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2019 in golf

2019 in golf: NCG’s least favourite changes to the Rules of Golf

You can't please everyone all of the time and the Rules of Golf will always split opinion. Our Fourball team reflects on the changes they didn't like
 

We’ve already outlined what we did like about the changes to the Rules of Golf, so now it’s time to have a bit of a whinge – and who doesn’t like a good whinge? We’re definitely making strides in the common-sense stakes with the Rules of Golf but there are still some bits that we’re not keen on…

Mark: Not that many of us enforce it but the three-minute ball search isn’t right. I would go on about the knee-high drop ad infinitum but the lost ball seems to be more relevant to me. If I’ve hit a loose one I’d like to go through the whole mental anguish of asking the same old banal questions of how well I or my playing partners have hit it, which particular tree I got a line on, and comments about the state of the rough, thick or otherwise, before calling off the dogs. 

Dan: I think the new rules have broadly been well-intentioned and well-directed, despite all of the shrieking and moaning. That said, caddies standing behind their players but clearly not trying to help them line up should not result in a penalty.

Steve: It shouldn’t have worked out this way – given that most clubs had it as a local rule anyway – but the writing into the rules of being able to remove loose impediments in a bunker has led to some players taking outrageous liberties. 

Joe: The knee-high drop just seems a little bit pointless to me. I know it’s supposed to negate the need for players to place the ball but I personally haven’t seen this make much of a difference in professional or amateur golf.

The tour stars think it makes them look silly and you’d be hard pressed not to agree with them. Why can’t we just have something simpler, like to drop anywhere between waist and shoulder height? Knee high hasn’t been a big time saver.

What was your least favourite of the 2019 rule changes? Let us know in the comments below, or you can tweet us.

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