In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by Golf Monthly Rules Guru Jezz Ellwood to discuss why the rules of golf are so complicated. Because golf takes place in a natural landscape, there is a possibility for a number of different situations to occur during your round and if you find yourself in one, the rules are there to help you continue with your round in the most appropriate way. For many, this means the rules book is complex and hard to understand - hopefully this video will explain why the rules of golf are (and have to be) the way they are.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club and
00:07this video in which we're going to answer the question about why the rules of golf seem
00:11to be so complicated.
00:13Now we produce a lot of rules videos and we get a lot of comments from people saying that
00:18when they're starting out playing golf, the rules of golf just seem very complicated and
00:22hard to understand.
00:23So we're going to look at why they are the way they are.
00:26Now before we start, please do leave some comments below.
00:28What do you think of the rules of golf?
00:30Have you just started playing golf?
00:32Have you found them easy enough to understand to be able to get up and running with the
00:36game?
00:37We'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.
00:38But let's head out now onto the golf course here at the London Club and look at why the
00:42rules of golf seem to be so complicated.
00:44Okay, so Jez, I think the first thing to say is that the ruling bodies, the RNA and the
00:49USGA, are not trying to make the rules of golf any more complicated than they need to
00:54be.
00:55The issue that they face is what, Jez?
00:57Well, the issue they face is that golf is played on a large arena, you know, 100 acres,
01:03maybe a golf course, wildly different terrain and landscape, trees, water, bushes, thick
01:10rough, short grass, all sorts of things you might come into contact with out on the golf
01:15course.
01:16So you're playing on this vast arena, whereas as an example of sport like tennis, it's played
01:21on a court that is certain dimensions wherever and, you know, you hit the ball and it's either
01:27in or out.
01:28I know there's a lot more to tennis than that, but in essence, you know, tennis is a lot
01:32more simple to govern.
01:34Yes.
01:35And so within that wide open landscape where many different scenarios can pop up, you want
01:41to create an even playing field for everybody in the field.
01:44So if you find yourself in a situation like this, I guess this is a good starting point.
01:49You're on a tee, and let's say you've just carved one out to the right hand side, and
01:54you know it's thick rough out there.
01:56You may have lost your ball.
01:57You might not have lost your ball.
02:00What happens?
02:01Well, this is the problem, you see, because every time you say golf should just be a very
02:04simple hit it, find it, hit it again.
02:08Something like that happens.
02:09You hit it.
02:10You don't find it.
02:11Now what do you do?
02:13How do you how do you proceed with your round?
02:15Or you do find it, but it's physically unplayable.
02:18How do you carry on with your round?
02:19The rules have to present ways in which you can carry on to complete your round rather
02:25than your round just stopping because you've lost your ball.
02:27Yeah.
02:28And the other thing I would add here is that there's a big difference between playing friendly
02:32golf and playing competition golf.
02:34Like, Jez and I, you and I play quite a lot of friendly golf together.
02:36And there are situations...
02:37Not that friendly, to be honest.
02:39There are situations on the golf course where it's like if it's a bit faster to do it in
02:44a certain way, or you're not really gaining any sort of advantage, we'll just proceed
02:48under a slightly different version of the rules, as it were.
02:52But if you're playing for your handicap, if you're playing in a competition, you can't
02:55just think about yourself.
02:57You have to think about the whole field and it being fair for everybody, don't you?
03:00You do.
03:01And I think, I guess the most common one people in friendlies will play is if they've lost
03:04one and nobody wants to walk 250 yards back, you'll just drop another one down.
03:08Yeah.
03:09Ball's just gone out of bounds.
03:10You can see it.
03:11Yeah.
03:12But that is not a rule of golf.
03:14in a competition where everybody is expected to be playing by the same set of rules.
03:20So we get all sorts of comments about, well, we don't do that in a friendly.
03:24Really we're not too worried about what people do in friendlies because that's up to you,
03:28isn't it?
03:29That's up to you.
03:30It's when you're playing against 100 other people in the club medal and some people are
03:34playing by one rule and other people are playing by a different rule, that's when it really
03:37doesn't work.
03:39And that's when this book has to have a huge number of what-if scenarios to cover all the
03:43eventualities that might happen out on a golf course.
03:45Yeah.
03:46And the last thing to say here, I think, is that that rule book that Jez is holding, they've
03:49actually worked incredibly hard, haven't they, to try and make it as small, easy to understand
03:55as they possibly can for people, I think.
03:57Yeah, I think there's a perception that the rule makers like it to be complicated, but
04:01they don't.
04:02And in the revisions for 2019, one of the primary objectives was to simplify the rules
04:08as much as possible while still governing all the various eventualities that might take
04:13place out on the course.
04:14So this player's edition is 50 pages shorter than the previous rule book, which is here,
04:20and the number of rules has come down from 33 to 24.
