Rules of Golf 2019: My Reaction

The Rules of Golf are changing in 2019 and there are several changes that stand out to me. Earlier this week I watched a short YouTube video from Rick Shiels discussing a few of the changes you need to be aware of. Then I found a list of 20 of the most important changes. Below I will list and react to these. Keep in mind, I play golf every week/weekend and while I don’t play a lot of competitive golf, I try to play by the Rules of Golf. Some of these rules are good and will potentially increase pace of play. Some, though, are silly and unnecessary. Let’s discuss.

1. Search time – Reduced from 5 to 3 minutes
I LOVE this change. You don’t need 5 minutes to find your golf ball. If you don’t see it, after 1 or 2 minutes, accept it and drop. Will be curious to see if any PGA TOUR players are put on the clock for this. Of course TOUR players have a slight advantage of someone seeing where their ball ends up.

2. Ball moving during search – replace (no penalty)
This is a good change. Now, if the move is intentional, there should be a penalty. But if I am kicking through leaves or thick grass, if the ball moves, a penalty is unnecessary.

3. Embedded ball – free relief anywhere
This happens a lot here in SW Florida. It rains a lot here, and there are embedded balls in the middle of the fairway all summer long. It is interesting you get relief from anywhere. Does that mean hazards? Bunkers? This is basically legal “lift, clean and place.”

4. Measuring a drop – Use longest club (except putter)
I always use my driver, so this change doesn’t really affect me.

5. Dropping – knee height rather than shoulder
I don’t like this at all. My knee height isn’t your knee height isn’t Tiger’s knee height. Dropping from shoulder height allows you to put spin on the ball and potentially get a better result. Granted, that is probably why they made this change. But taller golfers have an advantage here.

6. Taking stance on wrong green not permitted
Huh? I honestly have no idea what this means… Can anyone explain it to me?

15. Ball accidentally moved on indoor putting green – replace (no penalty)
Not sure how I feel about this one…

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