Recreational Rules vs Tournament Rules

[Tim Nugent]

Reading a comment somewhere else, I ran across the idea that, since most recreational golfers don't adhere strickly to the Rules but rather make their own abbreviated set to suit their desires, should we have an alternate set of Recreational Rules?

These could address things like OB (1 stoke where it went out), improved lies within 1 foot anywhere including hazards, lift,clean and place, under a 1 stroke penalty a player could place a ball anywhere on a hole (even in the middle of the fairway) as long as it's no closer to the hole. etc.

Any thoughts on this? Any recreational rules you would like to see?  Bear in mind these would not take the place of the Official Rules but be another option.

[Brent Hutto]

There is no reason at all to believe the golfers who make up their own rules now would suddenly become sticklers for some alternative official set of Rules of Golf. They'd find things about those they don't like unless the alternative set was ridiculously lax.

Are you going to make turning in a medal score with a few four-foot "pick it up" putts allowable? Mulligans on the first tee? Root rules and leaf rules and "roll 'em in your own fairway because it rained last night" rules? Drops out of lateral (or not lateral) hazards that are forty feet from the hazard edge and ten yards closer to the green?

Or my favorite, the always popular "Just drop one in the fairway and add a stroke" penalty for lost and unplayable tee shots.

[Rory Connaughton]

I have to think it would only be a matter of a few minutes that people would be looking for ways to subvert the recreational rules as well.
I have long thought that the rules of golf are ignored or broken, not, primarily, because they are so difficult to understand (though that may be a cause) but because people who break them like to see a lower number on the card.

[Brent Hutto]

I think it's almost entirely about not wanting to see the strokes add up too fast. The only major exception is not wanting to walk 200+ yards back to the tee or hit endless provisionals trying to avoid any possibility of walking back to the tee. That is the main area in which some of the Rule-ignoring actually seems semi-reasonable in casual play.

[Tim Nugent]

Rory, true, but some because they slow down play (stoke and distance for instance) or taking the time to hit a provisional then go look for your first, find it, play it then have to go over and pick up the provisional.

Brent,  recreational scores not allowed to be submitted.  But, hey if they were stupid enough to submit, (and I know guys who routinly cheat just to be able to say they have an X handicap) what good would it do them?  Ya, I know, those are the same guys who will never bet.

Plus, what is the effect of clubs with Local Rules that, in effect, are the same thing?

[Tim Nugent]

Brent, what about the new to the game players? Could such a set of "Rules Lite" help them get acquanted with the game without all the pressure of feeling like they need to know a 4" thick tomb of Rules?  Could it help in situations where "relief" really doesn't help or say if they can't hit out of a bunker, let them out with a penalty?  I'm looking this with a wide field of vision, not just from the vantage point of the good, established golfers like we find here in the treehouse.

[Jason Topp]

Someone on this site suggested that people should play by any rules they want, but should not fool themselves into thinking the game they are playing is golf.

I think that is the right approach.  In my view, a beginner who cannot get out of a bunker should at some point just throw the ball out.  I have no problem with people negotiating in a friendly match that they will treat underbrush as a lateral hazard.  The purpose of the game to my mind is to have fun and it is nothing more than that.

I prefer that people taking such an approach not delude themselves into thinking the number on their scorecard reflects the score they shot, but that is up to them.

I think the best way to sandbag in the US is to play by the rules.

[Brent Hutto]

I think the best thing to do with a beginner who's only played a handful of rounds is tell them to forget about Rules and scorekeeping and all the other stuff that turns a supposed game into something more like work. The best set of rules for a beginner is to tee the ball up, hit it without touching it until you're on the green, hole out and if you can't hit it without touching it just pick up and drop it on the green. Actually if I had anyone to play it with me that's pretty close to the game I'd choose instead of the silly 4" thick Rulebook anyway. Play it down and if you can't find it or hit it again concede the hole and keep walking. That's a real game!

[Bill_McBride]

I wonder how many Americans actually post a truly pristine medal score on a regular basis?

Everybody does in the UK; it's the way handicaps are calculated.

I haven't played a lot of medal play in the past forty years, but the occasional tournament round has turned up some Kevin Na-like experiences!

