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Almost every golfer has an opinion on The Rules of Golf, particularly the rules that they would want to change... It can seem harsh that you don’t get free relief when your perfect drive finishes in a divot, or when you have to hit three off the tee after you find your ball a yard out of bounds. In this video, Joel Tadman and Dan Parker take a lighthearted look at the 7 rules they would change in order to make the sport fairer, more fun and introduce a greater level of skill back into the game.
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0:00
Joel, I actually find the rules of golf really quite confusing and a bit boring to be honest
0:03
Yeah, they are quite complicated actually, aren't they? I mean, is there anything that you change about them? I've got a few ideas actually
0:08
Have you? I've got a few ideas as well. Shall we go talk about them? Yeah, let's do it. Right, so to kick us off, I think this is probably the most obvious rule that most golfers
0:22
want to change, Dan, it's having relief from a ball in a divot. 100%. If you asked a thousand golfers now, what rule would you want to change tomorrow
0:29
I think 999 would say, I want relief from divots in the fair way
0:34
We'll come on to that in a second. But, you know, I've hit a perfect drive down here. Got a flick with a wedge in
0:39
I've got to play out of this putrid divot here that someone's had a right hack at in a previous life
0:44
So, yeah, simple as that, right, Joel? Are you in agreement with me here
0:48
No, I'm not in agreement. I'm the one out of the thousand that don't agree
0:51
you should get relief from a divot. I think there's far too many grey areas here
0:56
Obviously, you can see your ball is obviously in a divot, but there'll be other situations where you've got old divots
1:01
where they've been mostly kind of recovered, but there's still a slight indentation
1:06
You could argue that pretty much everywhere on the fairway, there's been a divot at some point. So how do you categorise a different age of divot
1:12
You know, if you've got a bad lie in the fairway, it doesn't look like a divot. Could you claim there's a divot
1:16
I think there's just too many grey areas for you to actually define what a divot is and therefore apply a consistent rule
1:22
So you think it'd be too much of a slippery slope if this actually came into effect? Yeah, and you could argue that obviously it's unfair
1:27
that you get relief from animal holes, rabbit scrapings, that sort of thing. You get free
1:33
relief from those, so why not just extend it to a divot? But for me personally, I just
1:38
think it's too messy. I think it would slow down play as well. I think there'll be an awful lot of players calling over their playing partners, can you check if this is a divot
1:44
is it not a divot? What is it? Is it just a bad lie in the fairway? And then what happens
1:49
if you get in a divot in the rough or the semi-rough? I agree with that. That is a bit of a muddy area, even I think
1:54
people who want this rule to come into place. Especially if it's not clear if you're quite in
1:58
the fairway or not. Yeah, yeah, that's even more. It gets very muddy. I still think it should come
2:03
into place somehow. The rules makers in the world need to figure that out, figure out those grey
2:07
areas. Let us know what you think. Are you one of the 999 or are you one of Joel's mates
2:16
Right, so another rule of golf we would like to change refers to the number of clubs you are
2:20
allowed to carry in your bag dan talk us through exactly how you would change it yeah quite
2:25
passionate about this actually i think 14 is way too many golf clubs a it's heavy right it's
2:30
expensive i think it takes a little bit of skill out of the game as well when you've got a club
2:34
that does these sort of very minute things you might get out once or twice so no one knows why
2:39
it's 14 clubs by the way it came into effect in about the 1930s when steel shafts started getting
2:43
used instead of hickories but it's the rule now i think it's rule four no more than 14 golf clubs
2:48
I would reduce it to 10. Nice round number. Let's take four clubs out of the bag
2:53
make it a bit lighter, make it a bit cheaper for people. Bring that skill back in where you've got to, you know
2:57
finesse different kind of shots, you know, half shots, 50% shots. So with that in mind, Joel
3:02
I'm going to ask you now. Okay. Take your 14 clubs that you probably carry at the minute
3:06
Which four would you get rid of if this rule came into place? Really good question. For the record
3:09
I am totally in agreement with this. Oh, excellent. Thank you. But yeah, in terms of the clubs
3:13
I would say I could definitely do without my lob wedge. 100%. 60 degree wedge
3:17
I pretty much only use it out of bunkers and I think I could get away with using a 54 or a 56
