Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring / Summer 2011 | Page 19

TALKINGOLF
of Golf”) need to cover almost every
conceivable scenario that might beset a
player during a round.
Every four years the R&A, in conjunction
with the USGA, review the rules and
make small modifications based on
situations that have arisen that previously
have either not been covered or where
penalties have seemed either too harsh or
too lenient for the breach committed.
This process is a minefield and needs
every hour of the four years allotted to
ensure the outcome is correct.
“The R&A have their own rules
committee who will make suggestions
and the USGA has a committee which
will do the same thing,” says Magdulski.
“Then those suggestions go to the joint
committee, made up of members from
both organisations, who are in charge of
finalising any actual rule changes.
“You can imagine that this is a long and

complicated process because any change
to the rules of the game, no matter how
small, can have a big impact on everyone
who plays.

“Generally the changes are small and
unless you’re really into the rules most
people won’t notice,” he says. “Until, of
course, it has some impact on them.”

“The joint committee’s job is really to play
devil’s advocate and test every suggestion
in every possible way to make sure that
the proposed rule change doesn’t have
any unforeseen consequences once
enacted.

Rules queries always spike around the
time the new book comes out both from
those whose only real interest occurs
when they feel they have been harshly
dealt with and from that sub-section of
golfers who follow and study the rules
intently, almost treating them like