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THE RULES
OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE
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SPRING 2017
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obsports.com
see heavy foot traffic from dawn to
dusk. This won't speed up play, but it is
a common-sense change that should be
universally applauded.
v You may putt without having the
flagstick attended or removed, so there
is no longer a penalty if your putt hits
the stick while it is in the hole.
Great change that definitely will help
pace of play, because when you are
faced with a long putt, you won't need
someone else to tend the flag. Your
playing partners can work on lining up
their putts while you're putting. Some-
times the flagstick helps; sometimes it
hurts. It will be up to you to decide if
you want to leave it in.
v The USGA and R&A also recom-
mend and encourage recreational
golfers to play "ready golf" – instead of
waiting for whoever is farthest from the
hole to hit the next shot – and to play
each stroke in no more than 40 seconds.
Again, this should help improve pace
of play.
v Another new rule limits the search
for a lost ball to three minutes, instead
of five minutes, per the longtime exist-
ing rule. Not a major change, but infi-
nitely more recreational golfers lose
balls than tour pros because marshals
and spectators aren't in the vicinity to
find our errant shots. In addition, it will
no longer be a penalty if you step on
your "lost" ball during the search,
though duffers probably have ignored
that penalty in the past.
v Another "relaxed" rule is eliminat-
ing the penalty for accidentally ground-
ing a club or dropping one in a hazard –
henceforth to be called a "penalty area"
– though it still will result in a penalty if
your club touches just behind or in
front of your ball in a sand-filled
bunker. There is no longer a penalty for
touching or removing loose impedi-
ments in a bunker, either. Great change.
v Another positive change is a new
rule intended for beginning golfers al-
lowing you to take a ball out of a
bunker and take a drop next to it, with
a two-shot penalty, instead of trying
and failing many times to escape the
sand.
Let's hear it for the USGA and R&A.
The proposed rule changes should help,
to borrow a phrase, make golf great
again.