I think we'd all be better players if we followed the UK format, but the six hour rounds would be painful.

[JMEvensky]

I wonder which approach is better for beginners--ignoring the rules or being taught to play strictly by them.

Does relatively strict adherence run off beginners?Does anything goes keep beginners interested?I don't know how it could be determined but I'd be curious to know how each group of beginners would turn out.

I agree with Brent Hutto about recreational rules.You could never codify a set of rules unrestrictive enough to satisfy them.For a lot of people,if there's a rule,it's going to be ignored.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I don't think that the basic rules of golf are so hard to understand that an average recreational player can't follow them well enough to generate a reasonably valid handicap. The rule book is a slim volume.
The decisions could turn you into a blob of jelly, but how necessary are they for recreational play?

[Kalen Braley]

I don't think that the basic rules of golf are so hard to understand that an average recreational player can't follow them well enough to generate a reasonably valid handicap. The rule book is a slim volume.
The decisions could turn you into a blob of jelly, but how necessary are they for recreational play?

Jim,

True, they usually get most of them right. But the problem is they break them so much they often don't post anywhere near what the number should be if you include penalty strokes.

Extra club in the bag?  Thats two per hole....36 at the end of the round.
Ask what club they hit 4 or 5 times?  Thats another 10 shots
Improper drops, foot wedges, preferred lies, not walking back to the tee on OB?  Perhaps another 10 shots
Teeing up in front of the markers? Another 2 per instance
Gimmees?  Oh Lord this can be huge depending on the player.

All in all, the average joe could easily be dozens of strokes away from what their true score would be if they followed the rules.

[Pete_Pittock]

I don't think that the basic rules of golf are so hard to understand that an average recreational player can't follow them well enough to generate a reasonably valid handicap. The rule book is a slim volume.
The decisions could turn you into a blob of jelly, but how necessary are they for recreational play?

Jim,

True, they usually get most of them right. But the problem is they break them so much they often don't post anywhere near what the number should be if you include penalty strokes.

Extra club in the bag?  Thats two per hole....36 at the end of the round.

Kalen, Maximum penalty per round is four strokes (2 per hole) in stroke play. And read what Sam Snead did in a televised match. You'll have to go to Shackelford and the links on the story about Mason Rudolph. The rule has since changed.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Kalen,
It's recreational golf, not tournament play. So many of these folks play most of their golf with the same crew, or in the same league, where no one is going to risk breaching the bond of friendship over a penalty stroke or a couple of dollars. Most of them will never play in anything more serious than a member-guest.

[Tim Martin]

Kalen,
It's recreational golf, not tournament play. So many of these folks play most of their golf with the same crew, or in the same league, where no one is going to risk breaching the bond of friendship over a penalty stroke or a couple of dollars. Most of them will never play in anything more serious than a member-guest.

I agree with Jim Kennedy. As long as the participants respect the golf course, pace of play protocol and other golfers they should be able able to use whatever variations that particular group agrees on. A far as a written version there should only be the "Official Rules of Golf".

[Kalen Braley]

While this is true in general, the types of rules I've seen various players keep and not keep greatly varies.

As a result, I just rarely play money games when I'm golfing, unless I know the person pretty well.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Kalen,
You could give some strokes to someone you didn't know (or knew well    ), but instead of playing for score you play for 'rules' money, i.e. the wager on the match is lost by the first player to break a rule. Any further rules infractions are treated as automatic presses. It's a bust-off if you both happen to hole out on #18 with neither player committing an infraction.

[Ben Voelker]

Extra club in the bag?  Thats two per hole....36 at the end of the round.
Ask what club they hit 4 or 5 times?  Thats another 10 shots
Improper drops, foot wedges, preferred lies, not walking back to the tee on OB?  Perhaps another 10 shots
Teeing up in front of the markers? Another 2 per instance
Gimmees?  Oh Lord this can be huge depending on the player.

All in all, the average joe could easily be dozens of strokes away from what their true score would be if they followed the rules.

I think the maximum allowable score by the USGA handicap system is 136 or something anyway.

I bet the number of players that play strictly to the rules for recreational play is near 0%.  Hell, I would guess the number of golfers that know the rulebook inside out is even smaller  .

