Golf ’s two main governing bodies, the Royal & Ancient and the United States Golf Association have proposed 30 major changes that they say will make the game quicker, more consistent and fairer. The new rules will take on a simpler format that is easier to understand and apply. It’s hoped the changes will help to restore the spirit of the game and players’ integrity but still provide consequences for infractions.
The current Rules of Golf span more than 200 pages divided into regulations and Sub-Rules, and also includes 1200 decisions totaling more than 500 pages. The existing rules are complicated and complex, something which Eddy Juniyasa Made Putra, Head of Rules of the Indonesian Golf Association acknowledges: "The answer to the case is often hard to find because it can be in Definitions, Notes, Exceptions, Appendix or in Decisions.
Referees senior or observers of rules often have difficulty in making decisions.” It’s this complexity that has encouraged players to start abandoning the rules in favor of making their own with their playing partners. “There are concerns that the game of golf has started coming out of the corridor of Rules,” said Eddy. “There is also an impression that the Rules of Golf are reserved only for the game at the elite level.
In fact, golf players outside the elite level are more numerous. The Rules should set the game in general.” According to Eddy, the changes cover a variety of issues from grounding a club in a penalty area, to determining if a ball moved, to repairing damage on greens, to relaxing dropping procedures.
“Besides that, there are other changes such as terminology and the format of presentation. The terminologies which have changed among others are ‘through the green’ has been changed into ‘general area,’ the term ‘hazard’ is removed, ‘penalty area’ replaces ‘water hazard,’ and others,” explained Eddy.
