Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

My friends at Links Magazine have been thinking of something that has crossed my mind, as well.

As this blog headline notes, the subject is this:  Golf rules that should be changed.

Links cites 10 examples.  I repeat them below, not because I agree with all of them, but because they illustrate that golf rules should always be dynamic and under review, if only because they apply to a game that is played outdoors and in hundreds of venues around the world.

Here is how writer David DeSmith started his post:

“Few pursuits have as many arcane rules as the game of golf.  Did you know, for example, that you can play a shot from within a clubhouse (if it’s not out of bounds), and even open a window or door to facilitate such a shot?  The rules say that you can.

“They say a lot of other things, too — including a few things that I think golf’s governing bodies, the USGA and R&A, should consider revising.”

DeSmith and I agree on at least one rule change – relief from divots.

Here is how he described his advocacy:

“The Rules of Golf grant relief from many kinds of abnormal ground conditions — including Rule 13.1c(2), which allows a player to repair ball marks and spike marks on putting surfaces — two kinds of alternations made to the course by other players.

“The rules look to strike a balance between the longstanding tradition of playing the ball ‘as it lies’ and fairness, and in the case of this rule, they indicate that on greens, such relief is warranted.

“But no such relief is offered in the case of a ball coming to rest in a divot, which is manifestly inconsistent. Relief should be granted from divots.”

I agree. 

Why should you be penalized if your drive or shot ends up in a divot that someone else created?  You shouldn’t.

We have seen cases where this bit of bad luck created huge challenges such as the time when the late professional golfer Payne Stewart hit a drive in a U.S. Open, it ended up in someone else’s divot in the fairway, and he paid the price.

Here the other rule changes recommended by Links, with a comment from me in cases where I feel compelled to add a perspective.

1. Limit of 14 Clubs [Not sure on this one because, at some point, there has to be a number of clubs or you couldn’t carry or all of them.]

2. Relief from Divots [Already cited – agree.]

3. Relief in Bunkers (when your ball ends up in an unraked spot [Agree, especially for us as recreational golfers who may be following players who don’t rake bunkers or do a bad job of doing so.  For professional golfers, this won’t matter because caddies always rake bunkers.]

4. Three-Minute Time Limit to Find a Lost Ball  [Three minutes is enough; no need to go back to five minutes.]

5. Ball Embedded by Someone Stepping on It  [Agree.  You should not be penalized by someone else’s mistake.]

6. Interference from Boundary Objects (by this, the author means that he thinks relief should be granted if the boundary fence interferes with a swing)  [Disagree.  Don’t hit your ball near a boundary fence.]

7. Use of Distance-Measuring Devices  [Agree, even though some contend that use of such devices could slow play, not improve it.]

8. Rules for Relief from Penalty Areas (by this, the author means make relief the same for both yellow and red penalty areas) – [Agree.  A good change to reduce confusion.]

9. Pace of Play Rule  [Strongly agree.  Applying the 40-second rule to hit a shot and imposing a penalty for longer times is a major way to reduce slow play…just enforce the existing rule.]

10. Stroke and Distance Penalty for Loss of Ball or Ball Hit Out of Bounds  [Not sure…see below.]

Rules 18.2a(1) and (2) cover balls that are lost or hit out of bounds.  Players have three minutes to search for and find wayward balls or they must be declared lost or O.B., at which point the player must take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing their next shot from the place where the previous stroke was made.

The rules do allow a player to have declared and played a provisional ball, but the stroke-and-distance penalty still applies.  

Few people have ever liked this rule, both because it seems like an unduly harsh penalty compared to others but also because it can adversely affect pace of play.  The USGA has identified an optional local rule that allows a player to, “for two penalty strokes,” “estimate the spot where your ball is lost or went out of bounds and then find the nearest fairway edge that is not nearer the hole than the estimated spot. You can drop a ball in the fairway within two club-lengths of that fairway edge point, or anywhere between there and the estimated spot where your ball is lost or went out of bounds.”

This is a helpful local rule when and where it is applied.  But in effect, while you are only penalized one stroke for a ball hit into a penalty area, you’re penalized two shots for lost balls and shots hit O.B.  The rules should be modified to provide the option in both cases of taking a one-stroke penalty, with the next shot being played within two club-lengths of the position at which the player is most likely to have lost a ball or gone out of bounds.

There.  A few good ideas about golf rule changes.  At least, if not “good,” then at least worth considering. And, given dynamism and complexity of golf rules, there no doubt are more changes that should be considered. I’ll find some.