Golf's 13 Most Ridiculous Rules and How We'd Change Them

Golf is a sport with a rather comprehensive rulebook. Depending on who you ask, it's either a charm or an annoyance that the rules used by the best pros in the biggest tournaments are the same used by Sunday hackers.

For me, it's both a charm and annoyance. It's nice to be able to compare scores with the professionals but, realistically, the golf played on the millions of courses throughout the world is not the same game played on the professional tours.

So, some of what you are about to read relates to what you see on TV, while some of it relates to the rounds that you're probably used to playing.

Regardless of what group of golfers is being addressed, there is one thing to note: I am talking about official rules. Groups allowing a mulligan off of the first tee or gimmes inside of the leather are breaking the rules.

Actually, they're breaking the rules if they allow it, regardless of whether or not anyone ever takes advantage of the amendments. But if the members of the groups don't care, then I don't either.

13. Pace of Play Violations

Group being addressed: Tour players

Rule in question: All members of a group are penalized for slow play.

How to change it: Only penalize the players causing the slow play.

A controversial moment occurred in 2005 when Ben Crane and Rory Sabbatini were paired together in the final round of the 2005 Booz Allen Classic.

The group had already been warned because of their pace of play and were falling behind again. Sabbatini, one of the faster players in the world, sped ahead of Crane, playing out of turn and finishing the hole while Crane was in the fairway.

Sabbatini handled the situation poorly, that's undeniable. He received a lot of flack for what he did, but I don't buy it.

Although Crane, one of the slowest players on tour, was the primary reason for the backup, both players would have incurred a penalty if they were talked to again.

So, an official is able to warn a group for slow play and penalize members of a group for playing slow, but is not able to determine which member is causing the slow play? Apparently not.

Sabbatini deserves a lot of the criticism that he takes but he got too much blame for this one.

Sidenote: On the pace of play front, in the final round of the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington were paired together.

The group received a slow play warning, which both golfers said hindered the way they played. Ordinarily, a group being rushed for playing slow wouldn't be such a big deal, but this was the final pairing—who were they slowing down?

I know there are television concerns, but that warning did not need to be given.

12. 14 Clubs

Group being addressed: Tour players

Rule in question: 14 clubs allowed

How to change it: Reduce it to 10

The arrival of Tiger Woods coincided with the advancement of technology in golf clubs.

Since then, we've heard a lot of people come up with their solutions to the shrinking of golf courses caused by the better clubs.

Why not modify the club, and/or the ball? The problem there is that would significantly change golf equipment companies.

My idea wouldn't change those companies as much. It also may not change how far the balls are hit, but it might force more shot-making abilities from the pros.

Now, the amount of clubs I would reduce it to is up for debate. If you think it's too harsh, I wouldn't mind seeing 12. If you don't think it's harsh enough, then we can discuss eight clubs.

It just seems like an idea that should maybe be tried in exhibition rounds and put into practice if it seems to work.

11. Defining a Bunker

Group being addressed: Tour players

Rule in question: Defining a bunker

How to change it: Don't let galleries in a bunker.

This one is not higher on the list because it's very specific.

But two PGA Championships have been played at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin and this has happened both times.

You shouldn't be allowed to ground your club in a bunker. With that being said, if galleries are allowed to walk in it for the course of four days (plus practice rounds), it's not a bunker.

If galleries are still allowed in the kind of bunkers that Dustin Johnson was in during the 2010 tournament, then the players should be allowed to ground their clubs.

10. Spirit of the Rules Being Ignored

Group being addressed: Tour pros

Rule in question: Letter of the law

How to change it: More interpretation

I understand the need to not want referees in golf. One of the greatest charms of it is that the players call their own violations.

Still, you do have officials who can inflict penalties on golfers. 

When someone brought it to the attention of tour officials that Craig Stadler was technically building his stance in this picture, they enforced the penalty on him.

If they can do that, why can't they look at the violation and say whether or not it gained the player any advantage?

