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If you have a rules question please log on to www.scigolf.com and email your question to Hadyn Rutter, author of The Golf Rules Dictionary.
As many golfers will know revised rules and additional decisions interpreting the rules were introduced on 1st January 2004 - so it was necessary for an updated edition of the Golf Rules Dictionary!!
To give you some idea of what has changed, the following are the main changes :-
- Guidance on etiquette has been expanded and for the first time the penalty of disqualification has been introduced for serious breaches of etiquette.
- Turf faces of bunkers are not part of the bunker whether they are grassed or earth.
- The definition of a lost ball has been amended by providing that it is lost when a player has made a stroke at a substituted ball, as opposed to the old definition of "when he has put another ball in play".
- A tee may not be longer than 4 inches - and you will be disqualified for using a non conforming tee!!
- A player can now remove loose impediments on the green by any method provided he does not press anything down (previously only by picking or brushing with hand or club).
- There is no longer an automatic penalty if when moving a loose impediment within 1 club length the ball also moves; there is now only a penalty if the player moves the ball or causes it to move when moving a loose impediment - but within any distance.
- There is an additional relief from an immoveable obstruction in a bunker, allowing the player to take a 1 stroke penalty and drop outside the bunker.
- The definition of "the Rules" has been expanded to include not only the Rules themselves but also all the decisions of the R&A/USGA interpreting the rules and the conditions of the competition in which the player is taking part. Don't forget... Rule 6.1 requires a player to know "the Rules"!
- The value of prizes which can be won by an amateur in any one competition has been increased to £500/$750 - plus a further £500/$750 for a hole in one prize in the same competition.
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