"In other sports, referees run the game, in golf the rules run the game."
JVB:
I like that quote a lot. It's very descriptive.
But I like JohnK's terms
1. "Repressed Nostalgist"
2. "Rules Poindexters"
You and I are probably "Rules Poindexters"
But I do think another term or two should be used for the rest who get so worked up over the Rules of Golf and how they work. Maybe the other two should be--
3. "The Lawyers" who think they have a better way to write and interpret the way golf's Rules should be, and--
4. "The Free-Thinkers" who feel so strongly that the Rules of Golf should be changed in all kinds of little ways to make them simpler or more enjoyable as to how the game is played.
If the Rules of Golf listened to "The Lawyers" the "Committee" would obviously have to set up its own Court of Appeal and Review and that's never going to happen. And if the Rules of Golf listened to "The Free-Thinkers" the Rules of Golf would be changing so often I doubt anyone would ever know what they were at any particularly time.
I'm with you---I think they're fine the way they are and to make them work better golfers, like professionals, who stand to lose something of real significance should just get to know the Rules as well as they know their own golf games. If they don't want to bother to do that they should just take responsibility for their own actions and philosophically suffer the consequences of Golf's penalties.