In this video, Golf Monthly deputy editor Joel Tadman is joined by Rules of Golf expert Jeremy Ellwood to talk through the 7 rules of golf that have changed recently to make the game fairer and potentially save you shots! Sometimes it can feel like the rules are out to get you but there are situations where they can really work in your favour, as Joel and Jezz highlight in this video shot at the stunning Gog Magog Golf Club in Cambridgeshire.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Gogmogog Golf Club where in this video we're going to talk through the seven
00:04rules that have changed for the better. I think it's fair to say the rules of golf
00:07in certain situations can be quite penalising but there have been some changes in recent years
00:12that have really made it a lot fairer for golfers who get stuck in certain situations. So in myself
00:17alongside rules expert Jez Airwood we're going to go through those seven different scenarios where
00:20the rules have definitely changed for the better and it should hopefully help you improve your scores.
00:30All right Jez Airwood, I saw what I think I saw. Ball hit the tree, came back and hit your foot. Talk us
00:39through how the rules of golf have changed to help you in this particular situation. Okay well I can't
00:43deny it it did do just that. The good news is that the penalty for that no longer exists. So as
00:50recently as 2007 that would still have been a two-shot penalty for the ball coming back and hitting me.
00:55That got downgraded to one shot from 2008 and then from the last rules revisions in 2019 there is no
01:03longer a penalty if the ball comes back off a tree or a bunker face and hits you or your bag or your
01:09caddy or anyone. So the penalty is the fact that you've not moved the ball very far. So there you have
01:13it. Common sense prevails in this particular scenario if the ball does hit you or your equipment
01:17no penalty. Another good change by the governing bodies. Right Jez Airwood, so another rule that's
01:23changed for the better comes down to loose impediments in bunkers. Yeah. I see in this
01:27situation there's you know a stick and some other stuff around my ball which is impeding my swing
01:33trying to get at the ball towards this flag. Tell me about the what I can and can't do in this
01:37situation. Okay well the good news is that now you can remove that loose impediment which you wouldn't
01:42have been you wouldn't have been able to touch a loose impediment in a bunker before so you'd have just
01:45had to try and get the club to go through that as best as possible. Well that seems sensible. Yep and now
01:51obviously the one thing you do still have to be wary of is if the ball moves it would still
01:54be a penalty. Right. So if the ball had actually been resting on that you probably still wouldn't
01:58have been able to do anything about it. Okay. But as it was just far enough away to not be
02:02a problem you can now remove that and you can remove that little nut or whatever that is
02:07and now you've got a freer shot whereas before you would have had to deal with those as well
02:12as the difficulty of the bunker shot. And this includes stones obviously that's probably
02:14one of the most common things you can find in a bunker. Yeah stones previously you could move
02:18stones if there was a local rule but now there's no need for that local rule because you can move
02:23them anyway although again you've got to make sure that you don't move your ball in the process
02:28and it's interesting the same thing applies in penalty areas now you can remove loose impediments
02:32from penalty areas previously they were known as hazards and you wouldn't have been able to touch
02:36them there but now you can. Again if you move the ball there will still be a penalty. Interesting well
02:41I've made this shot an awful lot easier for myself so I've got no excuses now so shall we ever give it a try?
02:45It's a bit of an awkward lie but let's see what we can do I've pulled it that's actually a pretty
02:55poor shot but I think without with that kind of stick there it probably would have been an awful
02:59lot worse so that's definitely a rule to remember if you find yourself in a lot of bunkers you can
03:04now move those loose impediments. Right Jezza the next rule of golf we're going to cover comes down
03:09to one of these it's a distance measuring device. It is. I mean this is specifically a laser rangefinder
03:14it's fair to say that they're very much commonplace now in the world of golf a few years ago only a few
03:19people had maybe better players only really use these but now pretty much every ability
03:23of golfer has some sort of distance measuring device how has the rule changed that's going to
03:27help us? Yeah well I mean when I was equipment editor those things hadn't even been invented so
03:31the rules have changed to accommodate what's come into the game and at first I wouldn't say there was
03:36suspicion around I think the rule makers wanted to see how they played out so at first they had to be
03:42allowed by local rule when you're playing in competition so if there wasn't a local rule
03:46in force allowing them you couldn't use that in a competition round. From 2019 it changed to the
03:51other way around so now they are allowed by general rule but committees could still say you can't use
03:57them by local rule but I'm not aware of a huge number that do so essentially now they're good to
04:02use in competitions whereas before there had to be a local rule in place for that to be the case.
04:07Yeah and we've seen certain major championships obviously run by different governing bodies allow laser
04:11rangefinders during those tournaments which is really interesting and definitely shows the kind
04:15of acceptance that's happening across different tours and different events and I guess the one
04:20thing it's worth finally pointing out is that a lot of lasers have slope functionality and obviously
04:24it's very important to disable that if you're playing in a competition. Yeah it is I mean rule 4.3 is
04:29where you'll find all the information if you go to the full rules online you'll see what is allowed
04:33what isn't allowed but essentially if you remember distance information is fine slope or elevation is not for
04:39competitive golf. Yeah so for example on this Bushnell there's a little switch that you can turn off a
04:43lot of them are very easy to use make sure you disable that functionality but generally speaking
04:48laser rangefinders nowadays are perfectly fine to use out on the golf course. Not looking good in here
04:53Jez is it? No this is thick stuff this is thick stuff ah what's happened? I've just hit a ball
05:02with my club while looking for mine and that is my golf ball. Okay right well the good news is
05:09before 2019 that would have been a problem you'd have been penalized for moving your own ball. From
05:142019 the rules change so that if you moved your own ball while you were searching for it you weren't
05:21penalized you had to replace it where you where it was or where you estimate it was to the best of your
05:26ability and carry on from there and that's an improvement because previously the player whose
05:32ball it was just kind of there was no great incentive to go out the search too rigorously in
05:37case they they did what you've just done there now that doesn't matter as much so you can search a
05:43little bit more earnestly along with the other people in your group without fear of causing yourself
05:48a penalty if you do move it while you're searching for it. So I've got to move that back to where you've
05:52got to move it back to where it was estimating it to the best of your ability. And that's a good rule
05:57because I think sometimes in rough like this you know where it sits right down the chances are you're
06:01not going to find it unless you're disturbing an awful lot of the grass. And you're going to stand on
06:04it aren't you sometimes and suddenly that's your ball and you think oh I've trodden on it. And that would
06:08be fine too. That is fine too because you've moved it accidentally while searching for it. Cool so there
06:12you have it no penalty if you accidentally move your ball with the club or your foot while looking for it in the
06:17rough well worth remembering. Right Jez I've hit my t-shirt on this part three and I've got an
06:22absolutely stinking lie. Yeah. It's just crept in the back lip of this bunker the the greens over
06:27there obviously in the direction of play. I've clearly got no swing so I want to take it unplayable.
