Are there too many rules in golf?

[ay33660]

“Phil made the mistake of violating the one-ball condition and we made the mistake of not telling him he could continue to play the hole,” PGA Tour vice president of rules and competition Mark Russell said."

A committee, one of who's member is the PGA tour vice president of rules and competition, could not interpret a ruling properly ......... how the hell do I stand a chance in my normal round?

 

[natureboy]

There are 600 pages of rules and decisions in the Rules of Golf. You need a damned law degree to practically understand all of them. Of course the more you study them, the better they can be manipulated, just like laws.

 

Like Bubba's ants.... Ants are not burrowing animals.... right.... we have anthills like these on some golf courses up here.

 

 

I'm sorry, USGA, this is a burrowing animal.

 

I'm with you. Just on plain language definitions, Bubba had kind of a valid point. Unfortunately under the rules anthills are treated specifically (and only) as 'loose impediments' due probably to their likely interference only occuring on the greens where the game originated. Similarly the original intent of 'burrowing animal' seems oriented toward the more likely holes of native mammals like rabbits, badgers, gophers, and foxes. Golf grew and started to include ecosystems where anthills and termite mounds could be much more substantial than originally and some insects and other critters potentially hazardous. Local rules are allowed and a rules decision exists to deal with these circumstances, but it seems to be an opportunity to update the rules to fit the global game and correct language that corrects the lingo to place insects and earthworms under the kingdom of animalia.

 

 

[DrvFrShow]

In any event, @natureboy's post shows abnormal ground conditions. We're not hitting our balls out of there. We're using common sense, taking relief and dropping the ball. How would you like it if someone smashed their club in your house?

Fire ants on the other hand are considered hazardous.

[Golf Grouch]

On 5/28/2015 at 5:54 AM, disco111 said:

Through the years, the rule book in golf has become increasingly stout. Where you almost needs a law degree to interpret the party of the first part in correlation to the plaintiff and the aforementioned party of the second part and so on and so forth. Now looking back at the USGA rules committees, one can see were the legalize came from. Now from my perspective, a rule should be black and white, not open to interpretation or debate. In my opinion, just one or two simple rules are needed. 1) Play it as it lies. 2) Don't touch the ball until it's holed. Seems very simplistic and that's most likely the way folks played in the beginning. Anyone ever tried playing under this aspect? if not, give it a try and see what happens. Could be interesting.

This simple 2 rule form of golf would certainly have avoided the travesty at Oakmont this year.  The USGA really needs to place a priority on the spirit of the game.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Golf Grouch

[Martyn W]

32 minutes ago, Golf Grouch said:

This simple 2 rule form of golf would certainly have avoided the travesty at Oakmont this year.  The USGA really needs to place a priority on the spirit of the game.

How? DJ did not play the ball as it lay - so now what? 

What travesty? The ruling was correct.