In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by Golf Monthly Rules Guru Jezz Ellwood to discuss why the rules of golf are so complicated. Because golf takes place in a natural landscape, there is a possibility for a number of different situations to occur during your round and if you find yourself in one, the rules are there to help you continue with your round in the most appropriate way. For many, this means the rules book is complex and hard to understand - hopefully this video will explain why the rules of golf are (and have to be) the way they are.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to The London Club and this video in
00:08which we're going to answer the question about why the rules of golf seem to be so complicated.
00:13Now we produce a lot of rules videos and we get a lot of comments from people saying that when
00:18they're starting out playing golf the rules of golf just seem very complicated and hard to
00:22understand so we're going to look at why they are the way they are. Now before we start please do
00:27leave some comments below what do you think of the rules of golf have you just started playing golf
00:32have you found them easy enough to understand to be able to get up and running with the game we'd be
00:36really interested to hear your thoughts but let's head out now onto the golf course here at the London
00:41Club and look at why the rules of golf seem to be so complicated. Okay so Jez I think the first thing
00:46to say is that the ruling bodies the RNA and the USGA are not trying to make the rules of golf any
00:52more complicated than they need to be the issue that they face is what Jez? Well the issue they face
00:58is that golf is played on a large arena you know 100 acres maybe a golf course wildly different terrain
01:07and landscape trees water bushes thick rough short grass all sorts of things you might come into
01:14contact with out on the golf course so you're playing on this vast arena whereas as an example a sport
01:20like tennis is played on a court that is certain dimensions wherever and you know you hit the ball
01:26and it's either in or out I know there's a lot more to tennis than that but in essence
01:31you know tennis is a lot more simple to govern. Yes and so within that wide open landscape where many
01:38different scenarios can pop up you want to create an even playing field for everybody in the field so
01:44if you find yourself in a situation like this I guess this is a good starting point yeah you're on
01:49a tee yeah and let's say you've just carved one out to the right hand side yes and you know it's thick
01:55rough out there you may have lost your ball you might not have lost your ball yeah what happens? Well this
02:01is the problem you see because every time you say golf should just be a very simple hit it find it hit it
02:06again something like that happens you hit it you don't find it now what do you do how do you how do
02:13you proceed with your round or you do find it but it's physically unplayable how do you carry on with
02:19your round the rules have to present ways in which you can carry on to complete your round rather than
02:25your round just stopping because you've lost your ball yeah and the other thing I would add here is that
02:30there's a big difference between playing friendly golf and playing competition yeah like you and I play
02:35quite a lot of friendly golf together and there are situations there are situations on the golf course
02:40where it's like if it's a bit faster to do it in a certain way or it's you're not really gaining any
02:46sort of advantage we'll just proceed under a slightly different version of the rules as it were but if
02:52you're playing for your handicap if you're playing in a competition you can't just think about yourself
02:56you have to think about the whole field and it being fair for everybody don't you? You do and I think
03:01I guess the most common one people in friendlies will play is if they've lost one and nobody wants
03:06to walk 250 yards back you'll just drop another one down yeah ball's just gone out of bounds you can
03:09see it yeah but that is not a rule of golf so you can't do that when you're playing in a competition
03:15where everybody is expected to be playing by the same set of rules so we don't you know we get all
03:21sorts of comments about well we don't do that in a friendly really we're not too worried about what
03:26people do in friendlies because that's up to you isn't it that's up to you it's when you're playing against
03:31a hundred other people in the club medal and some people are playing by one rule and other
03:36people are playing by a different rule that's when it really doesn't work and that's when this book
03:39has to have a huge number of what-if scenarios to cover all the eventualities that might happen out
03:45on a golf course yeah and the last thing to say here I think is that that rule book that Jez is
03:48holding yeah they've actually worked incredibly hard haven't they yeah to try and make it as
03:54small easy to understand as they possibly can for people I think yeah I think there's a there's a
03:58perception that the the rule makers like it to be complicated but they don't and in the revisions
04:03for 2019 one of the primary objectives was to simplify the rules as much as possible while still
04:10governing all the various eventualities that might take place out in the course so this player's edition