04:24So there is a concerted effort on the part of the rule makers to streamline things as
04:30much as it's practical to do so.
04:31Yes, and there are certain rules-related scenarios that pop up much more often than other rules-related
04:36scenarios, and the book has to cover just about everything to make sure that whatever
04:41happens on the golf course, there's something in there that tells you how to proceed and
04:44how not to proceed so that it's fair for everybody.
04:47Okay, Jez, let's take a slightly closer look at one of those situations we mentioned earlier,
04:52where the rules have to cover quite a few different things.
04:54So behind us here, we're just off the playing line on the 17th here at the London Club.
04:59We've got some really big, bushy area.
05:01Imagine I've carved my tee shot in here.
05:03Now the rules need to help me out to ensure that I can carry on with my round of golf,
05:09don't they?
05:11As we said, can you find it?
05:13You can find it, but it's not playable.
05:15What do you do?
05:16What if you can't find it?
05:18What do you do?
05:19Yes, so if I can find it, and the only rule available to me was to take two club lengths
05:24and drop away from it, well that might not, in this scenario, that wouldn't take me clear
05:29of the bushes.
05:30I'd still be, as you said, I'd still be completely snookered, so I'd need more options.
05:33You would be, and if you can't physically retrieve the original ball, what do you do
05:37then?
05:38You'd need another option to allow you to carry on if it would tear you close to shreds
05:42to get to the ball.
05:43Yes.
05:44So all of these things have to be covered in the rule, and this is just one scenario
05:47that might happen fairly typically out on a golf course.
05:50So we have the unplayable ball options that give you three options in that scenario, and
05:55you don't have to retrieve the original ball.
05:58You can drop within two club lengths, you can go back on line, or you can go back to
06:01where you last played from.
06:02Exactly, and also the ruling bodies also need to try and keep play moving as much as possible,
06:08so they also give you the option from the previous shot to play a provisional ball.
06:13So if you think that ball might be lost, you get the chance to play a provisional ball
06:17to help speed play up in this sort of scenario.
06:20So all that's got to be covered in the rules, you know, the ball is lost, then what do you
06:24do?
06:25Well, the rules say that you have to go back and play from where you last played from,
06:28but they also say that to mitigate that being the potential outcome, you can play a provisional
06:34ball at that point when you think it might be lost, rather than having to walk a long
06:38way back.
06:39But then what are the rules governing that provisional ball?
06:41When can you hit it up until?
06:42When are you no longer allowed to play it?
06:44All of that has to be covered, and you could just say, oh, just do what you like and play
06:49another one here, there.
06:50But if you're playing in a competition and you're playing by that set of rules and someone
06:54else is playing by a different code, then you're not playing a level playing field,
06:59are you?
07:00It's not fair.
07:01So that just explains how just one very common, very common scenario on the golf course needs
07:06to be covered by quite a few words in the rule book, by quite a few paragraphs that
07:10explain what you need to do in various different scenarios.
07:13Okay, so there you have it.
07:15That's just a few really simple but quite typical scenarios of explaining why the rules
07:20of golf seem to be so complex, and it's because ultimately, Jez, if you look behind us in
07:24this shot, you'll see all the different things the rules of golf need to cover.
07:28Yes, this is quite a high point on the London Club.
07:31It's a vast acreage here.
07:33You can see bushes, you can see cart paths, you can see water, you can see buildings,
07:38you can see bunkers, you can see areas of rough.
07:40The rules have to allow you to proceed with your round of golf wherever you find yourself
07:45in amongst all that.
07:47Wherever your ball is lying, you have to have a way to allow you to continue with your round.
07:52And that means that ultimately, you're never going to be able to write them all on the
07:55back of a scorecard.
07:56They have to be more complex.
07:58They have to cover more things in order to make the game as fair as possible.
08:03And as we said at the start, Jez, there's a difference between playing in friendlies
08:06and playing in competitions, but if you are playing in competitions, then having a basic
08:10understanding for this stuff is a really good idea, isn't it?
08:13It is.
08:14And you know, play it as it lies.
08:15You might play a round of golf where you don't need to look at the rule book at all.
08:18Every now and again it happens.
08:20You just play it as it lies the whole way around, but the rule book has to cover all
08:23the times when you just simply can't play it as it lies.
08:27How many penalty shots is it?
08:29Where do you drop it?
08:30Why do you drop it there?
08:31How far back can you...?
08:32All these things have to be covered because you can't always play the ball as it lies.
08:35So there you have it.
08:36Please do leave some comments below.
08:38What do you think about the rules of golf?
08:39We'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
08:41And if you haven't done already, please do hit the subscribe button to make sure that
08:43you don't miss any of our videos.
08:45But that's it for now.
08:46Thanks for watching.
08:47We'll see you next time.