We are a month into the new rules of golf and I hope everyone has a solid understand-ing of what has changed and what improvements were made. A couple of major changes/improvements that will impact your daily/weekly games are below:
• Now allowed 3 minutes to search for your ball instead of 5 minutes.
• Flag stick is allowed to remain in the hole while putting (cannot be attended, must either remain in the hole or removed).
• Can take practice swings/touch ground in “penalty areas” but not in the bunkers.
• Ball drop is from knee height, not shoulder height.
• Player may tap down spike marks/ball marks/shoe indentions on the green.
The one rule change I have been asked about the most is “Out of Bounds”. The USGA has allowed a LOCAL RULE to be established at each individual course where if a player hits a shot out of bounds they can take a 2 shot penalty and take a drop equidistant from where the ball last crossed the area of play and play the ball from there. We at the Brickyard have decided NOT to adopt this LOCAL RULE as we feel it takes away the skill of hitting your next shot in play.
Head Golf Professional
The Brickyard Golf Club