In Stadler's case, it clearly didn't.

9. 5 Minutes to Find a Ball

Group being addressed: Regular golfers

Rule in question: Five minutes to find a ball

How to change it: 2-3 minutes, depending on whether or not the golfers have carts.

Tour pros can literally have thousands of dollars riding on a shot. Because of that, there is no reason that they shouldn't be allowed to take five minutes to find a ball.

The acceptable rules are just a little different when it comes to golfers who may have a skin or a beer riding on a shot.

When golfers are waiting behind them, five minutes is an eternity. It's an eternity that they should have to suffer through if the golfers are trying to make thousands of dollars, but not at any other time.

Courses actually can do a better job of making local rules for these types of situations. Because of the galleries and TV cameras, it's very hard to lose a ball on tour, although not impossible.

For the rest of us, it's not too uncommon to lose a ball that seemed to go down the fairway or in a wide open area of rough. Golf courses can make different rules for those situations to prevent some of the slow play that occurs with golfers taking five minutes to look for a ball.

8. Defining a Moveable Object

Group being addressed: Both

Rule in question: Defining a moveable object

How to change it: If something can't be moved by a player and his caddy (or any two people), it's not moveable.

Ken Venturi complained about Tiger getting the ruling in this picture.

A big rock was in Tiger's way and all of the men pictured here moved the boulder out of his way.

Now, Tiger was right, he took advantage of the fact that his galleries are huge and broke no rules along the way.

But here's something to know: If you have enough people with you, you can move the Empire State Building.

A nice way to change this rule would be to say that if a player and his caddy, or two members of the galley, can't move an object, then it's not moveable.

7. Footprint in a Bunker

Group being addressed: Both, although mostly non-pros

Rule in question: A ball landing in a footprint can't be moved

How to change it: Let a golfer move a ball in a footprint

Pros and amateurs alike can be hurt by footprints, but pros don't encounter unraked bunkers too often.

For one: Golfers, please rake the bunkers when you leave them, it's a common courtesy.

Two, if a golfer is in a footprint, there is no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to move it.

If they leave their first shot in a bunker and it comes back into their own footprint, then they should have to play it as it lies. But if the original shot lands in someone's footprint, let them move it out.

6. Lift, Clean and Place

Group being addressed: Both

Rule in question: Lift, clean and place

How to change it: Nothing with regular golfers. Lift, clean and drop on tour

When a golf course is wet, it's much easier for pros to hit greens and get balls to stop close to the hole. We just saw that at the U.S. Open.

That task becomes much easier when they get to place the ball in an ideal lie in the middle of the fairway.

Getting to lift and clean a ball is fine during the terrible weather days. But even on those days, getting to place a ball in an ideal lie is too much for the pros.

5. Scorecards

Group being addressed: Tour pros

Rule in question: Scorecards being the final say

How to change it: Allow retro-acted changes

This rule has actually been slightly changed this year, which is a good thing. If it hadn't been, this would be an easy No. 1 or No. 2 on the list. 

Now, if a rules violation is caught after a card has been signed, they go back and enforce the penalty, but no longer penalize a player for signing an incorrect scorecard.

That's a good first step, but we're still not done.

What happens if you take a four on a hole but accidentally write a five and don't catch the mistake before signing? Well, you get the five. What if the reverse happens? You get disqualified.

In this era, scorecards aren't nearly as relevant on tour, as they have competitors, caddies, spectators and frequently cameras to count shots.

What's written on the card shouldn't supersede what happens on the course.

4. Spike Marks

Group being addressed: Both, mostly pros

Rule in question: Spike marks can't be fixed by anyone but the person who made them

How to change it: Allow anyone to fix a spike mark

Golfers cover a lot of round when they read a putt. Why shouldn't they? As previously stated, the difference between a putt dropping and lipping out could be thousands of dollars.

When they read their putts from all angles, they leave spike marks all over the green. They can't exactly stop to replace all of them; rounds would take twice the time if they did.

