In case you’ve been living under a rock, golf has some new rules for 2019. It’s not worth anyone’s time to rehash all of the changes in this space. What I do want to do though, is go over what has worked and what hasn’t.
Some members of the PGA Tour have had difficulties/issues with the new rules. A few have been justified, others not so much. There are a few rule changes I want to highlight and give my opinions on. Let’s do it.
Leaving the pin in
Now we are allowed to leave the pin in when putting on the green. The goal of this change was to speed up play. Well, what if someone wants it in and someone wants it out. Boom, slower play. I’m surprised this got through the final cut. My opinion is this will be changed back to the old rule as soon as possible.
Lining a player up
The tour has realized that this rule has been ridiculously applied. Varying standards have been in place and none have seemed right. This change seems to introduce more confusion and opinion into applying the rules. Any change that does that is bad.
Drop height
While I think it’s silly to drop from knee height, I get the rationale. In theory, the ball should carom less and stay within the relief area. That’s all good but I think you should be able to drop from knee to shoulder height. That being said, pros should be penalized if they drop incorrectly. You get paid to do this, learn the rules.
Touching the ground, moving loose impediments in a penalty area
A huge round of applause for this change! Remove confusion and keep things uniform. You still can’t ground your club in a bunker but this change makes sense.
This and that
Most of the other changes seem good to me. Removing penalties for inadvertently moving a ball during search and on the green rings true. The rest of the changes don’t seem to affect day to day play at your home course.
All in all, I think the changes are good. That being said, there seem to be a couple of missteps that I mentioned above.
I’d like to see the pin rule changed back to the old way. Additionally, I’d love to see out of bounds markers removed from the game to speed up the pace of play. Other than that, play on under the modified rules most of us all play under anyway!