The 5 Rules I’ve Struggled With Most In My 40 Years As A Golfer

Having a good understanding of the Rules of Golf can save you shots and prevent you making unnecessary mistakes on the course. Sometimes scenarios can be tricky and applying the Rules correctly is challenging. Sometimes, Rules are easily broken by accident. In other circumstances, the Rules just don’t seem fair. Here I look at five Rules that I’ve either fallen foul of or have had trouble accepting during my four decades of golfing.

Repairing pitch marks on the fringe

You can repair pitch marks on the green at any time, even if your ball isn’t on the green. If you’re on the fringe and there’s a pitch mark on your line on the green, go ahead and fix it. But, if you’re on the fringe and have a pitch mark on your line that is also on the fringe, you can’t repair it. If you do, you’ll face the General Penalty of two shots in stroke play and loss of hole in match play for breaking Rule 8.1a – Improving the conditions affecting your stroke. I’ve fallen foul of that one in the past.

Playing the wrong ball

It doesn’t happen so often now as we are all far better at marking our balls in a way that makes them easy to identify. But, in the old days, particularly when I was a junior, nobody (or very few people) at club level marked their balls. It was inevitable that more than one person on the course was playing an unmarked Titleist 2 Balata. On at least a few occasions, I have found a ball where I thought mine should be and played it, only to discover up at the green that it wasn’t mine. That means a General Penalty (two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play) for playing a wrong ball under Rule 6.3c. You have to go back and complete the hole with the correct ball. If you tee off at the next hole without correcting the mistake, you’re disqualified. Thankfully, I’ve never done that.

Out of bounds

This is one that I’ve struggled with because I just don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think you should face a penalty shot for hitting a ball out of bounds. Here’s my reasoning – If you stand on a tee, make a wild swing and completely miss the ball there is no penalty and you simply try again, hitting your second shot. If you make a great swing and hit a strong shot that drifts on the breeze, takes an unkind bounce and just creeps out of bounds, you then have to play three from the tee. That’s not fair in my opinion.

Not Signing the scorecard

A couple of times, maybe more than a couple, I’ve totally forgotten to sign my card. It’s a mistake that you absolutely shouldn’t make but it’s all too easy to do. Rule 3.3b requires you to certify your hole scores – it doesn’t need to be a complete signature, just a certification – and then return the card to the committee. If you return it without a certification you are disqualified. I’m ashamed to say, I’ve done that. At least once when I had a good score too!

Totally flooded bunker

To finish, another Rule I don’t think is fair. If your ball ends in a bunker that is totally flooded where no type of relief is available, you have no option but to take a penalty drop. You haven’t gone in a penalty area, your ball is still on the course but all you can do is reluctantly accept a penalty. That, I think, might be the most unfair Rule in the game.