Red stakes off tee

[chrisd]

Sorry but the last thing Golf needs is some sort of requirement or exam of the rules before playing - it’s got a bad enough reputation as it is and is struggling to attract people to the game without introducing something like that

And as for the comment about “not knowing the rule before taking up the game “ - couldn’t get anymore ridiculous

I didn’t know a lot of the rules before taking up the game and I learnt as I played the game - we are supposed to be finding ways to get more people into the game not putting up barriers

What it does highlight is that there are Sports fans and there are rules fans

But you lose the Club championship by a shot to someone you later found had taken the free drop from a red staked hazard as Smiffy described - a pretty basic rule to know, you'd be quite happy his explanation that he didn't know any of the rules?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

But you lose the Club championship by a shot to someone you later found had taken the free drop from a red staked hazard as Smiffy described - a pretty basic rule to know, you'd be quite happy his explanation that he didn't know any of the rules?

You can prob get a “what if scenario” for everything - there is loads and loads of rules that at some point someone will break unintentionally even the pros - you can’t expect someone to sit down and take some sort of exam before allowing them to play the game - it doesn’t happen in any other sport and it would add nothing but further negative onto the sports image

And lets be honest if someone is playing in the club championship in that scenario they are going to know the rules aren’t they and I would suspect and have seen people will always look for advice from their playing partners or check up online

People will learn the basic rules as they play from their playing partners , watching golf or even reading up

Golf is a sport for us as a hobby - first priority enjoyment

 

[drdel]

But you lose the Club championship by a shot to someone you later found had taken the free drop from a red staked hazard as Smiffy described - a pretty basic rule to know, you'd be quite happy his explanation that he didn't know any of the rules?

Would also mean the fellow player who sign-off his card was also ignorant.

I'm with Liverpoolphil on this - that last thing we need is more pedantry when the game has an uphill challenge to recruit new members as an aging population changes the demographic.

Why do we assume new players set out to break the rules - most novice I've encountered are interested in learning the sport and their rules knowledge will surely evolve.

 

[Crow]

Most sports have a referee or umpire when they get to competitive level so players don't have to know the rules in depth as there's someone there who does.

In golf players keep score without a referee for all but the highest level.
Golf relies on the integrity of the players to mark cards and play to the rules, for that reason I think it's the responsibility of anyone who wants to play in competitions to have a reasonable understanding of the rules.

Pleading ignorance of basic rules is just laziness.

 

[Leftie]

Played in a Seniors comp today and twice had to have a quiet word with one of our group about a) taking the ball out of the hole whilst it was held up by the flagstick and b) the NPR off a path. He did thank me for the info and said they he must sit down one day and read the rule book.

He's only been a member there for 40 years

 

[atticusfinch]

- we are supposed to be finding ways to get more people into the game not putting up barriers

Who is "we?"

 

[atticusfinch]

What it does highlight is that there are Sports fans and there are rules fans

Overheard: Bobby Fischer to Boris Spasky: "Boris, I just got into this game to move pieces around. The rules get in the way of that, don't you think?"

"Da, Bobby, it's no fun playing by the rules. Just move and check...that's the fun of it."

 

[Smiffy]

People will learn the basic rules as they play from their playing partners , watching golf or even reading up

So a 50 year old man, having got down to 14 handicap won't have learnt that going into a lateral water hazard is a penalty drop?
You can't get more "basic" than that Phil. Let's be honest, when you're first starting out you tend to find more hazards than fairways.
If you had to draw up a list of the 20 most "basic" rules of the game, water hazards, (and their penalties), would no doubt be high up on that list.
If the guy had been a "20 something" handicapped newcomer to the game I could have understood it.
This game has so many rules. Nobody can profess to know them all and nobody is expecting some sort of exam before allowing them to play the game.
But seriously................... lateral water hazards not being a hazard????

 

[Imurg]

Although I can see where LPP is coming from, there's a massive difference between social and competition golf as far as the rules go.
In a social knockabout, not knowing some rules isn't a big deal...it's enjoyment, being out, throwing banter around - yeah, just drop it there and add one - that kind of thing.
In competition, you have to know the basic rules otherwise you shouldn't be playing in it.
End of story.
I've always thought there should be some sort of rules "test" before entering competitions.
A need to know all but the absolute basic rules isn't essential to start playing the game. Most of us probably started playing without knowing much.
But is it too much to ask that, before playing "properly", a grasp of more than the absolute basic rules should be required..?
In every sport/game, hardly anyone knows all the rules but everyone who plays has some knowledge of them.
Yes, there are a lot of complicated rules in golf but not all are as complicated as the Offside rule.....

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Who is "we?"

Golfers - unless you feel no responsibility for the future of the sport and don’t care about new people joining the game.

Golf already has a bad image as it is , there have been multiple rules issues that have given the sport a bad name on top of the perceived “stuffy old boy “ image the Golf generally takes - if someone new to the sport or who wanted to start read this thread and some of the stuff said and attitudes as well as some of the other threads on the rules then they would work away

We won’t grow the game with “rules exams” or the requirement to know rules before playing

Allow people to play and then learn as they go

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Golf is a sport for us as a hobby - first priority enjoyment

100%

if its a knock about just between a few mates first priority as you say is enjoyment.. but soon as I get into a comp I always double check before I do it

like people say if we just having a knock about put one down there.. add one to the score.. but in a proper event drop correctly etc

enjoy both types of golf.. feels even better when you score well in the comps.. no mulligans

 

[chrisd]

I'm just hoping that the massive amount of rule changes coming into force in January will be so well publicised that those who don't bother to learn even the basic rules will read through the new ones and, as a result, learn more than they now now.

I am in no way concerned that a newcomer to the sport playing social and casual golf has any rules knowledge but have difficulty in accepting the premise that expecting a basic knowledge of the most oft broken rules e.g. Smiffy's water hazard for example, is going to stop people from coming into the game as I've played in comps with relative new comers who are well versed in the basic rules as well as mid single figure guys who seem to make them up as they go.

My regular playing partners played in the Club championship a couple of weeks back whilst I was on holiday and said that they were amazed at the amount of rules that were broken through ignorance and these were low teen handicap and very long serving regular golfers.

I'm beginning to feel that learning the rules, as I have done, is a hindrance to getting my handicap lower as I would likely score better if i could ignore some of the penalties.

 

[bobmac]

we are supposed to be finding ways to get more people into the game not putting up barriers

As long as they are non smokers