I received an email from a friend of a friend outlining additional “rule changes” that went into effect on October 1, 2018, suggesting that all players ages sixty-five and over shall abide by the new directives. I don’t know about you but I am having trouble keeping up with the ever changing rules landscape (see “Rules of Golf“ a five part post starting in July 2018).
Rule 1.k.34 (A):
If a tree is between the ball and the hole, and the tree is deemed to be younger than the player, then the ball can be moved without penalty.
Rule 2.a.5 (R):
A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough without penalty. The senior player should not be penalized for tall grass which was not properly maintained by the grounds crew.
Rule 3.d.6 (B):
A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed “not” to have hit the tree. This was simply bad luck and luck has no place in our scientific game. The senior player must estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree, and play the ball from the new location.
Rule 4.b.3 (G):
The “lost ball” ruling has been eliminated. The lost ball is somewhere near the playing surface and will eventually be pocketed by other senior players who routinely scrounge for lost balls, thereby making it a stolen ball. The senior player is not to compound this injustice by assessing a penalty.
Rule 5.c.7 (H):
If a putt passes over a hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped. The “Law of Gravity” supersedes the “Rules of Golf”.
Rule 6.f.6 (X):
Putts that stop close enough to the hole that can be blown into the hole, may be blown into the hole without adding an additional stroke. This does not apply to a ball more than three inches from the hole, as no one wants to make a mockery of the game.
Rule 7.a.9 (K):
There is no penalty for balls hit “out of bounds”. If penny-pinching golf course owners would have bought sufficient land, this scenario would not occur. The senior player deserves an apology, not a penalty.
Rule 8.g.15 (Z):
There is no penalty for a ball hit into a water hazard, as golf balls should float. Senior players should not be penalized for any shortcomings by the manufacturers.
Rule 9.k.9 (S):
Advertisements claim that golf scores can be improved with the purchase of new golf equipment. Since new golf equipment is financially impractical for many seniors, one-half stroke per hole may be subtracted from the score for using dated equipment.
It now seems as if the R&A and the USGA are making some sense!
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The back nine can only get better!
*I’m not sure where these rules truly originated, but I’d be happy to give credit where credit is due!
That’s how we play now.