New Golf Rules

morrga

Is it worth putting up a sticky thread summarising all the new golf rule changes?

It could be good for knowledge purposes and for providing clarity on any confusion people may have. For instance I am told the rule with regard hitting the ball out of bounds and dropping at point of entry with a two stroke penalty is to be voted in locally if it is to be used in clubs. I did not know this or if its accurate.

Playing yesterday with a guy who holed a birdie 2 with the flag in and the look on a watching group was priceless as they came over to tell him its a the two shot penalty only to be told otherwise. "Oh", was the response when they were informed. I would imagine a good bedding in period will be required.

fred funk }{

morrga wrote: »

Is it worth putting up a sticky thread summarising all the new golf rule changes?

It could be good for knowledge purposes and for providing clarity on any confusion people may have. For instance I am told the rule with regard hitting the ball out of bounds and dropping at point of entry with a two stroke penalty is to be voted in locally if it is to be used in clubs. I did not know this or if its accurate.

Playing yesterday with a guy who holed a birdie 2 with the flag in and the look on a watching group was priceless as they came over to tell him its a the two shot penalty only to be told otherwise. "Oh", was the response when they were informed. I would imagine a good bedding in period will be required.

This new rule only applies for non-counting golf which is ridiculous as when playing social golf you can play any rules you like anyway. It just adds confusion to the whole thing.

idle

Can anyone confirm if the embedded ball rule is a general or local rule? Can see this being abused in my home (links) course where I find the vast majority of unplayable balls in the rough are not in fact embedded

Kiith

I don't understand how clubs can vote on these rules. Surely they should be standard across all levels of golf?

Regarding the lack of penalty for hitting the flag...is there any reason to remove the flag when putting now? Seems like it would always be better to have it in.

fred funk }{

Kiith wrote: »

I don't understand how clubs can vote on these rules. Surely they should be standard across all levels of golf?

Regarding the lack of penalty for hitting the flag...is there any reason to remove the flag when putting now? Seems like it would always be better to have it in.

Absolutely take it out unless I have a horrific downhill putt on a really quick green. The hole is bigger with it removed. My concern with this new rule will be golfers will ask for it to be put back in and another will want it out resulting in more delays and damage to the hole.

Russman

Kiith wrote: »

I don't understand how clubs can vote on these rules. Surely they should be standard across all levels of golf?

Regarding the lack of penalty for hitting the flag...is there any reason to remove the flag when putting now? Seems like it would always be better to have it in.

From what I've read somewhere, they analysed "it" and found that the flag would likely hinder you 50% of the time and help you 50% of the time so there was no real advantage or disadvantage to keeping it in. Something like that anyway.

With regard to the out of bounds local rule and CONGU disallowing it for counting competitions, I get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that this was a rule mostly aimed at the USA where, judging from some of their online discussion, stroke and distance seemed to be a big issue for them.

HighLine

Can a mod join this thread to the already existing thread on the topic.

HighLine

idle wrote: »

Can anyone confirm if the embedded ball rule is a general or local rule? Can see this being abused in my home (links) course where I find the vast majority of unplayable balls in the rough are not in fact embedded

The new embedded ball rule is a general rule https://www.randa.org/en/rog/2019/rules/the-rules-of-golf/rule-16


There is however an option for clubs to introduce a local rule limiting its scope to relief from fairway height or less. I'm guessing it will be rare for a club to have that local rule.

HighLine

Kiith wrote: »

I don't understand how clubs can vote on these rules. Surely they should be standard across all levels of golf?

Regarding the lack of penalty for hitting the flag...is there any reason to remove the flag when putting now? Seems like it would always be better to have it in.

The new rules that have come in are standard across the board and will be universally adopted. There are some options for clubs to introduce local rules, which is their choice.
The new local rule for alternative to stroke and distance relief is not likely to be adopted by many Irish clubs thankfully. Both the GUI and ILGU are strongly advising clubs not to introduce this non qualifying local rule.

Beaulieu

HighLine wrote: »

The new rules that have come in are standard across the board and will be universally adopted. There are some options for clubs to introduce local rules, which is their choice.
The new local rule for alternative to stroke and distance relief is not likely to be adopted by many Irish clubs thankfully. Both the GUI and ILGU are strongly advising clubs not to introduce this non qualifying local rule.

Thanks -didn't realise this until now ( & Ive read up & watched a good deal about the changes!). Confirmed also on the GUI website https://www.golfnet.ie/News%20Listing%20Assets/CONGU-Advice-New-Rules-of-Golf%20Ireland.pdf

spacecoyote

This is a pretty decent site with details on the changes:

https://www.rules.golf/

AGC

The ball in motion hitting your equipment no longer being a penalty will see several golf bags being left in convenient positions for players who tend to thin a bunker shot!

Golfhead65

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Absolutely take it out unless I have a horrific downhill putt on a really quick green. The hole is bigger with it removed. My concern with this new rule will be golfers will ask for it to be put back in and another will want it out resulting in more delays and damage to the hole.

This is exactly what I thought when they proposed this new rule on Jan 1st..Picture the scene,Comps in 4 balls,slow enough as is then you rock up behind group in front and see a player holing out then flag goes back in and you think you are ready to hit for you to see someone else take a putt, 3rd player takes flag out to putt and when he finishes out flag goes back in,you think you are ready to hit now but no, player 4 wants to putt with flag in...Patience will run very thin and I would say a few choice words may be exchanged.Hopefully the powers that be will see it for what it is More Slower Play and revert back

spacecoyote

AGC wrote: »

The ball in motion hitting your equipment no longer being a penalty will see several golf bags being left in convenient positions for players who tend to thin a bunker shot!

I never thought about that so cynically, but I could actually see that happen :eek:

slave1

AGC wrote: »

The ball in motion hitting your equipment no longer being a penalty will see several golf bags being left in convenient positions for players who tend to thin a bunker shot!

There’s a key word in the rule “accidentally”, if you feel a player has left their bag “in play” then say it before the shot, if they don’t move it and subsequently hit it then there’s a strong argument its no accident