MODERNIZING GOLF'S RULES

Major Proposed Changes March 1, 2017

No penalty for accidentally moving your ball during search.

No penalty for accidentally moving your ball or ball-marker on the putting green.

New standard to determine if you caused your ball to move.

When the original location of a ball is not known, replace the ball on its estimated spot.

The focus of the new dropping procedure would be on a specific “relief area” of either 20 or 80 inches from a reference point or reference line.

The only requirement will be for you to hold the ball above the ground and let it go so that it falls through the air before coming to rest.

The ball must come to rest in the relief area where it was dropped, or else the ball must be redropped.

The relief area will be measured by a fixed distance of either 20 or 80 inches from the reference point or the reference line.

A ball is lost if not found in three minutes (rather than the current 5 minutes).

Relief allowed without penalty for an embedded ball anywhere (except in sand) in the “general area” (a new term for “through the green”).

After your ball has been lifted and replaced, you would always replace your ball on its original spot, even if it was blown by the wind or moved for no clear reason.

Repair of almost any damage allowed on the putting green (including spike marks and animal damage).

No penalty for touching your line of play on the putting green so long as doing so does not improve the conditions for your stroke.

No penalty if your ball played from the putting green (or anywhere else) hits the unattended flagstick in the hole.

Areas of desert, jungle, lava rock, etc. (in addition to areas of water) may now be marked as red or yellow “penalty areas.”

No penalty for moving loose impediments, touching the ground, or grounding your club in a penalty area.

Committees are given the discretion to mark any penalty area as red so that lateral relief is always allowed.

Relief from a red penalty area no longer allowed on the opposite side from where the ball last entered the penalty area.

Relief allowed outside a bunker for an unplayable ball for two penalty strokes.

A club damaged during a round can continue to be used, even if you damaged it in anger.

You will not be allowed to replace a damaged club during a round if you were responsible for the damage.

A caddie may lift and replace a player’s ball on the putting green without the player’s specific authorization to do so.

A new “Maximum Score” form of stroke play is recognized, where a player’s score for a hole is capped at a max score.

Committees are given authority to adopt their own code of player conduct and to set penalties for breaches of that code.

When you have good reason to mark and lift your ball, you are no longer required to first announce your intention.

A player’s reasonable judgment will not be second-guessed based on later evidence.