What do you consider the most stupid rule in golf?

[saevel25]

to me its if you address a ball and the wind causes it to move. That is idiotic to be given a penalty for something you can't control.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Ok, jumping in with my first thread.

We have the one thread going on whether you play by the rules, so how about this - what's the dumbest rule of golf? Lord knows we got plenty to choose from.

Mine is the advice rule. You can't ask what club a competitor hit, but he can tell you. You can look in his bag. You can give him the 'high sign' and if he's cool he'll show you the sole of the club so you can read the number (I've seen Nicklaus do this).

But you can't verbally ask. Silly.

He can't tell you either.  That is giving advice and he gets penalized for doing so.  If you ask and he answers, then you both get penalized 2 strokes in stroke play.

In match play, only you would get penalized because by asking you immediately lose the hole.  Since that hole is then finished, he can answer without worry because it can no longer affect the outcome of the hole.

[zipazoid]

Okay, but what if I'm a Trevino that gabs? What if, as I posted earlier, I say something like 'Can't believe a 7 wasn't enough'...?

I get it if I turn to you and say 'Hey Rick, I just hit a 7 iron...you might want to hit a 6'...that's giving advice.

Ever notice during broadcasts that the Maltbies & Peppers know what the pros hit on a given shot? That's cuz the caddies use hand signals to communicate what their man is hitting. And that's very prevalent between the players too. For that matter, they can just look at the player's caddy & see the hand signal - 1 finger is a 1 or 6 iron, 2 fingers is a 2 or 7 iron & so on.

So 'advice' is being 'communicated' already. You just can't verbalize it. That's why I think it's a silly rule - a rule that is routinely broken really isn't much of a rule, is it?

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Okay, but what if I'm a Trevino that gabs? What if, as I posted earlier, I say something like 'Can't believe a 7 wasn't enough'...?

I get it if I turn to you and say 'Hey Rick, I just hit a 7 iron...you might want to hit a 6'...that's giving advice.

Ever notice during broadcasts that the Maltbies & Peppers know what the pros hit on a given shot? That's cuz the caddies use hand signals to communicate what their man is hitting. And that's very prevalent between the players too. For that matter, they can just look at the player's caddy & see the hand signal - 1 finger is a 1 or 6 iron, 2 fingers is a 2 or 7 iron & so on.

So 'advice' is being 'communicated' already. You just can't verbalize it. That's why I think it's a silly rule - a rule that is routinely broken really isn't much of a rule, is it?

I"ll put it this way.  If you say anything like that in such a way that it can be interpreted as advice, then it is advice and don't be surprised if you are called on it in a competition.  The reason is that you could be saying it to deliberately mislead your opponent.  Maybe you slightly miss hit that 7 iron and you know it, but you make the comment in an attempt to throw your fellow competitor off (I've seen this happen and the next guy to hit airmails the green).  It may be difficult to prove, but simply by saying it, you are leaving yourself open to being penalized.  Someone who chatters constantly like Trevino can leave himself open to such jeopardy without even realizing what he said.  Better to just shut up until everyone has hit - then there is no penalty attached to such a comment.

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Okay, but what if I'm a Trevino that gabs? What if, as I posted earlier, I say something like 'Can't believe a 7 wasn't enough'...?

I get it if I turn to you and say 'Hey Rick, I just hit a 7 iron...you might want to hit a 6'...that's giving advice.

Ever notice during broadcasts that the Maltbies & Peppers know what the pros hit on a given shot? That's cuz the caddies use hand signals to communicate what their man is hitting. And that's very prevalent between the players too. For that matter, they can just look at the player's caddy & see the hand signal - 1 finger is a 1 or 6 iron, 2 fingers is a 2 or 7 iron & so on.

So 'advice' is being 'communicated' already. You just can't verbalize it. That's why I think it's a silly rule - a rule that is routinely broken really isn't much of a rule, is it?

Very true.

On par 3s, I would bet the only pros who don`t know what their competitors hit before them are the ones who don`t want to know.  Even without the signals from the caddies (which are routine during TV telecasts) you can either look to see what club is missing from the bag or simply look at the club itself as the guy sets up to it.

[NuclearMike]

Not being able to fix spike marks on the green is my #1.  Soft spikes help a lot, though.

