In this video, Golf Monthly deputy editor Joel Tadman is joined by Rules of Golf expert Jeremy Ellwood to talk through the 7 rules of golf that have changed recently to make the game fairer and potentially save you shots! Sometimes it can feel like the rules are out to get you but there are situations where they can really work in your favour, as Joel and Jezz highlight in this video shot at the stunning Gog Magog Golf Club in Cambridgeshire.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Gogmogog Golf Club where in this video we're going to talk through the seven rules that have changed for the better.
00:05I think it's fair to say the rules of golf in certain situations can be quite penalizing
00:10but there have been some changes in recent years that have really made it a lot fairer for golfers who get stuck in certain situations.
00:16So in myself alongside rules expert Jezza, we're going to go through those seven different scenarios
00:20where the rules have definitely changed for the better and it should hopefully help you improve your scores.
00:31Right Jezza, I saw what I think I saw. The ball hit the tree, came back and hit your foot.
00:38Talk us through how the rules of golf have changed to help you in this particular situation.
00:43Okay, well I can't deny it did do just that. The good news is that the penalty for that no longer exists.
00:49So as recently as 2007, that would still have been a two shot penalty for the ball coming back and hitting me.
00:56That got downgraded to one shot from 2008 and then from the last rules revisions in 2019 there is no longer a penalty
01:04if the ball comes back off a tree or a bunker face and hits you or your bag or your caddy or anyone.
01:10So the penalty is the fact that you've not moved the ball very far.
01:13So there you have it. Common sense prevails in this particular scenario.
01:16If the ball does hit you or your equipment, no penalty. Another good change by the governing bodies.
01:22Right Jezza, so another rule that's changed for the better comes down to loose impediments in bunkers.
01:27I see in this situation there's a stick and some other stuff around my ball which is impeding my swing trying to get the ball towards this flag.
01:35Tell me about what I can and can't do in this situation.
01:37Okay, well the good news is that now you can remove that loose impediment,
01:41which you wouldn't have been able to touch a loose impediment in a bunker before.
01:45So you'd have just had to try and get the club to go through that as best as possible.
01:49Well that seems sensible.
01:50Yeah, now obviously the one thing you do still have to be wary of is if the ball moves it would still be a penalty.
01:55So if the ball had actually been resting on that, you probably still wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.
02:00But as it was just far enough away to not be a problem, you can now remove that and you can remove that little nut or whatever that is.
02:07And now you've got a freer shot, whereas before you would have had to deal with those as well as the difficulty of the bunker shot.
02:13And this includes stones obviously, that's probably one of the most common things you'd find in a bunker.
02:17Yeah, previously you could move stones if there was a local rule, but now there's no need for that local rule because you can move them anyway.
02:24Although again, you've got to make sure that you don't move your ball in the process.
02:28And it's interesting, the same thing applies in penalty areas now.
02:31You can remove loose impediments from penalty areas.
02:34Previously they were known as hazards and you wouldn't have been able to touch them there, but now you can.
02:38Again, if you move the ball there will still be a penalty.
02:41Interesting, well I've made this shot an awful lot easier for myself, so I've got no excuses now, so shall we give it a try?
02:46It's a bit of an awkward lie.
02:48Dustbin lid maybe.
02:49Let's see what we can do.
02:53I've pulled it.
02:54That's actually a pretty poor shot, but I think with that kind of stick there it probably would have been an awful lot worse.
03:00So that's definitely a rule to remember.
03:02If you find yourself in a lot of bunkers, you can now move those loose impediments.
03:06Right Jezza, the next rule of golf we're going to cover comes down to one of these.
03:10It's a distance measuring device.
03:11It is.
03:12I mean this is specifically a laser rangefinder.
03:14It's fair to say that they're very much commonplace now in the world of golf.
03:17They are.
03:18A few years ago only a few people had maybe better players only really used these,
03:21but now pretty much every ability of golfer has some sort of distance measuring device.
03:25Yes.
03:26How has the rule changed that's going to help us?
03:28Yeah, well I mean when I was equipment editor those things hadn't even been invented,
03:31so the rules have changed to accommodate what's come into the game.
03:35And at first I wouldn't say there was suspicion around them.
