Irritating Golf Rules

[3offTheTee]

There must be some rules which members find annoying although we of course accept them.

Two that come to mind for me are:
1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.
2. Playing a practice swing under a tree and a leaf is disturbed.

What golf rules get up your nose?

 

[Cernunnos]

Being penalised when a ball moves when you've not touched or played it. i.e. when the wind is blowing so much the ball moves as you stand over your putt. OK the easy answer is not to ground your club. Easy enough on a calm day or in a gentle breeze you'd say, but try doing that in a 9 force gale without needing to ground the club, more to steady yourseld more than anythiong else.

The other one is not being able to get free relief from a a divot. of course that one I'm prepared to put up with as there is no penalty in strokes. mearly making it harder to get the shot you want without risking injuring a wrist in the process

 

[OldWindy]

Having to remove the flagstick when putting on the green.

 

[EchtLoon]

Not being able to repair spike marks

Being penalised if you cannot take relief from casual water in a bunker

 

[forefortheday]

No relief from a water filled bunker without incurring a penalty stroke is very annoying to me.

That and the one that counts my topped 5 yarder the same as my pure 7 iron smashed somewhere into the distance!

 

[Spoff]

1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.

I know this, and never do it - but why is it a penalty? Anyone know the reasoning behind it?

 

[Ronnoc1980]

1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.

I know this, and never do it - but why is it a penalty? Anyone know the reasoning behind it?

Are you sure that its a penalty as you take your club back i understood once you have started your shot you are ok ie you touch the sand before the ball any way when you make a stroke. I thought toching the sand before playing the shot is classed as testing the surface not once you have started your shot.

 

[Cernunnos]

No relief from a water filled bunker without incurring a penalty stroke is very annoying to me.

tbh, if a bunker is filled that much that there is nowhere in the bunker left to place/drop, then it should heve been deemed to be GUR by the club, at which point, you would be able to drop behind a completely water filled bunker.

 

[EchtLoon]

1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.

I know this, and never do it - but why is it a penalty? Anyone know the reasoning behind it?

Are you sure that its a penalty as you take your club back i understood once you have started your shot you are ok ie you touch the sand before the ball any way when you make a stroke. I thought toching the sand before playing the shot is classed as testing the surface not once you have started your shot.

There's no penalty for touching the sand in the backswing, just as there's no penalty if you break a branch or knock off a leaf, as long as you complete your swing then it's part of the shot you're playing.

 

[Cernunnos]

Ahhh...! & most irirating of all. You've hit a ball OB, Or ito the water, or simply can't find it & its lost...., you then have to count an additional stroke before, teeing up/dropping another ball to hit. So that insted of having two off say the tee its three... Especially when you've tee'd up on a parr 3 missed the green narrowly with the first ball, you tee up the next, hit the green perfectly to within 2 feet. Think, why couldn't I do that the first time & then realise that the punishment is even worse as its not there for 2 but for 3 & that great tee shot to within 2 feet is at best only going to get you a 4... Now thats an ouch & an irksome rule.

We all accept it but it is injust

 

[3offTheTee]

Echtloon

Perhaps I did not make myself clear but regarding the leaf it is the ACTUAL dropping of a leaf FROM the tree on the backswing ie you didturb the leaf from the tree.

Also pretty sure about the touching of sand on the backswing is classes as testing the surface

 

[Becton]

Quoted from R&A rules definition: A "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball.
So the backward movement of the club is not part of the stroke.

 

[RGuk]

Any rules which can be manipulated by hackers.

Yesterday, we let a guy through. I showed him where his ball was and sympathised because it was stymied by a 4 inch wide tree (not staked). He took one look and because there were rabbit droppings around the base of the tree and a few scrappings (not near his ball) he gave himself a free 2 club-length drop.....and a shot at the green. If it had been a proper club match, I'd have stopped him and called over his playing partners. Wouldn't surprise me if they were playing for a small wager.....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

That rabbit scraping rule (not exclusive to rabbits) is a great one used by so called golfers for getting out of jail in the rough. I've seen them take a drop where the scrapings have been at least 6 foot from any remote vicinity to the ball.

I find the one about not practicing your putting strokes on the green after you've holed out irksome in strokeplay. Many's the time I've come close to just putting my ball down and trying to hole that 4 footer I've just missed for bogey or worse only to remember its a stroke/stableford comp

 

[mboy1980]

That rabbit scraping rule (not exclusive to rabbits) is a great one used by so called golfers for getting out of jail in the rough. I've seen them take a drop where the scrapings have been at least 6 foot from any remote vicinity to the ball.

I find the one about not practicing your putting strokes on the green after you've holed out irksome in strokeplay. Many's the time I've come close to just putting my ball down and trying to hole that 4 footer I've just missed for bogey or worse only to remember its a stroke/stableford comp

You are allowed to practice your putting after you have holed out in strokeplay, provided you do not hold up play.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It is banned at our club under 33-1 where the committee have prohibited practice on or near the putting green of the last hole played

 

[mboy1980]

It is banned at our club under 33-1 where the committee have prohibited practice on or near the putting green of the last hole played

Ah, so it's a local rule at your club.

I was wondering because it's perfectly acceptable at my club.

 

[Doh]

Yes it is a local rule but where it is allowed you can be penalised if your parters are on the next tee and you hold up play.

 

[EchtLoon]

1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.
2. Playing a practice swing under a tree and a leaf is disturbed.

Echtloon

Perhaps I did not make myself clear but regarding the leaf it is the ACTUAL dropping of a leaf FROM the tree on the backswing ie you didturb the leaf from the tree.

Also pretty sure about the touching of sand on the backswing is classes as testing the surface

Sorry 3off, perhaps I constructed that badly.

I meant that when taking your shot (not a practice swing) there is no penalty in either case. Yes if you take a practice swing and break a branch or knock a leaf off then it's a penalty, but not in the execution of an actual shot.

Likewise there is no penalty for touching the sand during the execution of the shot, and that includes the backswing, although how you would touch the sand on your backswing anyway is beyond me?

 

[Ronnoc1980]

1. Being penalised in a bunker on your backswing when you touch the sand.
2. Playing a practice swing under a tree and a leaf is disturbed.

Echtloon

Perhaps I did not make myself clear but regarding the leaf it is the ACTUAL dropping of a leaf FROM the tree on the backswing ie you didturb the leaf from the tree.

Also pretty sure about the touching of sand on the backswing is classes as testing the surface

Sorry 3off, perhaps I constructed that badly.

I meant that when taking your shot (not a practice swing) there is no penalty in either case. Yes if you take a practice swing and break a branch or knock a leaf off then it's a penalty, but not in the execution of an actual shot.

Likewise there is no penalty for touching the sand during the execution of the shot, and that includes the backswing, although how you would touch the sand on your backswing anyway is beyond me?

I was just going to clear this up but Etch uv done it for me taking the club back and touch the sand is ok as long as you complete the stroke.