04:15is 50 pages shorter than the previous rule book which is here and the number of rules has come down
04:22from 33 to 24. so there is a concerted effort on the part of the rule makers to streamline things
04:30as much as it's practical to do so yes and there are certain rules related scenarios that pop up
04:35much more often than other rules related scenarios the book has to cover just about everything to make
04:40sure that whatever happens on the golf course there's something in there that tells you how to
04:44proceed and how not to proceed so that it's fair for everybody okay Jez let's take a slightly closer look
04:49at one of those situations we mentioned earlier where the rules have to cover quite a few different
04:54things so behind us here we're just off the playing line on the 17th here at the London club we've got
04:59some really big bushy area imagine I've carved my tee shot in here now the rules need to help me out
05:06yes to ensure that I can carry on with my round of golf don't they they do as we said you know can
05:12you find it okay you can find it but it's not playable what do you do what if you can't find it
05:18what do you do yeah so if I can find it and the only rule available to me was to take a
05:24two club lengths and drop away from it well that might not in this scenario that wouldn't take me
05:28clear of the bushes I'd still be as you said I'd still be completely snookered so you would be more
05:32options you would be and you know if you can't physically retrieve the original ball what do you
05:37do then there has to be some option to to allow you to carry on if it would tear you close to shreds to
05:42get to the ball yes so all of these things have to be covered in the rule this is just one scenario
05:47that might happen fairly typically out on a golf course so we have the unplayable ball options
05:52that give you three options in that scenario and you don't have to retrieve the original ball you
05:58can drop within two club links you can go back online or you can go back to where you last played
06:02from exactly and also the ruling bodies also need to try and keep play moving as much as possible
06:07prevent slow play so they also give you the option from the previous shot to play a provisional
06:12ball so if you think that ball might be lost you get the chance to play a provisional ball
06:17to help speed play up in this sort of scenario so all that's got to be covered in the rules you know
06:22the ball is lost then what do you do well the rules say that you have to go back and play from
06:27where you last played from but they also say that to mitigate that being the potential outcome you can
06:33play a provisional ball at that point when you think it might be lost rather than having to walk a long
06:38way back but then what are the rules governing that provisional ball when can you hit it up until
06:42when are you no longer allowed to play it all of that has to be covered and you could just say oh
06:47just do you like and play play another one here there but if you're playing in a competition and
06:52you're playing by that set of rules and someone else is playing by a different code then you're not
06:57playing a level playing field it's not fair so hopefully that just explains how just one very common
07:04very common scenario on the golf course needs to be covered by quite a few words in the rule book
07:08by quite a few paragraphs that explain what you need to do in various different scenarios okay so
07:14there you have it that's just a few really simple but quite typical scenarios of explaining why the
07:19rules of golf seem to be so complex and it's because ultimately jen if you look behind us in this shot
07:25you'll see all the different things the rules of golf need to cover yes this is a you know quite a high
07:30point on the london club it's a vast acreage here you can see bushes you can see carp paths you can
07:36see water you can see buildings you can see bunkers you can see areas of rough the rules have to allow
07:42you to proceed with your round of golf wherever you find yourself in amongst all that wherever your ball
07:47is lying you have to have a way to allow you to continue with your round and that means that
07:53ultimately you're never going to be able to write them all on the back of a scorecard they have to be more
07:57complex they have to cover more things in order to make the game as fair as possible and as we said
08:03at the start jes if you there's a difference between playing friendlies and playing in competitions
08:07but if you are playing in competitions then having a basic understanding for this stuff
08:12is a really good idea isn't it it is and you know play as it lies you might play around a golf where you
08:16don't need to look at the rule book at all every now and again it happens you you just play it as it
08:20lies the whole way around but the rule book has to cover all the times when you just simply can't play it as
08:25it lies yes how many penalty shots is it where do you drop it why do you drop it there how far back
08:31can you all these things have to be covered because you can't always play the ball as it lies so there
08:36you have it please do leave some comments below what do you think about the rules of golf we'd be
08:39interested to hear your thoughts and if you haven't done already please do hit the subscribe button to
08:43make sure that you don't miss any of our videos but that's it for now thanks for watching we'll see you
08:47next time