Is Stroke And Distance Too Harsh A Penalty For Going Out Of Bounds?

Yes - says Fergus Bisset

This is one of the Rules of Golf I’ve struggled with over the years because I just don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think you should face a penalty shot for hitting a ball out of bounds, or OOB.

Here’s my reasoning. If you stand on a tee, make a wild swing and produce an air shot, there is no penalty and you simply try again, hitting your second shot.

If you make a great swing and hit a strong shot that drifts on the breeze, takes an unkind bounce and just creeps OOB, you then have to play three from the tee. That’s simply not fair in my opinion.

My view is that if you hit a shot that goes OOB, you should play again from the same spot with no penalty. You’re already facing a penalty of sorts as you have gained no distance.

Alternatively, I wouldn’t be averse to the concept of treating OOB similarly to a red penalty area. That would give you the option of taking a lateral drop, under penalty of one shot, from the point where your ball crossed the out of bounds line. This could also help with pace of play – something which we should all be thinking about improving within the game.

I think it would make golf more exciting if there were no penalty for OOB, or if the lateral drop were an option. Players would be more inclined to take on a difficult driving hole or cut a corner. In the pro game it would make for more jeopardy and the possibility for players to make up ground if they were chasing a lead.

For amateurs, it would make for greater enjoyment and the chance to really go for it without so much fear of being penalised. My view is that the OOB penalty should be scrapped!

We put the same question to our X followers...

No – Says Jeremy Ellwood

A golf course has boundaries and if you hit your ball beyond them, clearly there must be a penalty as it is no longer on the course. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a millimetre over the line or 100 yards the other side of a barbed-wire fence in the deep, impenetrable jungle – a miss is as good as a mile.

The penalty system within the Rules of Golf is largely graded according to perceived seriousness – one stroke for lesser crimes and two for greater transgressions. I would say that hitting your ball beyond the boundaries of the course constitutes a fairly major mess-up on your part.

Out of bounds in an interesting one as it kind of sits between the two penalties in a sense. Technically, it’s one stroke, but of course, if feels like two because you also lose all the distance achieved with the wayward shot and have to go again from where you last played.

But I have to say that I’ve been playing golf for 40+ years and have never once considered that unfair. It is what it is – do the crime, do the time and all that.

Perhaps modern-day attitudes towards fairness and punishment lie at the heart of any call for change here. “I didn’t do much wrong. Why am I being so harshly treated?” says the driver caught doing 36mph in a 30 zone. Well, it’s because the big sign with the red ring round it said 30, my friend.

This is a tricky one to argue as you either feel aggrieved about it or you don’t, and if you’re in the latter camp, as I am, it’s quite hard to see why it’s an issue. If it bothers you, the best solution, of course, is to always keep your ball within the boundaries of the golf course.