Five golf rules that need to change immediately 

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There are some seriously dumb golf rules out there. It’s part of the reason we love it though, isn’t it?

In what other sport do you have to write rules about what happens if my ball gets stuck in a cactus? What happens if a bird thinks my ball is an egg and runs off with it? Do I get relief if my ball lands next to a snake, and how does a living snake differ from a dead one?

But because golf has been played for centuries, and so much has changed between now and then, there are some completely outdated, ridiculous, and outright frustrating rules that can just ruin your round for seemingly no reason.

So here is a list of five golf rules that must change immediately.

1. The Fairway Divot Penalty

Ok, now if every single one of you doesn’t agree that this rule needs to change, then there is truly no helping you. Whose side are you on here?

Golf should be about rewarding good shots and punishing bad ones, right? That’s why you see players getting frustrated at the design of some golf courses; they feel like they’re just not being rewarded for playing well. 

So why is it that you can play the most beautiful shot right into the middle of the fairway, only to find your ball and discover you’d have been better off hitting it into the rough or topping it 100 yards.

Who decided that if your ball lands in a divot mark, you can’t get relief? You’re just cursed with a terrible lie with zero per cent chance of hitting a good shot.

Any time your ball finds a divot on the fairway, you should be given a free drop. Drop it a scorecard length away, no closer to the hole for free. Why that isn’t a rule already is beyond belief. 

2. Stroke-and-Distance for Out-of-Bounds

This one is a little more controversial, but this rule is ridiculous. Hitting three off the tee is so deflating, and feels like such a disproportionate punishment for hitting a ball out of bounds.

The rules state that if you hit the ball out of bounds, you take a penalty stroke and hit it again from where you were. Effectively, it’s a two-stroke penalty. It’s just a scorecard destroyer.

The penalty should just be a penalty stroke, and a club-length drop no closer to the pin. That way, you’re hitting three from where you hit it out of bounds, instead of hitting your third shot off the tee, for example.

Does the rule on mud balls if you hit the fairway need changing?

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Now look, it’s understandable why this rule is in play. It’s not like the divot rule, where it’s just completely egregious, and it’s not being changed because the rulemakers hate people.

This rule is in place because, in theory, out of bounds can be off the golf course completely, so they’re trying to discourage people from hitting it there. But I don’t think anyone is ever trying to hit it OB, just as people aren’t trying to hit it in the water. It just happens.

But if there was OB left and water right, it would be, on average, one stroke to shank it right than snap it left. It just doesn’t feel right. One shouldn’t be punished more than the other,

3. Grandstand Relief

This rule is on a similar theme, but it is meant to make golf more difficult. For the good players at least.

Because if you are good enough to be playing a golf course with a grandstand, then you should not be rewarded for hitting that grandstand. The current rule states that at tournaments with massive grandstands, tents, and TV towers, these structures are classed as Temporary Immovable Obstructions.

If one of those structures is anywhere in your line of sight or swing path, you get free relief with a line of sight to the green. Basically, bailing players out that hit it into or behind the grandstands, or hospitality tents.

But if you have to hit for three off the tee after going out of bounds, then why on earth are pros not being punished for hitting into grandstands?

It’s so open to abuse. Pros always abuse this rule by intentionally blasting shots long of the green, because they know they can just take a free drop into a relief area with no consequence. It takes all the skill and strategy out of the game. Anyone can smash a ball into the grandstand. That’s not golf.

If you hit your ball into a grandstand area, you shouldn’t get a perfect lie. Force players to take an unplayable. They should get a penalty stroke, and either do stroke and distance, drop in a line, or drop it two club lengths.

It’s such a simple solution, and to be fair, one that golf fans have been clamoring for for ages.

4. DQ’d for Incorrect Scorecards

This one is also aimed more at the pros than anyone else, but it has to change to bring the game into the 21st century.

Right now, at every level of competitive golf, if a player signs an incorrect scorecard or, for whatever reason, forgets to hand in their scorecard, it’s an automatic disqualification.

Why are these players on the PGA Tour being asked to keep their score anyway? We have shot trackers that trace every single shot from every single player and post them on their website.

We have a million cameras watching every single player take every shot. We have a leaderboard keeping score, both on the course and on the broadcast.

So why is the player having to whip out a bit of card and write what they shot on every single hole, then spend 20 minutes turning in their scorecard after the round? It’s such an outdated rule.

In what other sport do we ask that of players? If a team wins a football match 3-0, do they have to meet in the referee’s room afterward to log the final score of the match, and if they don’t, or do it wrong, do they lose? It’s ridiculous. Everyone knows the score.

It happened to Jordan Spieth at Riviera a couple of years ago, when he was in a rush to get to the bathroom, accidentally put down the wrong score, and got disqualified. If everyone already knew his score, why was he having to record it in the first place?

Padraig Harrington was once disqualified from a European Tour event he was leading at The Belfry, because tournament organizers saw that his Thursday and Friday scorecards were signed by the wrong player in a mix-up. But everyone saw him play those rounds and knew what score he was on. Why did it matter?

It’s understandable at a local club competition. Some people try to get a bit cheeky and cheat when no one is looking, so if they get caught, DQ them. Totally fair.

But in an era where every shot is tracked by high-tech cameras and rules officials, ruining a tournament over a player not filling out his paperwork properly seems absolutely mad, and they really need to sort that rule out before something ridiculous happens again in the future.

5. Long putters 

This might be a personal thing, but long putters need to be gone from the game. They’re horrible. They’re not even a golf club. At what point does something stop being a putter? Could someone bring out an actual sweeping brush and use that?

Putting is supposed to be a test of nerve. You’re meant to hold the putter with your hands like you would any other club, make a free swing, as you would with any other club, and try to make good contact and be precise.

But these stupid things have taken the art out of putting. When they first came onto the scene, and you could anchor them to your chest, it was ridiculous, and even now that’s been banned, these guys are finding workarounds.

Bryson DeChambeau has an arm lock technique with his long putter, so is he not anchoring the club to his arm? It’s also so hard to tell if Akshay Bhatia is anchoring his putter to his chest when he’s putting or if it’s just touching his shirt.

Some have said there should be daylight between the club and the shirt, but let’s just take a step back and look at what we’re doing here. Let’s just ban them. Get them out of here.

The putter should be the shortest club in the bag. Let’s reward the players who can actually hit that club well, as we have done for years, and not let these guys bring whatever they want to the golf course and call it a putter.

And if you’re not convinced, just picture Tiger Woods holing that iconic putt on 17 at Sawgrass with a long putter, and then tell me you wanna keep them. You don’t.