3:21
quite comfortably. I think I'd get rid of my three wood. I only really tend to use that on second shots into par fives
3:27
but I can use a hybrid and flick a wedge in. I think my five iron as well
3:32
Those are three clubs that I think could easily be taken out. I don't think I'd see a massive drop off
3:36
in performance or scores as a result. I agree with you on the lob wedge
3:40
I love my three wood so I keep it. I'd only play odd iron so I'd go five, seven, nine wedge
3:46
so I'd lose my six and my eight. my lob wedge and then Your four iron I don carry a four iron I probably would if I carried 14 Probably realistically one of my hybrid or three I have to have a sit down with myself and really work out
3:58
Look at your Archon stator, maybe. Exactly. See which one's doing the same job as the other. So, yeah
4:03
Come on, I need your 14th. I need the fourth club out of it. Yeah, I'd probably get rid of one of the wedges, maybe, the gap wedge
4:10
You'd get rid of the gap wedge, couldn't you? Anyway, yeah, I think a great rule. We're both in agreement on this one. Let's get 14 clubs down to 10
4:18
So I'm just thankful Dan we found some shade. It's a beautiful sunny day here at Pagliaro
4:22
Golf Course in Madeira but I'm a bit disgruntled because my drive off this 18th hole, it's
4:28
come down the left, it's kicked left. This guy is still doing your way. And this guy is
4:32
going to cause me a lot of issues because the other post is in line here going back past
4:37
the camera so the ball is just out of bounds. I've found it. As we all know the penalty
4:42
is very severe when it comes to out of bounds. I have to take stroke and distance so walk
4:47
all the way back to the tee, because I haven't hit a provisional ball, so I didn't think it was going to be out of bounds
4:51
All the way back to the tee, play three off the tee, so if I hit a good drive, make a distance to this one
4:56
playing four from the fair. On a part four, which it is
5:00
That is actually crazy, like how severe the penalty is for out of bounds. Obviously, going back to the tee slows down play a lot
5:05
You've got that walk of shame, that embarrassment factor as well. But I think a fair and reasonable penalty
5:10
in my opinion, would be if you've dropped it, or you haven't found it
5:14
but you can reasonably, with some certainty, know where your ball has gone into the out-of-bounds
5:19
I think you should better drop a ball inbounds, the point that it kind of crossed the out-of-bounds line
5:23
As you would do with red posts and yellow at the minute, right? Exactly, with a penalty shot, so playing your third shot
5:28
so you've got a penalty, you've been disadvantaged by going out-of-bounds, but the penalty is not so severe
5:35
I think it's a fairer penalty. That's a much fairer way to deal with out-of-bounds, I think. And while we're here on out-of-bounds, I think we're both in agreement
5:41
internal out-of-bounds, sack it off entirely. Yeah, absolutely, I can't stand it. I mean, I know there's a safety element to it
5:47
but yeah, internal out of bounds between two holes. You know, if you hit a wayward drive
5:51
and it's sitting perfectly on another fairway, but you're randomly out of bounds, it doesn't make any sense to me
5:56
Yeah, and I think alongside the Divot one we spoke about earlier, this will be a really, really popular one
6:00
with golfers back home. Right, Dan, that was a nice round, wasn't it
6:08
Very enjoyable. Thanks for that, Joel. It's time to sign our scorecard. It is. I believe there's a rule that you might want to tweak
6:13
What is this regard? I think there's a chance to change this now. And so the USGN RNA brought a new rule in in 2023
6:20
a model local rule that meant you wouldn't get disqualified anymore for not signing the card, which I think was a good rule
6:26
Do you agree with that? I think it was always a bit harsh, isn't it? That you don't put your little squiggle down
6:30
It's often just a sort of blind scribble anyway, isn't it? You get DQ
6:34
That's now a two-shot penalty. However, it's only a model local rule
6:38
which means clubs don't have to adopt it if they don't want to. I think it should be written and entrenched in the rules now
6:44
that if you don't sign for your scorecard if you forget to put a seizure on there it's just a two shot penalty
6:49
which I think is penalty enough for what is really a stupid mistake that we should all be doing anyway right
6:54
There's something else written on the scorecard there as well. Yeah so at the bottom of this one here it says like this video
6:58
and subscribe to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel for more videos like this which I think is pretty sound advice
7:07
So one rule that we want to change that I hadn't actually considered before comes down to putter design, Dan
7:12
