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Rules Golfers Might Want Updated
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Apr 1, 2025
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
0:07
I've got a few ideas actually. Have you? I've got a few ideas as well. Shall we go talk about them? Yeah, let's do it
0:19
Right, so to kick us off, I think this is probably the most obvious rule that most golfers want to change, Dan
0:23
It's having relief from the ball in a divot. 100%. If you asked 1,000 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 you should get relief from a divot
0:53
I think there's far too many grey areas here. Obviously, you can see your ball is obviously in a divot
0:58
but there'll be other situations where you've got old divots where they've been mostly kind of recovered
1:03
but there's still a slight indentation. You could argue that pretty much everywhere on the fairway
1:08
there's been a divot at some point, so how do you categorise a different age of divot
1:12
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 relief
1:34
So why not just extend it to a divot? But for me personally, I just think it's too messy
1:39
I think it'll slow down play as well. I think there'll be an awful lot of players calling over their playing partners
1:43
Can you check if this is a divot? Is it not a divot? What is it? Is it just a bad lie in the fairway
1:48
And then what happens if you get in a divot in the rough or the semi-rough
1:52
That is a bit of a muddy area, even I think people who want this rule to come into place
1:57
Especially if it's not clear if you're quite in the fairway or not. Yeah, it's even more
2:01
It gets very muddy. I still think it should come into play somehow. The rules makers in the world need to figure that out
2:06
figure out those grey 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 allowed to carry in your bag
2:22
Dan, talk us through exactly how you would change it. Yeah, quite passionate about this one, actually
2:26
I think 14 is way too many golf clubs. A, it's heavy, right
2:30
It's expensive. I think it takes a little bit of skill out of the game as well when you've got a club that does these sort of very minute things
2:35
you might get out once or twice. So no one knows why it's 14 clubs, by the way
2:40
It came into effect in about the 1930s when steel shafts started getting used instead of hickories
2:44
But it's the rule now, I think it's rule four, no more than 14 golf clubs. I would reduce it to 10
2:49
Nice round number. Let's take four clubs out of the bag, make it a bit lighter, make it a bit cheaper for people
2:54
bring that skill back in where you've got to finesse different kind of shots
2:58
half shots 50% shots so with that in mind Joel I'm going to ask you now
3:03
take your 14 clubs that you probably carry at the minute which four would you get rid of
3:07
if this rule came into place? Really good question for the record I am totally in agreement with this
3:11
Oh excellent thank you but yeah in terms of the clubs I would say I could definitely do
3:15
without my lob wedge 60 degree wedge I pretty much only use it at bunkers
3:19
and I think I could get away with using a 54 or a 56 quite comfortably I think I'd get rid of
3:23
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 5 iron as well
3:31
those are three clubs that I think could easily be taken out I don't think I'd see a massive drop off in performance or scores as a result
3:38
I agree with you on the lob wedge I love my 3rd so I keep it I'd only play odd iron so I'd go 5, 7, 9 wedge
3:46
so I'd lose my 6 and my 8 my lob wedge and then your 4 iron I don carry a 4 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 Stater, 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
Right, so I'm just thankful, Dan, we found some shade. Yes. A beautiful sunny day here at Palliero Golf Course in Madeira
4:24
But I'm a bit disgruntled, Dan, because my drive off this 18th hole, it's come down the left, it's kicked left
4:30
This guy's still doing your way. And this guy is going to cause me a lot of issues
4:33
Yeah. Because the other post is in line here, going back past the camera
4:37
So the ball is just out of bounds. I've found it. As we all know, the penalty is very severe when it comes to out of bounds
4:45
I have to take stroke and distance, so walk all the way back to the tee because I haven't hit a provisional ball
4:49
so I didn't think it was going to be out of bounds. All the way back to the tee, play three off the tee
4:53
so if I hit a good drive, make a distance to this one playing four from the fair run
4:58
On a part four, which is it. That is actually crazy how severe the penalty is for out of bounds
5:03
Obviously, going back to the tee slows down play a lot. You've got that walk of shame, that embarrassment factor as well
5:07
but I think a fair and reasonable penalty, in my opinion, would be if you've dropped it or you haven't found it
5:13
but you can reasonably, with some certainty, know where your ball has gone into the out-of-bounds
5:19
I think you should be able to 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? 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. 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 Divit 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 with this regard
6:14
I think there's a chance to change this now. And so the USG and the 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
and it's often just a sort of blind scribble anyway, isn't it? You get DQ'd
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 signature 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 Month YouTube channel For more videos like this Which I think is a good idea
7:03
It's pretty sound advice so one rule that we want to change that i hadn't actually considered before comes down to putter
7:12
design dan in particular the alignment assistance you get from putters and also on golf balls as
7:17
well yeah i think you've got quite a drastic change that you'd like to well this is a really interesting one when we were uh brainstorming ideas for video what did we we sat down as a
7:25
group and said what do we want to change and joe our colleague said i think we should get rid of alignment aids on putters and i said well okay let's maybe get rid of them on balls as well and
7:32
And the more I thought about it, I think the more I like it. So there's rules in place at the minute
7:37
Don't know the exact ones that say you allowed them and the height they're allowed in the club
7:40
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 this quite a lot sort of two alignment aids here right
7:51