I tend to follow the rules, except for lost balls.  Usually a lost ball for me is in the rough somewhere and I just can't locate it.  For a recreational round, I'm not going back to the tee to hit another one.  I usually drop one and give myself 1 stroke.

[David Harshbarger]

I wonder which approach is better for beginners--ignoring the rules or being taught to play strictly by them.

Does relatively strict adherence run off beginners?Does anything goes keep beginners interested?I don't know how it could be determined but I'd be curious to know how each group of beginners would turn out.

I agree with Brent Hutto about recreational rules.You could never codify a set of rules unrestrictive enough to satisfy them.For a lot of people,if there's a rule,it's going to be ignored.

My 2 sons, 9 and 6, are just starting, and we are going to the course and playing as much as time permits.  My rules are mostly etiquette, with a few basics thrown in.  Play it where it lies (unless it is a crazy spot), try not to touch the ball before hitting it, tees only on the first shot. Really bad tee shots can be retrieved.  We tee at 150. 

Keeping score at this point serves no purpose, but we do celebrate any good series of shots.

I figure there is plenty of time to turn the screws on what is allowed as we work towards posting a number. 

I do plan to make it clear, though, that it's not a number if not by the rules.

On lost balls, for me, on a busy course, I drop and take 2 strokes.

[Brent Hutto]

towards posting a number. 
I do plan to make it clear, though, that it's not a number if not by the rules.

That's the key. All of those Rules are rules for making sure you end up with the right number, either on the scorecard in medal play or the hole score in match play. If you're not hung up on the number very few Rules are needed.

I love playing a friendly game against someone as much as the next guy but it's a mystery to me why absent any competition we still obsess over numbers on the scorecard. I've heard the "competing against myself" nostrum ever since I started playing golf 15+ years ago and I guess that's cool for some people. But golf sure seems to be stretching the meaning of "play" the way most people go about it. More like work, self-abuse or self-delusion in many cases.

That's how we end up with so many golfers out there every day with no intention of following the Rules and coming up with a valid number. But even as they roll the ball and take do-overs and basically do whatever they see fit, they still obsessively write down numbers. Even though those numbers are basically a meaningless pretense. I blame the handicap system.

But it's an innate tendency. An observant golf professional told me once that for most golfers when asked "How did you like the course" they are basically only capable of two answers. "The greens were a little slow and I shot an 81". Nothing else really seems worth mentioning.

[Jim_Coleman]

    This is a rather odd discussion.  Other than in competition, people can (and do) do whatever they want.  They really don't need permission.  Who's gonna tell?  The ones that play by their own rules probably aren't very serious, so their handicaps aren't that important.  Or, they cheat.  And there's not much anyone can do about a cheater.

[John Kavanaugh]

We generally pay for a days pay but have recently adopted a local rule just to move play along.  It has really been windy of late so we have exempted anyone from a penalty if their ball moves on the green after address because of the wind.  It is really hard to suspend play in the middle of a money game, especially if you are up.

[Sean Leary]

Just curious how many people play strictly by the rules every time they play a casual round.

An example of how my group doesn't. If someone accidentally touches their ball and it moves, we just replace it to where it was. Basically if no advantage was gained, we let it go. I am sure the purists cry foul on this, but golf is more fun and realistic that way imo.

[Pete_Pittock]

The best rule I know is promulgated by a Vegas gambler. Match play. If you touch your ball between teeing off and holing out you lose the hole. That is the only rule. Except pay up if you lose.

[Brent Hutto]

Pete,

A group of us play that game once a year and call it "Match Play Madness". There is one rule (no touching) and one exception which is you may pick up your ball on the green if your opponent requests you to. Most of us have lately taken to just playing stymies so as to avoid having that one exception.

My favorite situation in that game was when my opponent and I both hit into a greenside bunker. The two golf balls rolled into a rake mark and were right together, touching. I played first and hit both at the same time. His came out of the bunker and landed on the green. My flew over the green and into the rough. We both got down in two from there and I won the hole, having hit into the bunker one shot earlier than him.

I must admit my intention was for his ball to go flying into the next Zip code but unfortunately we don't get a lot of practice hitting that particular shot.