06:33Yeah. I believe my options have changed and the rules of golf have hopefully been changed for the
06:37better to help me out in this scenario is that right? They have really because until 2019 your only
06:43option to drop that outside the bunker would have been to go back to the tee and play again under
06:49stroke and distance which isn't always particularly appealing if it's a 200 yard or over water. To drop
06:54this one in the bunker going back on line you can't do that because there's nowhere to go. To drop it
06:59within two club lengths it's probably going to leave you with a really awkward stance. One foot outside
07:05one foot in and you just don't fancy it. But now from 2019 onwards you have an option to go back
07:10on a line outside the bunker but it is for an extra penalty stroke. Okay so I'm allowed to pick this up
07:16and go back up here keeping that point between you and where the flag is yeah dropping back as far as
07:24you want on that line okay and then playing but obviously if that was your tee shot this would now
07:28be your fourth shot so you're fighting to try and save double yeah but you know if you're no good out
07:33of bunkers or you just really don't fancy what it's given you it may occasionally be an option worth
07:38considering yeah because even if you have a swipe at it you might completely miss the ball altogether
07:42and then you're in the same situation playing three at least that eliminates that problem shot
07:46and gives you an easy life here yeah exactly so hopefully I can hit this one nice and close and
07:52justify my decision oh I'm pretty happy with that okay so now you've got a chance to save double which
08:02doesn't sound great but it might be better than whatever could have occurred if you've gone down some
08:06of the other routes so there you go use that rule that new rule in the bunker it could just save you
08:10having that horror number on your scorecard
08:18now Jez nervy chippers around the green may well be familiar with the dreaded double hit
08:24which is not a nice feeling to experience on the golf course but the rules have changed to make it feel
08:29a little bit better or the outcome hopefully will be a little bit better for those sorts of people
08:32prone to that kind of double hit shot yes well essentially there's now no penalty for the double
08:38hit you just have to play the ball from wherever it comes to rest as long as it's accidental if you
08:44you know you deliberately go fishing for it with the club and try and yeah I've seen trick shots of
08:48people yeah we've seen tricks going around trees that is not allowed generally when the the club makes
08:54contact with the ball twice in one shot you don't get a desirable result so you've had penalty enough
08:59just by having to now deal with it from over there where the club has sent it occasionally you might
09:04fluke one and it goes closer to the hole and the the proper properly struck chip would have done but
09:08largely the rule has been changed because the the the result of a double hit was not usually very
09:14favorable so they have if you're prone to the occasional double hit don't worry there's no penalty
09:18shots play it as it lies but hopefully you can eradicate it from your game and you won't have to worry
09:22about it right so Jez another area where the rules of golf have changed for the better come from the
09:28putting green and specifically when your ball moves unintentionally explain how that's going to happen
09:35well before if if this ball had come to rest and then whether you'd marked it or not when you replaced it
09:44if it had then rolled somewhere else due to natural forces so wind water other natural forces
09:50that unfortunately was just tough luck and you had to play well generally tough luck it might have
09:54rolled nearer the hole but sometimes it might have rolled off perhaps even into a bunker or a
09:59horrible place down the fairway now the rules of golf provide a stop point as long as you have
10:05marked and lifted and then replace the ball so if i go down and replace i place my marker down behind this
10:12and pick the ball up that is now the worst place i can be when i come to take my putt
10:17previously if i place this back down taking my mark away and the ball would then roll down to
10:23somewhere that may or may not be as easy that doesn't matter now the ball would go back to where
10:28it was and if you couldn't remember exactly where it was you'd estimate it to the best of your ability
10:32but that is like a stop point so it's good reason to always mark your ball as soon as possible
10:38on windy days on sloping greens because if you don't mark it take your chances and it rolls
10:44off somewhere nasty that is still tough luck so that's why you see tall pros sometimes running
10:48up sometimes running out yeah especially on sloping a links course on a windy day with a big
10:52tear in the green they'll get there and mark it as soon as possible so they know that that is the
10:57worst possible place they can be for their next shot so there you have it if you're playing on a
11:01windy day slopey greens get your marker down as quickly as possible it might just save you a shot or two
11:07so there you have it that concludes our look at the seven rules of golf that have changed for the
11:11better hopefully found this useful in terms of enhancing and broadening your knowledge of the
11:15rules of golf and if you find yourself in any of those situations you can fall back on what you've
11:20learned in this video to really help you out and hopefully save you a few shots in the process if
11:24you did like the video do click the like button and subscribe to the golf monthly youtube channel
11:28so you don't miss any of our other rules videos or videos and other areas like equipment
11:32and instruction but that's all for me from google golf club i'll see you next time