you've got the line going down the middle and the the wire that they use the white why and then on
7:55
gold falls 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 i think it's a
8:13
really interesting one and one the more i think about it the more i'm into yeah i think if you
8:18
think about other sports you know snooker for example you don't have alignment assistance from
8:23
your queue you could argue using lines on the ball or features like we've got on that tailor-made
8:28
tool response stripe slows play down a lot when you're trying to line it up perfectly you love
8:32
fast play don't you i've noticed that i do love fast play i don't like messing around too much
8:36
so getting that precisely right can take a lot of time so yeah, there's definitely a case to make for
8:42
simplifying the design of the clubs and the balls a little bit
8:46
bring more skill back into the game and best putters will probably still come through
8:51
Yeah, and I think it's just, look, I'm not going to align it you knock it down nice and easy
8:54
and you just hold putts like that you don't need the alignment aids
8:59
You've just demonstrated it 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
9:06
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. It's
9:14
fascinating stuff. It's my favourite rule, that one. As everyone knows, the teeing area relates to the straight line from the front of the
9:20
tee markers, two clubbed legs back and then a parallel line along here. This is your teeing
9:25
area. But if you don't tee your ball up in the teeing area and play your shot, you get
9:31
the general penalty, which is two shots, and you have to correct your mistake
9:36
i.e. play another ball from within the teeing area. Now, in my opinion, that is a very harsh penalty
9:41
for 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? But I'm not gaining a huge advantage by doing this
9:59
and therefore I feel like the two-shot penalty plus correcting your mistake is very harsh
10:04
I think the 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
10:15
I think the penalty is too harsh. Okay, I think I tend to agree with you, Joel
10:19
Where's the line, though, literally? Because, you know, it's like VAR and offside, isn't it
10:24
It's like, oh, well, a toe, they shouldn't give it then. Let's make that not offside. Okay, cool
10:27
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. If you're playing this way, no one would tee up over here
10:37
People would only make the mistake within a 12-inch range. I don't think you're gaining that much
10:43
I understand your point, but my 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. Your playing partner can ask you to play it again
10:57
or if you hit it into the rubbish, they can say that shot counts and that's fine
11:02
And I understand if you're teeing up the other side. So 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, a hybrid? So if you keep coming back and back and back, I want to hit a driver now
11:14
You've probably gained more advantage going that way than you do this way. I think so
11:17
Because 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 this way. Less okay with it. Okay, yes, I definitely understand your point
11:30
I think the rules have got to just sort of relax a bit, man. You know chill out a little bit 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 on the teeing area
11:52
versus the rest of the golf course are excessive. Okay. I've got my phone
11:56
I can reel off some of the things that you can do on a tee. In between these two sticks
12:00
You can't do anywhere on the golf course. Okay. 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. We know you can't do that on anywhere else on the golf course
12:16
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 with the golf ball, right
12:25
Exactly. And you don't want to see that. Placing the ball on the teeing area on the ground
12:30
is enough to give you a good enough lie 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 directly responsible for golfers being able to launch the ball higher
12:46
with less spin because they're able to attack the ball on the up because the ball is raised above the ground
12:51
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
13:01
to hit the shots correctly with a lower lofted three-wood or maybe if you still want to hit a driver
13:06
I think it brings the skill back into the game. It produces less distance. It solves an awful lot of problems
13:11
It does. I've got, can I just pitch a couple of questions? Of course you can. I think people might be shouting at home, right
13:15
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
13:24
who struggle with their driver at the minute to get it up in the air and off the ground? Those are my main steps
13:28
Yeah, I mean, obviously, it would be unpopular with golfers who struggle with their driver
13:32
And obviously a lot of golfers are used to playing the ball on a tee, raised up
13:36
But I think people would get used to hitting drive off these sorts of flies. Yeah, they might play a slightly higher lofted driver as a result
13:43
or a lower lofted three would, like I've said. But I mean, I could demonstrate one. I mean, we see driver off the deck anyway, don't we
13:49
I mean, that is from the more skilled players. And maybe that'll bring that element of the game
13:54
back into sort of high handicaps of the world. 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. That's bringing the skill back into it. I know I'm a relatively good golfer, a three-handicapper
14:28
And the high-handicappers, they're probably going to struggle with these sort of lie. 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, which 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 course anymore
14:52
because they're bombing it too far. wouldn't it be great to see those golf courses back and it's that risk reward as well
14:57
do you want to risk hitting a driver off the deck off the tee in case it goes horribly wrong
15:01
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 some food for thought for you guys watching at home
15:09
I think probably a really good rule to crown off that video there's going to be a lot of comments
15:13
I'm feeling a lot of anger because lots of golfers aren't that great
15:20
and they're going to struggle with that but I'm feeling lots of positives on the rollback perspective But I was going to say, is it a better solution than rolling back the golf ball for everybody
15:26
I would say yes. I would say yes as well. So let us know if there's any that we've missed that you would like to see
15:30
But for now, from Madeira, thanks for joining us
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