RULES & HANDICAPPING


By Lorraine Thies


Major makeover Initiative by USGA, R&A seeks to modernize the rules O


n March 1, the USGA and The Royal & Ancient Golf Club in Scotland (R&A) unveiled a joint initiative to


modernize the Rules of Golf and make them easier to understand and apply. This initiative is a result of a process that started five years ago in an effort to bring the rules up to date to fit the needs of the game today globally. According to the announcement,


their overall goals are to make the Rules of Golf more easily understood and applied by all golfers; more consistent, simple and fair; and reinforce the game’s longstanding principles and character. The result is a proposed MAJOR


rewrite. Not only are they suggesting 33 changes or modification to the rules, but they are completely reorganizing the structure and the presentation of the rules book. For the next six months, the USGA


is accepting public comments and suggestions on these changes. We encourage our members to get involved. Go to the rules section of the USGA’s web site (usga.org). There you’ll find a complete list of changes, including explanations and videos. The USGA staff member in charge is Joe Foley. Please email the USGA at Rules@ USGA.org with any and all thoughts. Once finalized, the new rules


will go into effect Jan. 1, 2019. Here’s a quick list of some of the proposed changes.


BALL AT REST • No penalty for accidentally moving your ball during search.


• No penalty for accidentally moving your ball or ball-marker on the putting green.


• You caused your ball to move www.azgolf.org


only when it’s known or virtually certain (i.e. 95 percent).


• If a ball lying off the putting green moves, replace it on the spot or its estimated spot instead of dropping.


BALL IN MOTION • No penalty if your ball in motion accidentally hits you, your caddie, the person attending the flagstick or the attended or removed flagstick.


TAKING RELIEF • New “relief area” to use when dropping your ball. The ball must come to rest in that relief area or it must be redropped multiple times and has to stay in that area; no more two club-lengths roll.


• Size of the relief area is a fixed distance: 20 inches or 80 inches (no longer one or two club lengths)


• When dropping a ball, drop it in any way and from any height. Only requirement is that you must hold the ball above the ground without it touching any growing thing or other natural object, and when you let go, it must fall through the air.


LOST BALL/SUBSTITUING A BALL • A ball search reduced from five to three minutes.


• You can always substitute a ball when taking ANY relief (free or with penalty).


PUTTING GREEN • A ball that moves after it’s been marked, lifted and replaced on the putting green should always be put back on its original spot, even if it moves for no clear reason.


• Able to repair almost any damage on the putting green, including


spike marks and animal damage.


• No penalty for touching your line of play on the putting green (as long as it doesn’t improve the conditions for your stroke).


• No penalty if your ball hits the unattended flagstick in the hole.


PENALTY AREAS • Committees can mark areas of desert, lava rock, etc. (in addition to areas of water) as either red or yellow “penalty areas,” i.e. The Desert Rule.


LOOSE IMPEDIMENTS • No penalty for moving loose impediments ANYWHERE including penalty areas.


BUNKERS • No penalty for touching sand in a bunker with hand or club unless it’s done to test the conditions or the club is placed right behind or in front of the ball in making a practice swing or in making the backswing for a stroke.


• An unplayable ball in a bunker can be dropped outside the bunker for an additional penalty stroke (total of two strokes).


CADDIES • A caddie cannot stand on a line behind a player while the player is taking his or her stance and until the stroke is made.


• A caddie may lift and replace a player’s ball on the putting green without the player’s specific authorization to do so. n


What do you think? Good changes? Bad changes? Take advantage of the opportunity to have a voice in the final product. Go to www.usga.org today!


SPRING 2017 | AZ GOLF Insider | 31


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