Golf for Dummies - Out of Bounds Rule

[George Pazin]

Asking why certain rules are the way they are is fine, but it's kindof silly when you think about it.

Why is a basketball hoop 10 feet?  Why is the court 94?  Why is it 3 seconds in the lane and not 2 or 4?  

Why is the infield fly rule around?  Why allow the double switch?  Why 4 balls to get a walk?  Why not 3 to make the pitchers pitch?

Why just 5 yards for a cornerback to make contact?  Why not 10 or 4?  Why is a field goal 3 points and not 4?  

Why do you have to win by two points in tennis?  Why allow two serves?  Why not just one -- so the return actually has a chance and the serving player doesn't win practically every game?

It goes on and on.....but in the end, the rules are the rules.  You have to know them, and abide by them.  Otherwise, you ain't playing golf.  There's nothing wrong with that, but you just need to know what when you think you shot 77, and you lost a ball and didn't go back to the tee or you took a few putts or you asked your buddy what club he hit on the par 3 before you played -- you didn't play golf.  You played something close.  But you didn't play golf.

This isn't entirely true, at least not in spirit. The idea of teeing up a ball and hitting it into a hole far away may be completely arbitrary, similar to your examples of other sports, but the vast majority of rules are derived from experience and logic. Ask any of our rules officials on board about a ruling and they don't usually just say what to do, they explain the logic behind the rule. It's not nearly as arbitrary as many rules for other sports.

[TEPaul]

"Asking why certain rules are the way they are is fine, but it's kindof silly when you think about it."

Shivas:

That is most definitely not the case when it comes to the rules of golf. Richard Tufts litte 100 page "Principles Behind the Rules of Golf" is one of the best things anyone interested in the rules of golf could ever read---even those really well versed on "on-course" officiating. It's also the USGA's little logic bible if they feel the need to explain why something within the ruled of golf is the way it is. I think the Joint USGA/R&A Rules Committee who all know the rules of golf particularly well would do well to read this book from time to time simply so they might better stick the real principles behind various rules instead of getting into what one might refer to as "rule creep" when they hold their annual meeting to interpret and write the rules of golf.

[JohnV]

George,  In some ways you are right, but some things in the rules are arbitrary.  

For example, why are relief distances measured in club lengths rather than inches?  It would be easy to say 36 inches and 72 inches instead of one and two club lengths.  We could all get a band of tape on our clubs that was 36 inches from the end and measure that way.

Certainly tradition plays a big part in the sport and things like measuring in club lengths came about because of that, but they are still arbitrary.

Obviously why is the hole 4 1/4 inches in diameter?  Gene Sarazen, among others, proposed a 6 inch hole at one time.  Why is the ball the size and weight it is?  Wouldn't it be easier for all of us math impared folks to make the ball 2 inches and 2 ounces and the hole 6 inches?

Other things such as why the slope of a course of average difficulty is 113 is rooted in mathmatical concepts that I've only just begun to understand and probably can't explain.