http://www.usga.org/rules-hub/rules-...e-changes.html

WOW - pretty huge changes, pretty much all positive in my opinion except maybe being able to drop the ball from right above the ground, too much angle shooting possible in drops if I understand the change correctly. I never saw an issue with dropping from shoulder height. Should benefit fairness and pace of play

I see two reasons why the ball drop change happened.

First is dropping a ball in a bunker. Obviously if you drop it at shoulder height it's going to bury or you will have a fried egg. How often do you have to drop in a bunker though. I honestly can't think of a single time I have had to do this.

Secondly I think this helps pace of play. Every professional event you watch they drop it on the edge of the 2 club (or 1 depending on the situation) length and it rolls outside of it. Repeat the process a second time and then you place it where it struck the ground. Now you can essentially place it the first time.

"If that's the case why not just go all the way and let people place instead of drop" is the first thing that comes to mind; I'm guessing inertia is the answer.

Everything else looks spectacularly sensible.

I don't quite understand the dropping one inch above the ground either, but everything looks good to me.

The only thing I wish they would have added was making OB play like a lateral hazard instead of stroke and distance.

Please no.

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this would probably decrease my handicap by about 3-4 points immediately.

Why not?

Because it's dumb. Anything can be marked as a water hazard. That's up to the course designer and/or course management. Taking away the option of having OB would be lame.

Although not in this set they are taking comments regarding any stroke and distance rules and I am guessing something will come out regarding it eventually.

Guessing there is a separate rule saying drop within 80" of where it last crossed and you can't play it out of there like other penalty areas. Just makes way too much sense to do this.

keeping the pin in while putting seems bad to me, anyone else?

there's definitely situations where you want it in. like long fast downhill putts.

Don't forget now if you play in a tournament you have a chance of stopping your ball from rolling it back into the hazard if you are dropping it on a bank of a lake and you don't have a caddie to stop it.

They gave the option of making anything a lateral hazard so plenty good enough and they can let the course decide. This will let them leave ob in place for situations like houses, because you know people will be playing out of backyards if it is marked red.

You could still disallow playing an OB ball where it lies but allow relief by the same rules as a hazard.

I don't like the idea, maybe just out of principle, but I'll concede it might make things better since tons of people cheat anyway and won't take the stroke and distance.

Ah, I missed the part about them making anything a hazard: https://www.usga.org/rules-hub/rules...lty-areas.html

They could mark the stakes red with green tips like for ESA (environmentally sensitive area), which means you can't play the ball from within the hazard. That would stop people from playing out of yards.

The bunker rule is interesting, guess it might help beginners who can't get out of the sand.

I like leaving the stick in, for recreational players with long putts it can make sense in terms of pace of play. Guy putting can walk up, mark his ball, and remove the pin. No need for another player to tend while he could be getting a read on his upcoming putt.

I'm not a fan of the bunker rule, that is going to get abused.

The flagstick rule should help pace of play a lot.

Well, of course you would. But does this mean that you would be able to leave it in on slick downhill four-footers as well?

yeah, but doubt you'd ever want to

You can leave it in for any putt.

Speeds up play. You can now putt without needing to have someone tend the pin, which is especially useful if your group is all a fair distance away.

Odds are you won't make the putts anyways, but if you do -- no penalty.

Makes a lot of sense.

Well, these are some big changes and obviously precipitated by the decline of golf.

This alone won't dent it, but at the least the "rules makers" for the first time are making significant changes which will set the course for even more future changes. Golf needs to get down to 3 hours. I just don't know many people who can get away for 5 to 7 hours when you include driving, warming up, wrapping up, and driving home after.

There are so many people, myself included, who have to make a mad dash to leave or show up right at tee-time. And then it seems impossible to get away from phone calls, texts or emails from business and family. Perhaps other people can get away from their phones.

The not playing out of a bunker is interesting. It might be worth it at times, even if you are a good player, if there is water behind the green to not risk it.

Golf is never getting down to 3 hours without changing the number of holes. I'm perfectly happy when my rounds are 3:30-4:00 in a three or foursome. (Though in my case that means a round trip of about 3:40-4:10 from leaving my place to getting back home.)

Doing things to get a full round of golf down to 3 hours would require huge fundamental changes that would pretty much ruin the game. The only way to do it would be to make golf ~13 holes. And obviously that's not happening.

3 hours will never happened but it would be nice to get a typical 4 some on a weekend to 3.5 hours.

Never thought about the drop out of the bunker instead of playing the shot but a fried egg with a green going away and water behind the 2 stroke penalty might be the safe option.

if you can safely hit in any direction from the bunker it will ~always be a better option than a two stroke penalty. taking a 2 stroke penalty really only makes sense if you expect to take at least 2 strokes to get out of the bunker.

a fried egg with the green sloping away with the water behind could be the exception, but only if there's no safe bailout zone to target from the bunker.