in particular the alignment assistance you get from putters and also on golf balls as well
7:17
I think you've got quite a drastic change that you'd like to make. Well, this is a really interesting one
7:21
when we were brainstorming ideas for the video. What did we, we sat down as a group
7:25
and said, what do we want to change? And Joe, our colleague said, I think we should get rid of alignment aids on putters
7:29
And I said, well, okay, let's maybe get rid of them on balls as well. And the more I thought about it
7:34
I think the more I like it. So there's rules in place at the minute. Don't know the exact ones that say
7:38
you're allowed them and the height they're allowed in the club and the substance that you can use and and and and and I would personally wipe it clean And that from Putters so you can see here on my spider which i do love when i do use is quite a lot sort of two alignment aids here right
7:51
you've got the line going down the middle and the the why that they use the white why and then on
7:55
golf balls like this i mean again really popular but i'm sorry taylor made callaway bridgestone
8:00
now get them gone let's wipe it clean and bring a bit more skill back into the game i guess you
8:06
know not having it all lined up you've got to know where you put a head's face in if it's open if it's closed, you've got to trust your alignment with the ball, stuff like that
8:13
I think it's a really interesting one and one, the more I think about it, the more I'm into
8:17
Yeah, I think if you think about other sports, you know, snooker for example
8:21
you don't have alignment assistance from your queue. You could argue using lines on the ball or features like we've got on that tailor-made tool response stripe
8:29
slows play down a lot when you're trying to line it up perfectly. You love fast play, don't you? I've noticed that
8:34
I do love fast play, I don't like messing around too much. So getting that precisely right can take a lot of time
8:39
so yeah there's definitely a case to make for simplifying the design
8:44
of the clubs and the balls a little bit bring more skill back into the game
8:48
and best putters will probably still come through yeah and I think
8:52
it's just look I'm not going to align it you knock it down nice and easy and you just hold
8:56
you just hold putts like that you don't need the alignment aids you've just demonstrated it
9:00
thank you let's wipe them off completely but let us know about that one because it's a bit more of an interesting one
9:04
okay then Joel next rule change please What have you got for us
9:10
So we're going to talk about the teeing area, Dan. So this all comes under Rule 6.1b
9:14
It's fascinating stuff. It's my favourite rule, that one. And as everyone knows, the teeing area relates to kind of the straight line from the front of the tee markers
9:21
two club legs back, and then kind of a parallel line along here. This is your teeing area
9:26
But if you don't tee your ball up in the teeing area and play your shot
9:30
you get the general penalty, which is two shots. And you have to correct your mistake, i.e. play another ball from within the teeing area
9:38
Now in my opinion that is a very harsh penalty for what is in a situation where you're not really gaining a massive advantage
9:45
So for example if I tee the ball accidentally say here just in front of the tee markers I've gained a couple of inches
9:53
It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's not worth the penalty right. I'm not gaining a huge advantage by doing this and therefore I feel like the two shot penalty plus correcting your mistake is very harsh
10:04
I think a one-shot penalty. I understand that you need to protect the game
10:08
and you can't have people teeing up way in front of the markers. But in this particular situation, I think the penalty is too harsh
10:16
OK, I think I tend to agree with you, Joel. Where's the line, though, literally
10:21
Because, you know, it's like VAR and offside, isn't it? It's like, oh, well, a toe, they shouldn't give it them
10:25
Let's make that not offside. OK, cool. How far does it go? And you could get some person who just keeps nudging themselves up
10:32
I think there's hardly anyone who would go and tee, you know, if you're playing this way, no one would tee up over here
10:36
Yeah, okay, that's fair. People would only make the mistake, you know, within like a 12-inch range
10:42
I don't think you're gaining a line. I understand your point, but my kind of main gripe is the penalty is too harsh
10:48
Agreed, I think so. And most of the time, people do this on accident, right
10:52
Exactly. And it's worth pointing out, in match play, there's no penalty. You can, your playing partner can ask you to play it again, or if you've hit it into the rubbish
10:59
they can say that shot counts and that's fine. And I understand if you're teeing up the other side of the..
