Archaic golf rules

[Thump]

After watching today's British Open, I realized how ridiculous some of the rules are.

The 37 mph winds were causing balls to move on the green but if the player had already addressed the ball and grounded his putter, and the ball moved, the player incurs a stroke.

Now I understand that if someone touches their ball with their putter and it moves that a stroke should be incurred but my god how ridiculous.

 

[Best Buckeye]

After watching today's British Open, I realized how ridiculous some of the rules are.

The 37 mph winds were causing balls to move on the green but if the player had already addressed the ball and grounded his putter, and the ball moved, the player incurs a stroke.

Now I understand that if someone touches their ball with their putter and it moves that a stroke should be incurred but my god how ridiculous.

Men shouldn't be rubbing their testicles in public even with a golf club.

 

[NightmaresDad]

After watching today's British Open, I realized how ridiculous some of the rules are.

The 37 mph winds were causing balls to move on the green but if the player had already addressed the ball and grounded his putter, and the ball moved, the player incurs a stroke.

Now I understand that if someone touches their ball with their putter and it moves that a stroke should be incurred but my god how ridiculous.

Taking your stance and grounding your club constitutes "addressing the ball".
If you do one but not the other, you have not addressed the ball and therefore would not incur a penalty.

The reason for the rule is to eliminate subjective judgements as to what caused a ball to move. In golf, it's always the player (if he's addressed it). The rule actually serves to avoid a whole host of possible arguments between players as to whether or not a player moved a ball.

Greg Norman grounds his putter behind the ball before he takes his stance. If the ball moves before he has completed setting his feet in position and taking his stance for the stroke, he would not get a penalty if the ball moved.

KJ Choi was the opposite - he took his stance, then was very careful about not grounding his putter behind the ball if the ball was oscillating in the wind.

What I don't get is why they would address the ball over a short putt, then move their putter away from the ball and just stand there watching the ball oscillate. At that point, you're screwed if the ball actually moves to another position, so you might as well go ahead and putt it, or quickly re-mark it so you can start over.

I haven't heard of a single case in this tournament where a player incurred a penalty stroke for causing his ball to move on a green.

I only saw one instance of a ball actually being blown to another position after the player had placed his ball on the green and picked up his marker (Lee Westwood).

Oh yeah, and for those who have not played tournament golf in 30+ MPH winds, putting is a b****!

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[BB73]

Taking your stance and grounding your club constitutes "addressing the ball".

Here's how you address the ball.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcU8kNjjIZw]YouTube - THE GOLFER Jackie Gleason and Art Carney[/ame]

 

[Muck]

Golf is a good walk spoiled.

 

[Jake]

Michelle Wie was DQ'd yesterday for leaving the tent without signing her scorecard. The person she gave it to caught her outside the tent, and she signed it, but it was too late. *tsk*tsk*tsk*

P.S. Nicklaus never grounded his putter, because of the aforementioned rule.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

i always wondered why golf didnt modify their rules a tad, to speed the game up. i mean lets be serious at your local muni everything should be a lateral hazard. walking back up to the tee box and hitting again slows the world up so much.

it only seems logical, sure its not a pure thing but often times when im out for fun ill take lateral drops out of courtesy, then again i never run around bragging about my score, i basically only play to relax and enjoyment most of the time.

 

[Jake]

i always wondered why golf didnt modify their rules a tad, to speed the game up. i mean lets be serious at your local muni everything should be a lateral hazard. walking back up to the tee box and hitting again slows the world up so much.

it only seems logical, sure its not a pure thing but often times when im out for fun ill take lateral drops out of courtesy, then again i never run around bragging about my score, i basically only play to relax and enjoyment most of the time.

My friends and I are never making the tour with our scores so we always play lateral hazards (and incur a penalty stroke) once we've went up to where we last saw the ball and realized it was gonzo. Going back to the tee wastes everyone's time, for no good reason in a casual round. The only time we hit three from the tee is when it is an obvious splashdown from the box.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

My friends and I are never making the tour with our scores so we always play lateral hazards (and incur a penalty stroke) once we've went up to where we last saw the ball and realized it was gonzo. Going back to the tee wastes everyone's time, for no good reason in a casual round. The only time we hit three from the tee is when it is an obvious splashdown from the box.

thats fine with me, hit a just in case, i can live with that. but spending five mins to walk back to the tee, three mins to limber up and five mins back to the ball after strolling down the fairway looking for 10 mins and sayin huh, seems to bother me.

i mean shit youre playing on a saturday afternoon, not at sunday at augusta....

 

[Thump]

My friends and I are never making the tour with our scores so we always play lateral hazards (and incur a penalty stroke) once we've went up to where we last saw the ball and realized it was gonzo. Going back to the tee wastes everyone's time, for no good reason in a casual round. The only time we hit three from the tee is when it is an obvious splashdown from the box.

That's why you hit a provisional from the tee.

That way you don't have to go back to the tee if you go up and see your ball is out of bounds.

 

[Thump]

Another archaic rule, pros aren't allowed to tap down spike marks in their line before they putt.

 

[fourteenandoh]

the old payne steward gripe. having to play out of a sand filled divot. it should be ground under repair.

another one that always pissed me off was that you get no relief from a boundary fence. in arizona (where i grew up) every course is lined by houses with concrete walls guarding their backyard. if your ball goes against one of these walls you get no drop, so you end up having to play a left handed shot or something stupid like that.

 

[Thump]

the old payne steward gripe. having to play out of a sand filled divot. it should be ground under repair.

another one that always pissed me off was that you get no relief from a boundary fence. in arizona (where i grew up) every course is lined by houses with concrete walls guarding their backyard. if your ball goes against one of these walls you get no drop, so you end up having to play a left handed shot or something stupid like that.

Thing is, pros would get relief from that, but us amateurs do not. You'd think it would be the other way around.

Just like the time Tiger had all of those people move that huge boulder out of his way because of it being a "temporary obstruction" or something crazy like that.

 

[fourteenandoh]

Thing is, pros would never hit it that far off line.

fify