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Golf has been accused of many things over the years. The game is too hard. It’s too expensive. It takes too long. Well, after 30 years of careful consideration, I’m going to hang another complaint on it: It’s unfair. You read that right. I said unfair. The game is beholden to an archaic set of rules established back in the days when women couldn’t vote, let alone play golf. They were forged back in a time when innovation meant switching from wooden shafts to aluminum and balls were stuffed with feathers. It was an elitist game used as a form of social status, and no one cared if it was too difficult, time-consuming or costly for the masses. Flash forward to the 21st century, and golf has an identity crisis. It’s still perceived to be too hard and, in this fast-paced world, it pokes along like a dial-up Internet connection. Oh, how I’d love to give the game a makeover. I’ll start by saying that I wouldn’t touch tournament rules. Less than 1 percent of the world’s golfers play competitively at the professional and elite amateur level. Keep your rule book, climb off your soapbox and take a breath. Golf history as we know it can continue. What I’m proposing is an entirely different set of rules for the 99.5 percent of “real” golfers. My rule changes would allow a more casual approach to the round without all the shame and guilt of “not playing by the rules.” The first thing I’d eliminate is the 14-club rule. Who cares how many clubs a player carries? If you and your 28 handicap have more fun carting around three putters, five wedges, two drivers and an assortment of hybrids, fairway woods and irons, whom is that hurting? Next: Declare divots in the fairway as ground under repair. This would allow players to place their balls in a good lie outside the divot, which is exactly what you deserve for driving the ball in the fairway. There is no logic in forcing a player to play a shot they never practice from a torn-up piece of turf created by another player hours or even days earlier. How is that a reward for a perfectly played shot to the desired location? How painful is the walk of shame when you launch a ball off the golf course and you have to skulk back to your bag to get another ball? Why, if you drive the ball 250 yards and your ball ends up three inches out of bounds, do you have to play again from the tee box? My next proposal is that any time a ball leaves the course, whether it flies into a lake, hazard or beyond the course boundary, the player can place the ball at the point nearest to where the ball left the course where the player can make a full swing. It’s that simple. No more wondering if you re-tee, take a drop or how many club lengths you get. There’s a veteran rules official and former tournament director for the PGA of America named Ron O’Connor. He knows the rule book forward and backward, inside and out. He even knows the Decisions book, and I’ll bet most of you didn’t even know there is a Decisions book. During one of our many rounds together, one of our playing partners suggested taking mulligans off the first tee and wanted to know if we were going to take putts that were “inside the leather.” Without missing a beat, Ron grumbled “Are we golfing or are we bowling?” Our playing companion was stunned and said, “We’re golfing.” Ron finished the discussion by saying, “If we aren’t gonna play by the rules, we might as well call what you want to do bowling.” While I appreciate Ron’s dedication to the history and rules of the game, it’s time to think out of the box for the 99.5 percent. If the golf industry wants more people to play and enjoy the game, make it easier. The game needs to adapt or run the risk of losing players to other activities, like bowling.. Greg Flores has been a sports and entertainment publicist for 20 years and has written for Southland Golf since 1995. |
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I think Greg is onto something important: making the game fun for beginning golfers. If the sport is going to grow and prosper, golfers need to know that they have a fair chance of succeeding and they're not going to need a long and hard-to-read rule book to be sure. I fully agree with the divot in the fairway and the club rule (although I would probably encourage a 16 club limit for amateurs). I don't think the OB rule is helpful. There needs to be a penalty for OB whether out by inches or miles. Retaking the shot is probably a better learning tool than some out-of-the-way location potentially with obstacles in the way.
| Comment at 1/12/2012 |
I personally think Greg should take up another sport, like bowling. It's obvious he has no respect or understanding of the great game of golf. Playing by the rules is what makes this such a great game. Yes it's hard, it's supposed to be, but that is also what makes golf such a great game. If Greg could understand and embrace such a concept he might just find that he, like millions of others, actually love this game just the way it is. Golf does not have an identity crisis. Greg might, but certainly not the game of golf. Learn to play by the rules, practice and get better, if not I have an old bowling ball and shoes I could send you.
| Comment at 1/12/2012 |
This is exactly backwards...The vast majority of players who take up this game are never taught the etiquette, think that they should play like golfers they see on TV, and will rarely hit a provisional ball. Players should carry 8 or 9 clubs. It will confuse them less and speed play...learning to hit a provisional ball will speed play. Learning to hit out of a divot will improve your game and speed play. Learning to play from the correct tees will speed play. The reason that people either don't take up this game or quit is because it takes too long and is too expensive. Building golf courses with 100 bunkers and a slope of 140 is of use to no one except scratch players. If you need to pay $85 and up, you will play once a week (or even less) instead of two or three times a week. Walking and carrying 8 clubs is great excersize if we went back to building golf courses that were walkable. All the golf magazines advertise upscale, expensive courses and resorts. That's fine as far as it goes, but the result of that is more people chasing fewer customers. It isn't sustainable. I disagree strongly with Mr. Flores, and his magazine (Southland Golf) is a perfect example of what I'm talking about...the most prominent ad you see every month is for Donald Trump's course, which I've played and is (in my opinion) a joke. If he wants to stay relevant in this business, he should reassess. Golf is not an elitist sport. It never was. It started as a populist sport. Until greedy people smelled money the game still had a certain purity to it. That's gone, from the PGA Tour on down...and now we want to change the rules. So much for any integrity the game had left. Golf is SUPPOSED to be hard. That is the joy and glory of the self-examination it provides. Begone Mr. Flores...you are not being helpful. This is just another of your bad ideas.
| Comment at 1/14/2012 |
I am going to comment on this issue. Greg I do and do-not agree on this issue. I agree that the game has got a little harder to play. beucause new courses are longer and more challangeing. another factor although there are websites to get dicounted tee times, the golf courses are expensive to play here in southern california. Though i have worked in the golf inudtry for over 10 years and plaed the game fro 30 years now. I have seen my share of celebirties at local golf courses in the southland and they do get out of there country club inviroment and play public courses. As for the trump course in pacific palisades. that is unreal to be. its not a pebble beach golf course or a pga west facility. it is a beautiful course but not reasonable on price. as for the rules . not to long ago in golf digest and on the golf channel did they talk about that. there is a reason to haveing only set of rules in the U.S. and that is to keep the game in order. if you as a individual want to break the rules and have an enjoyable rnd then do it. carry more clubs move your ball out of a divot. just enjoy the game. i know the rules in and out. but i dont keep score as i once did becuase i dont compete anymore. Golf is a relaxing game away from everything else keep enjoying that golf courses are saving areas iin this country and keep the beauty of nature up.
| Comment at 1/22/2012 |
Let's face facts, there are some rules that need to be eliminated. Come on, is grounding your club in a sand trap going to give you an advantage? Really? REALLY? And God knows if I could just carry 2 more clubs in my bag, that would surely drop my handicap down a bit. Give me a break.
| Comment at 1/25/2012 |
Let's face facts, there are some rules that need to be eliminated. Come on, is grounding your club in a sand trap going to give you an advantage? Really? REALLY? And God knows if I could just carry 2 more clubs in my bag, that would surely drop my handicap down a bit. Give me a break.
| Comment at 1/25/2012 |
