USGA, R&A Propose Changes To Golf Rules Beginning In 2019 To Simplify Game

The rule of golf may soon be drastically changed.

USGA and R&A Propose Changes to Golf Rules Starting in 2019

The United Staes Golf Association — which governs the rules of the sport for the U.S. and Mexico — and the R&A, which oversees the rules for all other countries. announced on Wednesday morning a list of proposed changes aimed at simplifying the game and making its rules more consistent and easier to understand and apply.

“Our aim is to make the rules easier to follow and to apply for all golfers,” said David Rickman, executive director of governance for the R&A, in a press release. “We have looked at every rule to try to find ways of making them more intuitive and straightforward, and we believe we have identified many significant improvements.

“It is important that the rules continue to evolve and remain in tune with the way the modern game is played, but we have been careful not to change the game’s longstanding principles and character.”

The governing bodies, who typically revise the rules every four years, proposed an implementation date of Jan. 1, 2019 for these new rules.

The proposed changes include:

• A player will not receive a penalty if the ball (or ball marker) accidentally moves on the putting green or in search of a ball.
• Players can leave the flagstick in the hole while putting.
• Players may repair spike marks or other damage on the green with no penalty.
• Caddies will no longer be able to line up a player. This will be a big change on the LPGA tour, where many players have their caddies line them up before stepping away just before the player makes a swing.
• Players who have trouble in bunkers could get relief. If you want, you can remove your ball from a bunker (and place it in the fairway or rough behind the bunker, depending on where the bunker is) and accept a two-stroke penalty.
• A new procedure for how to drop a ball in a relief area.
• Time searching for a lost ball would go from five minutes to three.
• There’s a proposal calling for players to take no more than 40 seconds to play their shot.

Several notable players appeared to like the suggested rule changes.

“I like how they are being proactive,” Brandt Snedeker said from the WGC-Mexico Championship. “Some make perfect sense. It’s common sense, really, like a ball moving on a green or getting a penalty stroke when the ball hits your caddie.

“Some of them have too much gray area, like grounding a club in a bunker. But overall I like what they are doing.

“But it’s funny. I have to go back to school now to learn all of them.”

Tiger Woods expressed his strong support for the changes on Twitter early Wednesday. “Lots of thought & hard work by @USGA and @RandA to modernize our rules. Great work to benefit the game,” Woods wrote.

Mike Davis, USGA executive director and CEO, said on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive that the rules will be an improvement for all golfers, not just those playing professionally on tour.

“This is great for all golfers, this isn’t just about elite golfers, tournament golfers or avid golfers,” Davis said. “If we get this right, this is about all golfers. It’s beginning golfers, recreational golfers and golfers globally. It’s been an interesting process because this has been about making the rules easier to understand, easier to read and easier to apply.”

Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of the rules of golf and amateur status, stated the process began in April 2012.

“We looked at everything,” Pagel said of the process. “If you think of the rules as a puzzle, we pulled every puzzle piece apart, looked at every outcome, looked at every word to see how we could make it better.”

The governing bodies will allow for a six-month comment period (through Aug. 31), and have encouraged golfers to review the proposed changes and submit their opinions on both organizations’ websites.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – DECEMBER 02: Tiger Woods of the United States hits his shot on the second tee during round two of the Hero World Challenge at Albany, The Bahamas on December 2, 2016 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)