[kymonopoly]

Dumbest rule in golf is play the play the ball where it lies and here is my example:

I decided to swing my driver as hard as I possibly could to reach a green in one and I hit it waaaaaaaaayyyyyy right (which happens to me when I overswing).  It stayed in bounds but I was right behind/up against a 9000 year old oak tree.  Personally, I feel like i should have had some relief from this horrific lie.  LOL

[celticstanger]

For me, it's divots not being GUR.  It's a condition not natural to the course - a man-made change to the playing conditions.

I play muni's, country-clubs, daily-fee and resort courses and none of them are immune to falling victim to The Inconsiderate Golfer.  Not only will TIG dig for oil with their wedge approach, but will do so on their wedge approach practise-swing, thereby handily adding extra divots for the rest of us to find.  Ironically, the better maintained (somewhat soft - not overly so) the fairways, the more likely you are to see divots. The 50-and-in zone on some par 5's can be a mine-field of divots!

TIG is also happy to add other course "features" to play from/around, such as the "Bunker-wall Footprint" (though this is visible from upwards of 200 yards away, and therefore can be played away from), the "Missed 2-footer Putter-slam Ridge" and of course, TIG's personal favorite, the humble pitch-mark.

Yeah, I'd make divots GUR...

[carrx]

Playing the ball from a divot in the fairway, by far.  If two players can commiserate that a blemish on a green is a ball mark and not a spike mark, surely these same two players can look at a ball in an old divot and determine the ball can be moved.  A tee shot in the fairway should not be unnecessarily penalized, this game is hard enough.

[darkhunter139]

Originally Posted by saevel25

to me its if you address a ball and the wind causes it to move. That is idiotic to be given a penalty for something you can't control.

This.  That rule is terrible.

[rjwiggall]

Any rule that is currently hampering my score is a dumb rule ;)

[walk18]

This.  That rule is terrible.

I believe that rule was recently changed.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by celticstanger

For me, it's divots not being GUR.  It's a condition not natural to the course - a man-made change to the playing conditions.

Originally Posted by carrx

Playing the ball from a divot in the fairway, by far.

Could you both clearly define "divot" please?

And if we change the rules to allow for divots to be GUR, please be sure to throw your ball back into the trees when you receive the good fortune of it caroming out. You know, because that's fair too, and we should strive to remove as much luck - good and bad - from the game as possible.

P.S. Being a little bit sarcastic there. I've talked about divots before.

[celticstanger]

Originally Posted by iacas

Could you both clearly define "divot" please?

And if we change the rules to allow for divots to be GUR, please be sure to throw your ball back into the trees when you receive the good fortune of it caroming out. You know, because that's fair too, and we should strive to remove as much luck - good and bad - from the game as possible.

P.S. Being a little bit sarcastic there.  I've talked about divots before.

Sorry - divot = clod of dirt and grass.  My use refers to the hole left behind by the removal of said divot.

If I ever play golf where someone in the group in front of me erects a tree, and that tree saves an errant shot, I'll be sure to ask for a ruling - though I'm not sure about the likelihood of that happening.

[DirtCheap]

I'd like to be able to play different balls. One ball for distance off the tee, and change to a soft covered ball for spin around the greens.
I'd also like to be allowed to change to cheap balls for water shots, then change to a quality ball to finish out the hole without having to take the penalty.


I wouldn't say it's a dumb rule, but it is one I'd like to see changed.

[Golfingdad]

I may be repeating something already on here, but I think that the dumbest rule (mainly at the PGA tour level) is the 'signing an incorrect scorecard' rule.  This usually comes into play where some "Annoying Samaritan" sitting on his couch at home calls in to say that he saw a ball move in super slo-mo that nobody could see with their naked eye at the time.  If the information gets in before the player finishes he gets to change his score and play on.  But if that information comes in later that evening, he gets DQ'd?  Lame.

Seems to me like on the PGA tour, they really don't even need to keep their own scores (other than as a safety check) since they have multiple scorekeepers, officials, etc, following every group in these tournaments.

I'd like to see the Yankees have to forfeit a game because they realize the next day that Joe Girardi added the score incorrectly before he turned it in to MLB headquarters.  He thought they won 10-6, but they really only won 9-6, therefore they lost.  That makes sense.

Now I digress.

[onesome]

Yes divots should be GUR. I believe a player gets relief from bare ground that a burrowing animal causes and I have seen plenty of animals on the golf course burrowing a metal object on a long stick into the fairways on my course, yes it was caused by a burrowing animal.

[keeps21]

For me it's having to remove the flagstick when putting - well, the penalty for not doing so it the stupid part...