More than two years have passed since the once-bizarre sight of drops being taken from knee height and putts dropping against the flagstick became legal. So on the second anniversary of their implementation, we offer this assessment of the main rule changes brought in from January 1, 2019.
Drop from knee height rather than shoulder height [above]. Was this change even necessary? A better option would have been to allow drops to be made from anywhere between the knee (new rule) and shoulder (old rule).
Score: Bogey
Measure the area to drop in with the longest club in your bag (except a putter). This was a change low on impact but high on effectiveness for outlawing a bonus for carrying a long putter.
Score: Birdie
Time to search cut from five minutes to three. Maybe the best change of the lot. How often were stray balls located in those fourth and fifth minutes?
Score: Eagle
If you accidentally move your ball when searching for it, replace it without penalty. It mightn’t happen often, but call this one a win for common sense.
Score: Birdie
No penalty for a double hit – it only counts as one stroke. This also rarely happens, but even more seldom does a golfer gain any advantage. The miscued stroke is punishment enough.
Score: Birdie
No penalty if your ball hits you or your equipment accidentally after a stroke. As above.
Score: Birdie
No penalty if your ball strikes the flagstick when you have chosen to leave it in the hole. This is a divisive one. Some course superintendents have lamented the extra damage to holes caused by retrieving balls while the flag is still in. Plus there are those tedious situations where some in a foursome like to putt with the flag in and others want it out. Ultimately, the change is probably a win in the pace-of-play stakes, so we’re still for it.
Score: Birdie
Spike marks and other shoe damage on the putting green can be repaired. We thought this might lead to whack-a-mole-type scenes on the greens with golfers prodding at every possible imperfection before putting. We thought wrong.
Score: Eagle
Ball accidentally moved on putting green – no penalty and replace. If it truly was an accident – and you can always tell – then this was a good change.
Score: Birdie
Ball marked, lifted and replaced on putting green is moved by wind to another position – replace ball on the original spot. The old rule was fluky given that a gust might send your ball nearer the cup or farther away. The revision smoothed out the luck element.
Score: Birdie
Penalty areas replace water hazards, and you can move loose impediments, ground your club and take practice swings in penalty areas without penalty, just as you can on the fairway or in the rough. It not only looks wrong, it is wrong. Hazards – yes, we’re still struggling with this whole ‘penalty area’ thing – are hazards for a reason.
Score: Double-bogey
You can’t take relief from a penalty area unless you are at least 95 percent certain your ball is in the penalty area. One golfer’s 95 percent is another’s 50 percent, but we get the idea. It’s still grey, but how else to define this rule?
Score: Par
In bunkers you can move loose impediments. Aren’t bunkers meant to be hazards?
Score: Bogey
Unplayable ball in a bunker – extra option to drop outside the bunker for two penalty strokes. On one hand, this change diminishes the bunker as a hazard. On the other, how often would you encounter a lie so bad that you couldn’t escape in two swipes, thus making the drop a more enticing option?
Score: Par
Free relief is allowed if your ball is embedded on the fairway or in the rough (but “embedded” means that part of your ball is below the level of the ground). This one is another win for fairness.
Score: Birdie
Pace of Play – it is recommended that you take no longer than 40 seconds to make a stroke (and usually you should be able to play more quickly than that) and ‘ready golf’ in strokeplay is encouraged. Absolute yes to ready golf, but are we expected to pull out a stopwatch to time other golfers?
Score: Par