TheRules
THE NEW
RULES OF GOLF:
Play
Faster
by CHRIS LANG
T
he new Rules of Golf are here, true. But they won’t go into effect until Jan. 1,
2019. So let’s be clear about one thing: Every championship, qualifier, member-
guest, league match, etc., that you play through Dec. 31, 2018 will be governed
by the current Rules of Golf.
However, now is the time to begin priming yourself for what comes next. The USGA
and R&A will begin that education process in earnest this fall, but with the release of the
modernized Rules of Golf in early March, there are some things to know as governing
bodies begin preparing to implement the new Rules next year.
Over the next four issues of Virginia Golfer, this space will deal with key parts of the new
Rules. But first, we’ll deal with how Rules changes will encourage prompt pace of play.
40 SECONDS: Though intended to sup-
port pace of play, the current Rules do not
affirmatively emphasize this issue or en-
courage players to play promptly. That will
change in 2019. Rule 5.6 will encourage
prompt pace of play by recommending that:
• Players should recognize that their
pace of play affects others and they should
play promptly throughout the round. For
example, prepare in advance for each
stroke and move promptly between tees.
• A player should make a stroke in no
more than 40 seconds (and usually in less
time) after the player is able to play with-
out interference or distraction.
As the USGA explains, by giving play-
ers affirmative guidance, support and en-
couragement on prompt play, these Rules
12
changes will help in setting expectations
for both beginners and experienced play-
ers on what types of behavior are con-
sidered prompt play, including the maxi-
mum amount of time it should normally
take to make a stroke.
Enforcing pace of play will continue
to primarily be up to each Committee, as
there are limits to what the Rules them-
selves can do to insist that players play
promptly. These changes will enable Com-
mittees to point to specific expectations
set by the Rules when using their authority
to enforce prompt play, and encourage ev-
ery Committee to adopt a pace of play poli-
cy so that all players on the course, whatev-
er the type or level of play, will know what
is expected of them.
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 8
“READY GOLF”: In addition, new Rule
6.4 will expressly allow playing out of
turn in match play by agreement, and
for stroke play, will affirmatively allow
and encourage players to play out of
turn in a safe and responsible way to
save time or for convenience.
MAX SCORE: There are currently two
main forms of stroke play: The basic form
where a player must hole out at every
hole or else is disqualified (Rule 3), and
Stableford, where a point-scoring sys-
tem is used and a player who scores two
or more than the fixed score or does not
finish the hole simply gets zero points for
that hole (Rule 32).
Maximum score will be a new addi-
tional form of stroke play. Max score is
unlikely to be used for elite play, but it
may be useful in other contexts, such as
for play by beginners and, more gener-
ally, for club level and day-to-day play
when pace of play is of particular con-
cern. A player’s score for each hole is
capped at a maximum set by the Com-
mittee, which may be fixed (such as 6,
8, 10, etc.), related to par (such as two
times par or triple bogey), or related to
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