11:04
That was my next question though. What if it's a hybrid to play for position
11:09
but you're not good with it hybrid? So if you keep coming back and back and back, I want to hit a driver now
11:13
You probably gain more advantage going that way than you do this way. I think so
11:18
Because you can, like you say, if you're in between clubs and you've got the club that's going to go too far
11:22
if you go too far back, then it becomes a perfect yardage. So I kind of understand it
11:26
So I'm okay with it this way, I'm less okay with it this one. Okay, yes, I definitely understand your point
11:30
I think the rules have gotta just sort of relax a bit, man. You know, chill out a little bit
11:34
And this would be a great way of doing it Probably the most dramatic and drastic of the ones we spoken about It could change the game forever Talk us through it It a humdinger Dan
11:45
Yeah, I think we should ban tees. Bang, boom, have that. I think the privileges that are extended to golfers
11:51
on the teeing area versus the rest of the golf course are excessive. Okay
11:55
I mean, I've got my phone, I can reel off some of the things that you can do on a tee
11:59
In between these two sticks. You can't do anywhere on the golf course. So, tees can be up to four inches long
12:06
You can alter the surface of the ground. You can make indentations with your foot or the club
12:11
You can move, bend, or break grass. You know you can't do that on anywhere else
12:14
on the golf course. You can remove objects in the teeing area. You can press down sand and soil
12:19
You can remove dew, frost, and water. You can do all sorts of stuff. You've got carte blanche here to do what you want
12:24
with the golf ball, right? Exactly. And you don't want to see that. But you know, placing the ball on a tee on the ground
12:29
on the teeing area, on the ground, is enough to give you a good enough lie
12:33
to be able to gain an advantage versus where you are on the rest of the golf course
12:37
And then you've got the argument about the golf ball going too far and how the tee is pretty much
12:42
directly responsible for golfers being able to launch the ball higher with less spin
12:48
because they're able to attack the ball on the up because the ball is raised above the ground
12:52
Whereas if you put the ball on the ground, you would see lower ball flights with more spin
12:57
less distance, you would definitely increase the level of skill that would be required to hit the shots correctly
13:03
with a lower lofted three-wood, or maybe if you still want to hit a driver, I think it brings the skill back into the game
13:08
It produces less distance. It solves an awful lot of problems. It does. Can I just pitch a couple of questions
13:13
Of course you can. I think people might be shouting at home, right? So, broadly on board with it, I think it's a fun idea
13:20
Would it rule out that club entirely from existence? What about golfers who struggle with their driver at the minute
13:26
to get it up in the air and off the ground? Those are my main steps. Obviously, it would be unpopular with golfers who struggle with their driver
13:32
Obviously, a lot of golfers are used to playing the ball on a tee, raised up
13:37
But I think people would get used to hitting driver off these sort of supplies. Yeah, they might play a slightly higher lofted driver as a result
13:43
or a lower lofted three would, like I've said. I could demonstrate one. We see driver off the deck anyway, don't we
13:49
That is from the more skilled players. Maybe that will bring that element of the game back into the high handicaps of the world
13:56
You know, on team grounds, you can get some pretty good lies
14:00
Because that is still now, and we'll show it you close up. Sat up fairly nicely
14:04
It's sat up pretty nicely, and I haven't hit a lot of shots today, so this could go horribly wrong, but let's give it a whirl
14:13
Oh, Joel. Look at that. That is your first swing of the day
14:17
First swing of the day, just down that right-hand side of the fairway. It's probably gone a good 250 yards
14:22
And that's fine. That's all you need. You're saying that's bringing the skill back into it. I know I'm a relatively good golfer, a three-handicapper
14:27
and the high-handicappers, they're probably going to struggle with this sort of lie
14:31
But I do think removing tees altogether and the privileges you get around preferring your lie
14:37
using your wedges to raise up the ground and that sort of thing, you see Laura Davies do, I think that needs to be banished from the game altogether
14:43
And wouldn't it be fascinating to watch the professionals play all these great golf courses
14:47
that we can then come see back in the game again? The rollback argument is we don't see some of the great old courses anymore
14:52
because they're bombing it too far. Wouldn't it be great to see those golf courses back
14:55
And it's that risk-reward as well. Do you want to risk hitting a driver off the deck, off the tee
15:00
in case it goes horribly wrong? Yeah. But obviously you get rewarded if you hit it like that, you do still get some pretty good distance
15:05
It's a fascinating one, Joel. I think one, some food for thought for you guys watching at home
15:09
I think probably a really good rule to crown off that video. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of comments, I think
15:13
Well, let us know. Would you like to see that? I'm feeling a lot of anger because some golfers aren't
15:19
lots of golfers aren't that great and they're going to struggle with that, but I'm feeling lots of positives on the rollback perspective
15:23
I was going to say, is it a better solution than rolling back the golf ball for everybody? I would say yes
15:27
I would say yes as well. So let us know if there's any that we've missed that you would like to see. But for now, from Madeira, thanks for joining us
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