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GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
Can I Get a Ruling on That?
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 Yes, there are certain thou-shalts and thou-shalt-nots that are eternal—stepping in your opponent’s line of putt, say, or nudging your ball to a fluffier lie—but golf has never been a game chiseled in granite. It’s organic. It grows, matures, evolves, expands its boundaries. If it were otherwise, we’d still be squishing gutta-percha balls around with hickory mashie niblicks. Still, certain hidebound ultra-traditional golfers tend to get their plus-fours in quite a twist when the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient bestir themselves, pull out the quill pens and start changing things. The forward-into-the-past crowd would like to bring back the stymie; the rules folks at the USGA and R&A are pointed in the other direction and have given matters far more than a cursory glance. Their latest bit of handiwork has resulted in a new edition of the Rules of Golf—for the first time designed, published and presented jointly by both of golf’s governing bodies. The USGA will publish 2 million copies of the Rules of Golf 2012-15, available now. The R&A will publish 2.6 million copies in English. (The R&A governs the game worldwide, with the exception of the United States and Mexico, where the USGA is the governing body.) There has been a unified code of golf since 1952, but until now the R&A and the USGA have published the same rules in separate editions, which gave the impression to some, say officials, that the rules were different. The latest editions, however, are almost identical, save for some spelling and logo changes. In short, the latest little book is The Word. And it contains a few new Words. After four years of review of golf’s 34 playing rules, the rules mavens amended nine of them “to improve clarity and to ensure penalties are proportionate.” Some examples, in true Rules language: • Ball Moving After Address (Rule 18-2b). A new exception is added that exonerates the player from penalty if the ball moves after it has been addressed when it is known or virtually certain that the player did not cause the ball to move. For example, if it is a gust of wind that moves the ball after it has been addressed, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position. • Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions (Rule 13-4). Exception 2 to this rule is amended to permit a player to smooth sand or soil in a hazard at any time, including before playing from that hazard, provided it is for the sole purpose of caring for the course and Rule 13-2 (improving lie, area of intended stance or swing or line of play) is not breached. • Time of Starting (Rule 6-3a). The rule is amended to provide that the penalty for starting late, but within five minutes of the starting time, is reduced from disqualification to loss of the first hole in match play or two strokes at the first hole in stroke play. Previously this penalty reduction could be introduced as a condition of competition. Now, that didn’t hurt, did it? “The Rules of Golf,” says R&A Director of Rules and Equipment Standards David Rickman, “are constantly evolving, and our hope is that what we have produced for 2012 is clear, informed by common sense and reflective of the demands of the modern game.” So let it be written. So let it be done. |
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