2019 Rules App

[Slab]

Just downloaded it to my phone and while I was really looking forward to a simpler user friendly set of rules I was disappointed with the results of the very first thing I looked up

Opened app and chose player edition and started at the begining
On reading rule 2 I clicked on the linked reference to penalty areas (rule 17)
Rule 17.1d Relief tells me about yellow and red penalty areas and one relief option for yellow refers to Rule 14.6 and diagram 14.6 but neither is a linked reference so I cant select it. Why wouldn't they link it!
Also when it moves from discussing relief from yellow area to relief from red area it doesn't have any gap in the text or even a line across the screen to separate them, so one flows into the other until you realise they've moved onto red penalty areas

As an aside anyone know why yellow penalty area is a one club length for relief and red is two club lengths? Using the app as I would on the course it looks like the two penalty areas have different relief area sizes

Really hope this is just me needing to get used to it (which actually is a problem in itself for a clear set of rules) and the rest is better/easier

edit: for spelling typo

 

[Colin L]

I am nowhere near downloading the app! But to answer your aside, back on the line relief [17.1d(2)] is an option for both red and yellow staked penalty areas. The relief area is one club length from the reference point which is on the line. Lateral relief is an option only for red staked penalty areas. The relief area is two club lengths from the reference point which is where the ball last crossed the margin. Just think water hazard and lateral hazard and the relief options are the same as they were. The only difference is the addition of a measurement of the relief area for back on the line in order to define how much to either side of the line your drop can be. That's where the one club length is introduced.

 

[Colin L]

I am nowhere near downloading the app! But to answer your aside, back on the line relief [17.1d(2)] is an option for both red and yellow staked penalty areas. The relief area is one club length from the reference point which is on the line. Lateral relief is an option only for red staked penalty areas. The relief area is two club lengths from the reference point which is where the ball last crossed the margin. Just think water hazard and lateral water hazard and the relief options are the same as they were. The only difference is the addition of a measurement of the relief area for back on the line in order I would say to define how much to either side of the line your drop can be.

 

[Slab]

I am nowhere near downloading the app! But to answer your aside, back on the line relief [17.1d(2)] is an option for both red and yellow staked penalty areas. The relief area is one club length from the reference point which is on the line. Lateral relief is an option only for red staked penalty areas. The relief area is two club lengths from the reference point which is where the ball last crossed the margin. Just think water hazard and lateral hazard and the relief options are the same as they were. The only difference is the addition of a measurement of the relief area for back on the line in order to define how much to either side of the line your drop can be. That's where the one club length is introduced.

thanks, I wondered if it would be something like that, but (& I appreciate you haven't seen the app layout yet) that isn't clear on a mobile without looking up something you may or may not have read

It's one of the most frustrating things about the existing rules

I think they should have listed all the options in full for yellow under yellow, and all the options for red, in full, under red (even if there's a duplication of text) without sending the reader from one area to look at another area just because that component has been outlined elsewhere in the rules


Edit to clarify. What I mean is, if I'm looking up the rules because I'm in a red penalty area and want to know how to proceed I have zero interest in what the options are that are listed for a yellow penalty area so why add any additional navigation into the layout, if the same option exist for both then just list it twice

(its a bit like the layout style dates back to paper and ink era and much of both/either could be saved by referring back to an already written section rather than repeating it but a copy/paste action does not take long)

 

[Colin L]

Structuring information can be difficult. I think the book presentation of penalty area relief is fine in structural terms but perhaps the text could have made it clearer that the lateral relief option for red staked area is additional to the other two.

The reason I haven't downloaded the app yet is just a matter of sequencing: come to terms with the structure and sequencing in the printed form first and then tackle the electronic side. I reckon this is the time I should switch to the electronic for refereeing but with my first job under the new rules not till March, it's not the priority. Maybe the sort of glitches you are talking about will have been sorted by the time I download it and I'll avoid your kind of frustration.

At least it's easier for them to fix problems with an app than if there were mistakes in the books!

 

[jim8flog]

To me it's a bit like upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. It's all the early adopters that get to advise the glitches and the later adopters that get a reasonably glitch free version.