While golfers don't step into the lines of their playing competitors when they do this, they do potentially step into the lines of any golfer who may follow them.

The problem is that when the next group comes through, if one golfer's putt is being bothered by the spike mark of someone from a previous group, they can't do anything about it.

If it's a ball mark, they're free to fix it as they wish. So why can't they do the same for spike marks?

This rule also gives a great advantage to the golfers who go out earlier, which in the first two rounds has nothing to do with their scores.

The issues with this rule came to a head in 2005 at the Masters, when Vijay Singh confronted Phil Mickelson for being too careless with leaving spike marks all over the greens. 

3. Wind Moving a Ball on the Green

Group being addressed: Tour pros

Rule in question: A golfer is penalized if his ball moves on the green after his club has been grounded

How to change it: Don't penalize a player

Okay, this actually technically matters to regular golfers as well, they're just not likely to enforce a penalty when it happens.

On tour, for some reason, Padraig Harrington seems to be the person who ends up on the wrong end of these rulings.

I don't get it. He seems like a nice guy, the players on tour talk highly of him, but he must have made someone mad at some point in his life.

This one has gotten him penalized a few times. Webb Simpson was also penalized earlier in the year, which effectively cost him a tournament.

If a player is on the green, grounds his club, and is hit by a sudden gust of wind that causes the ball to move a half a centimeter, he is penalized. Basically, that stroke counts and he has to move the ball back to its original location. 

Conversely, in an admittedly extreme example, if the exact same scenario happens, only the golfer didn't ground his club and the ball rolls all the way to the hole, there is no penalty.

Yes, the golfer would have to replace the ball, but he essentially would get a free read.

This is another spirit of the rule problem, but it happens more than most others, so it deserves its own spot.

If an official or the golfers don't think that anything the golfer did caused the ball to move, there is no reason to penalize them.

Frequently the ball is moved by the combination of a downhill lie and a strong wind gust. Also, often times the ball will move away from the hole, which creates no practical advantage.

When golfers are penalized in these spots, the punishments just don’t fit the crimes.

2. Divots

Group being addressed: Both

Rule in question: No relief from divots

How to change it: Treat divots as ground under repair

Over the course of a professional golf tournament, it's not at all unfathomable that the vast majority of shots taken from a tee box will land in the same spot of a fairway.

So, by the end of the week, there are a lot of divots in those fairways.

Just to be clear, a divot is ground under repair in the truest sense of the term; so why can't a ball landing in a divot be treated like a ball that lands in an officially marked ground-under-repair spot?

If you want a compromise, how about only allowing golfers in the fairway relief when they land in a divot? A golfer should never be punished when his ball stops in the fairway.

This isn't even a matter of not replacing divots. Some divots can't practically be repaired. Even when a divot is replaced, it still takes time to regrow into a normal piece of grass.

1. Armchair Referees

Group being addressed: Tour pros

Rule in question: Game-changing decisions made by TV viewers

How to change it: Eliminate the option

This one is simple. The tours need to stop taking calls from people at home telling them that they think someone violated a rule. The same rule applies for marshals and live spectators.

The people who call these violations need to stop doing it, and the people who listen need to stop listening, it's really that simple.

No other sport does it, why should golf? There are competitors and their caddies who enforce the rules and integrity of the game. As we've seen, golfers on tour generally call penalties on themselves, even when the infraction gave them no advantage.

The most notable of these occurrences came with Bobby Jones at the 1925 U.S. Open. He called a penalty on himself after his ball moved a fraction of an inch.

Golfers have plenty of integrity, so do the rules officials. They don't need any help from people watching at home with nothing better to do with their afternoons.

The fact is, when this happens, the whole notion of pros playing by the same rules as everyone else is thrown out the window.

Unless there is something that I am unaware of, when I play at my home course, there aren't HD cameras on every shot I take, nor are there people at home watching to be sure that I don't tee the ball up two centimeters ahead of the tee boxes.