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
01:20a sport like tennis is played on a court that is certain dimensions wherever and you know you hit
01:26the ball and it's either in or out I know there's a lot more to tennis than that but in essence you
01:31know 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
02:00this is the problem you see because every time you say golf should just be a very simple hit it find it
02:06hit it again something like that happens you hit it you don't find it now what do you do
02:13how do you how do you proceed with your round or you do find it but it's physically unplayable
02:18how do you carry on with your round the rules have to present ways in which you can carry on to
02:24complete your round rather than your round just stopping because you've lost your ball yeah and
02:28the other thing I would add here is that there's a big difference between playing friendly golf and
02:32playing competition yes like Jess and I you and I play quite a lot of friendly golf together and there are
02:37situations for me to be honest there are situations on the golf course where it's like if it's a bit
02:43faster to do it in a certain way or it's you're not really gaining any sort of advantage we'll just
02:47proceed under a slightly different version of the rules as it were but if you're playing for your
02:53handicap if you're playing in a competition you you can't just think about yourself you have to think
02:57about the whole field and it being fair for everybody don't you you do and I think I guess the most
03:01common one people in friendlies will play as if they've lost one and nobody wants to walk 250 yards
03:07back you'll just drop another one down yeah ball's just gone out of bounds you can see it yeah but
03:11that is not a rule of golf so you can't do that when you're playing in a competition where everybody
03:16is expected to be playing by the same set of rules so we don't you know we get all sorts of comments
03:21about well we don't do that in a friendly really we're not too worried about what people do in friendlies
03:27because 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 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 holding
03:49yeah they've actually worked incredibly hard haven't they yeah to try and make it as small easy to
03:55understand as they possibly can for people I think yeah I think there's a there's a perception that the
03:59the rule makers like it to be complicated but they don't and in the revisions for 2019
04:04one of the primary objectives was to simplify the rules as much as possible while still governing all
04:11the various eventualities that might take place out in the course so this player's edition is 50 pages
04:16shorter than the previous rule book which is here and the number of rules has come down from 33 to 24.
04:24so there is a concerted effort on the part of the rule makers to streamline things as much as it's
04:30practical to do so yes and there are certain rules related scenarios that pop up much more often than
04:36other rules related scenarios the book has to cover just about everything to make sure that whatever
04:41happens on the golf course there's something in there that tells you how to proceed and how not to
04:45proceed so that it's fair for everybody okay Jez let's take a slightly closer look at one of those
04:50situations we mentioned earlier where the rules have to cover quite a few different things so
04:55behind us here we're just off the playing line on the 17th here at the London club we've got some
04:59really 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 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 your clothes to shreds
05:42to get 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 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
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