The Five Most Controversial Rules in Golf

The Rules of Golf are there to protect and to help golfers. Sometimes Rules can even work in your favour… OK, not that often, but the occasional free drop can occasionally save your bacon.

Often though, the Rules can seem a little harsh and sometimes it’s even difficult to believe the situations you find yourself in with the Rules working against you. Here are five of the most controversial Rules in golf.

No Relief From Divot Holes in Fairway

You’ve struck one beautifully, right out of the middle and it’s flown straight as an arrow down the centre cut. You’re going to be in "position A" for attacking the flag. Good work.

But, when you get down there, you find your ball has come to rest in a two-inch deep divot hole. It’s basically unplayable. Surely you must get relief from there. Surely, it’s an abnormal course condition…

Nope. There is no relief from a divot hole. Even if it’s in the fairway, you must play it as it lies. It’s not an abnormal course condition; it’s simply part of the course. Bad luck.

Stroke and distance penalty for Out of Bounds

It’s one of your author’s least favourite Rules. Rule 18.2 says that when a ball is Out of Bounds, you must take stroke and distance relief. That means if your tee shot has gone OOB then you must re-tee and play three from there.

In the opinion of many, it’s too harsh a penalty. If you missed the ball completely on the tee, you would only be playing two. But if you strike it well and narrowly go beyond the white stakes, you are playing three. Harsh.

No Relief For Embedded Ball in another plug mark

At this year’s US Open, Shane Lowry was frustrated when he wasn’t granted relief for an embedded ball. The reason – The ball was below the level of the ground, but it was in somebody else’s plug mark.

The ball had jumped and rolled and fallen into a plug mark made by another player.

Rule 16.3(2) says that a ball is embedded only if it’s in its own pitch mark made as a result of the player’s previous stroke.

It’s a really tough one that, if you find the fairway but roll into a plug mark made by another golfer, there’s no relief.

No Relief From Totally Flooded Bunker

If you find yourself in temporary water in a bunker, you are entitled to free relief, so long as you take a drop in the bunker.

But, if the entire bunker is flooded, and there’s no way to play the shot or to take any sort of drop within the bunker, your only option is to take penalty relief outside the bunker.

That’s a tough and controversial Rule. In this writer's opinion, bunkers should not be penalty areas, you should have an opportunity to extricate yourself from the sand without penalty and if it's not possible to do so, you should get a free drop.

Penalty For Teeing Off Early

It’s fine that you should be penalised for arriving late on the tee and Rule 5.3 does this. If you arrive at the tee after your time but are no later than five minutes then you receive the General Penalty (two shots in stroke play, loss of hole in match play).

If you are over five minutes late – you are disqualified. That’s quite harsh but that’s another matter.

The one that is really controversial is that you will also receive a General Penalty under 5.3 if you tee off 30 seconds early. And if you tee off more than five minutes early, you're disqualified.

That’s a controversial one for sure. What harm does it do if the tee is free and you elect to get away a couple of minutes early?

If you do want to do that, be sure to get permission from the committee (probably the professional or starter) before you do, or you’ll fall foul of 5.3.