03:37I think the rule makers wanted to see how they played out.
03:40So at first they had to be allowed by local rule when you were playing in competition.
03:44So if there wasn't a local rule in force allowing them, you couldn't use that in a competition round.
03:49From 2019 it changed to the other way around.
03:52So now they are allowed by general rule, but committees could still say you can't use them by local rule,
03:58but I'm not aware of a huge number that do.
04:00So essentially now they're good to use in competitions,
04:04whereas before there had to be a local rule in place for that to be the case.
04:07Yeah, and we've seen certain major championships obviously run by different governing bodies
04:11allow laser rangefinders during those tournaments,
04:13which is really interesting and definitely shows the kind of acceptance that's happening across different tours and different events.
04:19And I guess the one thing it's worth finally pointing out is that a lot of lasers have slope functionality,
04:24and obviously it's very important to disable that if you're playing in a competition.
04:27Yeah, it is. I mean, rule 4.3 is where you'll find all the information.
04:30If you go to the full rules online, you'll see what is allowed, what isn't allowed.
04:34But essentially, if you remember, distance information is fine. Slope or elevation is not for competitive golf.
04:40Yeah. So for example, on this Bushnell, there's a little switch that you can turn off.
04:43A lot of them are very easy to use. Make sure you disable that functionality.
04:47But generally speaking, laser rangefinders nowadays are perfectly fine to use out on the golf course.
04:52Not looking good in here, Jez, is it?
04:54No, this is thick stuff. This is thick stuff.
04:58Ah.
04:59What's happened?
05:00I've just hit a ball with my club while looking for mine, and that is my golf ball.
05:05OK. Right. Well, the good news is, before 2019, that would have been a problem.
05:11You'd have been penalised for moving your own ball.
05:14From 2019, the rules changed so that if you moved your own ball while you were searching for it,
05:20you weren't penalised. You had to replace it where it was or where you estimate it was to the best of your ability
05:27and carry on from there.
05:29And that's an improvement because previously, the player whose ball it was,
05:33there was no great incentive to go out to search too rigorously in case they did what you've just done there.
05:40Now, that doesn't matter as much.
05:42So you can search a little bit more earnestly along with the other people in your group
05:47without fear of causing yourself a penalty if you do move it while you're searching for it.
05:51So I've got to move that back to where it was.
05:53You've got to move it back to where it was, estimating it to the best of your ability.
05:57And that's a good rule because I think sometimes in rough like this,
06:00where it sits right down, the chances are you're not going to find it unless you're disturbing an awful lot of the grass.
06:04And you're going to stand on it, aren't you, sometimes?
06:06And suddenly that's your ball and you think, oh, I've trodden on it.
06:08And that would be fine too?
06:09That is fine too because you've moved it accidentally while searching for it.
06:13So there you have it.
06:14No penalty if you accidentally move your ball with your club or your foot while looking for it in the rough.
06:18Well worth remembering.
06:20Right, Jez, I've hit my tee shot on this par three and I've got an absolutely stinking lie.
06:24Yeah.
06:25It's just crept in the back lip of this bunker.
06:27The green is over there, obviously, in the direction of play.
06:30I've clearly got no swing, so I want to take an unplayable.
06:33Yeah.
06:34I believe my options have changed and the rules of golf have hopefully been changed for the better to help me out in this scenario.
06:39Is that right?
06:40They have really because until 2019 your only option to drop that outside the bunker would have been to go back to the tee and play again under stroke and distance.
06:50Which isn't always particularly appealing if it's 200 yards or over water.
06:54To drop this one in the bunker, going back on line, you can't do that because there's nowhere to go.
06:59To drop it within two club lengths is probably going to leave you with a really awkward stance.
07:04Yeah.
07:05One foot outside, one foot in and you just don't fancy it.
07:07But now from 2019 onwards you have an option to go back on a line outside the bunker, but it is for an extra penalty stroke.
07:14Okay, so I'm allowed to pick this up and go back on line.
07:18Go back up here, keeping that point between you and where the flag is.
07:22Yeah.
07:23Dropping back as far as you want on that line.
07:25Okay.
07:26And then playing.
