With quite a bit of drama occurring with rules infractions of both the men’s and women’s US Open Championships, it seems a good time to have a look at the rules of golf and a bit of history.
When the game started all those years ago, there were some basic rules. It wasn’t until 1744 that the first known documented copy was made by John Rattery, for the World’s first ‘Open’ competition. This consisted of 13 rules, written on two pages:
1. You must Tee your Ball within a Club’s length of the Hole.
2. Your Tee must be upon the Ground.
3. You are not to change the Ball which you Strike off the Tee.
4. You are not to remove Stones, Bones or any Break Club, for the sake of playing your Ball, Except upon the fair Green and that only/within a Club’s length of your Ball.
5. If your Ball comes among watter, or any wattery filth, you are at liberty to take out your Ball & bringing it behind the hazard and Teeing it, you may play it with any Club and allow your Adversary a Stroke for so getting out your Ball.
6. If your Balls be found any where touching one another, You are to lift the first Ball, till you play the last.
7. At Holling, you are to play your Ball honestly for the Hole, and not to play upon your Adversary’s Ball, not lying in your way to the Hole.
8. If you should lose your Ball, by it’s being taken up, or any other way, you are to go back to the Spot, where you struck last, & drop another Ball, And allow your adversary a Stroke for the misfortune.
9. No man at Holling his Ball, is to be allowed, to mark his way to the Hole with his Club, or anything else.
10. If a Ball be stopp’d by any Person, Horse, Dog or anything else, The Ball so stop’d must be play’d where it lyes.
11. If you draw your Club in Order to Strike, & proceed so far in the Stroke as to be e Accounted a Stroke.
12. He whose Ball lyes farthest from the Hole is obliged to play first.
13. Neither Trench, Ditch or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, nor the Scholar’s Holes, or the Soldier’s Lines, Shall be accounted a Hazard; But the Ball is to be taken out teed/and play’d with any Iron Club.
The 13 Original Rules of Golf
Fast forward a few hundred years, the rules set out by the R&A and USGA, have expanded quite a bit. They are now contained in a book which is 231 pages long. Admittedly this contains other details beyond the rules, such as etiquette, equipment, various types of games, amateur status and gambling. I read the rules book when I first started playing, but I doubt there are a lot of people, amateurs or professionals, who know all the rules, without referring to the book.
With the controversies at both US Opens, quite a websites had people calling the rules stupid, nonsensical or out of touch. I do question the ruling against Dustin for making the ball move, but Anna clearly did ground the club in the bunker. Possibly it is time that the rules were simplified slightly. One example, why have different club lengths when taking a drop? Yes it depends on why it is being taken, but why? For ground under repair/garden beds or cart paths, there is only one club length, but for an unplayable ball or water hazard there is two. Surely making an overall standard makes this easier to apply the rule.
The rules have grown from 13 to 34, but most have quite a few sub-clauses, making them complex. Does this contribute to slow play? On the professional tours it certainly does. Although playing for high prize money, the fact that there is so much complexity makes the professionals look like they don’t know the rules (or they don’t want to cost themselves a huge pay packet). Usually a rules official needs to be called in. If it is so hard for them, who make a living playing the game, what hope does the occasional to average golfer have?
Just trying to find a particular rule in the book can be a task in itself. I learn’t the easiest way is to know your key definitions and use the index.
So to the R&A and USGA, how about having a serious look at the rule book and simplifying the rules. It can only help to make golf more enjoyable and a bit quicker.
