I could give other examples; you can move a red or yellow stake, but not a white one. You can move a pine cone unless it's embedded. You can fix a pitch mark on the green before you putt, but not in the fringe before you play your shot. And on and on and on...
A white stake defines the boundary of the course. A red stake does not. A pine cone that's embedded is not "loose." You can fix a pitch mark on the green whenever you want, and on the fringe whenever you want so long as it's not improving your line of play, stance, area of swing, etc.
I don't agree that those are complex. I don't agree that the lost ball stuff is all that complex either.
The blue blazers in Far Hills are looking to again re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic; to get the next generation interested in the game and grow the game they need to speed up pace of play and reign in the length of the ball.
This "need" has not been demonstrated
at all.For any who doubt that the Rules are just a bit arcane, or that the USGA has it's head up it's collective butt, try this one:
The conditions of the competition said you had to walk. What's arcane about that? Pretty straightforward ruling there. Like the other poster said… everyone knows you can't get in a cart.
In a USGA qualifier earlier this year, after we discovered a ball was out of bounds we did not know existed behind a green, a crusty old official gave me and the player a ride BACK to the fairway and when I questioned him before doing so, he said,
"We can give you a ride backwards, not forwards."
I do not know if this is an official policy or just something he said ad hoc, but in made sense in the spirit of the thing.
You have to walk the course once. So if you walk forward to your ball, you can get a ride back to re-tee and then back to your bag again, but that's it.
Pretty common.