Paul:
Interesting:
Not more than three months ago, I had the exact same idea as you----eg just call all the sand areas on any golf course "waste areas" and play them "through the green".
So I called up the RULES Department at the USGA and asked them about that and they told me you can't do that. When I asked why they just told me to read the definition of "Bunker".
So I told them "waste areas" sort of look like a bunker and feel like a bunker so how come they aren't defined as "bunkers"?
They told me because some courses have "Local Rules" defined them as "Waste Areas".
So I asked them if they might ever define "Waste area" within the Rules of Golf and they said why do that---they're areas that are designated as "through the green".
I felt like asking them again if it was OK to designate all sand areas on a golf course as "waste areas" but decided to just let them off the merry-go-round!
Get my drift?
During this Rules "waste area" investigation, I even went so far as to call Pete and Alice about the history of the "waste bunker". She said Pete created the first one and she told me how and why and then she said the USGA insisted they not be called "waste BUNKER" so they became 'waste areas".
Go figure!