07:27But obviously if that was your tee shot, this would now be your fourth shot, so you're fighting to try and save double.
07:31Yeah.
07:32But if you're no good out of bunkers or you just really don't fancy what it's given you, it may occasionally be an option worth considering.
07:39Yeah, because even if you have a swipe at it, you might completely miss the ball altogether and then you're in the same situation playing three.
07:44Exactly.
07:45At least that eliminates that problem shot and gives you an easy lie for your fourth shot.
07:49Yeah, exactly.
07:50So hopefully I can hit this one nice and close and justify my decision.
07:58Oh, I'm pretty happy with that.
07:59Okay, so now you've got a chance to save double, which doesn't sound great, but it might be better than whatever could have occurred if you'd gone down some of the other routes.
08:07So there you go, use that rule, that new rule in the bunker.
08:09It could just save you having that horror number on your scorecard.
08:19Now Jez, nervy chippers around the green may well be familiar with the dreaded double hit, which is not a nice feeling to experience on the golf course.
08:27But the rules have changed to make it feel a little better, or the outcome hopefully will be a little bit better for those people who are prone to that double hit shot.
08:35Yes, well essentially there's now no penalty for the double hit.
08:39You just have to play the ball from wherever it comes to rest, as long as it's accidental.
08:43If you deliberately go fishing for it with the club and try and...
08:47Yeah, I've seen trick shots of people going round trees.
08:51That is not allowed. Generally when the club makes contact with the ball twice in one shot, you don't get a desirable result.
08:58So you've had penalty enough just by having to now deal with it from over there where the club has sent it.
09:03Occasionally you might fluke one and it goes closer to the hole than the properly struck chip would have done.
09:09But largely the rule has been changed because the result of a double hit was not usually very favourable.
09:15So there you have it, if you're prone to the occasional double hit, don't worry, there's no penalty shots.
09:19Play it as it lies, but hopefully you can eradicate it from your game and you won't have to worry about it.
09:24Right so Jez, another area where the rules of golf have changed for the better come from the putting green,
09:29and specifically when your ball moves unintentionally.
09:33Explain how that's going to happen.
09:35Well before, if this ball had come to rest, and then whether you'd marked it or not when you replaced it,
09:44if it had then rolled somewhere else due to natural forces, so wind, water, other natural forces,
09:50that unfortunately was just tough luck.
09:52Well generally tough luck, it might have rolled nearer the hole,
09:55but sometimes it might have rolled off, perhaps even into a bunker or a horrible place down the fairway.
10:01Now the rules of golf provide a stop point as long as you've marked and lifted and then replaced the ball.
10:08So if I go down and replace my marker down behind this, and pick the ball up,
10:13that is now the worst place I can be when I come to take my putt.
10:18Previously if I'd placed this back down, taken my marker away,
10:22and the ball had then rolled down to somewhere that may or may not be as easy,
10:25that doesn't matter now, the ball would go back to where it was,
10:28and if you couldn't remember exactly where it was you'd estimate it to the best of your ability,
10:32but that is like a stop point.
10:34So it's good reason to always mark your ball as soon as possible on windy days on sloping greens,
10:40because if you don't mark it, take your chances and it rolls off somewhere nasty, that is still tough luck.
10:46So that's why you see tour pros sometimes running up to the green.
10:49Sometimes running up, yeah, especially on a sloping, a links course on a windy day,
10:52with a big tier in the green, they'll get there and mark it as soon as possible,
10:56so they know that that is the worst possible place they can be for their next shot.
11:00So there you have it, if you're playing on a windy day, slopey greens,
11:03get your marker down as quickly as possible, it might just save you a shot or two.
11:07So there you have it, that concludes our look at the seven rules of golf that have changed for the better.
11:12Hopefully you found this useful in terms of enhancing and broadening your knowledge of the rules of golf,
11:17and if you find yourself in any of those situations,
11:19you can fall back on what you've learnt in this video to really help you out,
11:22and hopefully save you a few shots in the process.
11:24If you did like the video, do click the like button, and subscribe to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel,
11:28so you don't miss any of our other rules videos, or our videos on other areas like equipment and instruction.
11:33But that's all from me, from the Golf Club, I'll see you next time.