actually gets worse for those that use carts. Most carts come with bottles that contain sand so that you can fill a divot. It takes, oh, about 30 seconds to do this and rarely do I see it.

[mp0]

I'm going to have to go with the two stroke penalty for telling someone what club you used if you ask. Someone asked then called it on me during a tournament last year and it cost me a top three spot.

[Franco!]

This should never happen. Golfers should replace their divots. It drives me nuts that they don't do this. I have playing partners that will search five, six minutes for a ball but won't take two minutes to grab the grass and fix the divot.

Have you ever sprayed a divot?

It's impossible to fix.