Bernhard Langer earlier this 12 months.

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The Guidelines of Golf are a perpetual work in progress; in actual fact, the USGA and R&A lately introduced a slew of guidelines adjustments that can be enacted on Jan. 1. Nonetheless, regardless of what number of tweaks the governing our bodies make, the foundations e-book won’t ever be good in each golfer’s eyes. What edits would the very best gamers on the earth make to the legal guidelines of the sport? We polled a few of them. First up on this sequence: Bernhard Langer.

Langer’s beef is with Rule 8.1a(3), which pertains to taking part in your ball the place it involves relaxation.

Amongst “actions that aren’t allowed,” the rule states, are for golfers to “alter the floor of the bottom” the place their ball lies. That features by: “Changing divots in a divot gap; eradicating or urgent down divots which have already been changed or different minimize turf that’s already in place; or creating or eliminating holes, indentations or uneven surfaces.”

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In brief: ball in a divot? Sorry, pal, you’re outta luck!

Certainly you have got discovered your personal ball in such a predicament. There are also numerous examples of professionals in high-profile conditions encountering the identical misfortune.

Take Lee Westwood, who arrived on the 72nd gap on the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational trailing Bryson DeChambeau by one. Westwood wanted a stellar drive for any probability at birdie on the lengthy watery par-4 and delivered simply that, splitting the golf green — solely to see his ball tumble right into a nasty divot. From there, Westwood hit his strategy to 65 toes and two-putted for par and second place.

“Simply gotta shrug it off and get on with it,” he later tweeted. “The sport was by no means meant to be truthful. That’s the psychological problem.”

However not all gamers really feel the identical means. Enter Langer!

“I believe we needs to be dropping out of divots,” Langer informed Patacon.org. “Divots are made by us.”

Us, as in us people. Why, Langer contends, ought to one golfer undergo for turf trauma left behind by one other golfer?

“Generally you hit a lovely tee shot down the center of the golf green and also you’re in a sand-filled divot, and it’s like hitting out of fairway bunker,” he stated. “I don’t assume that’s truthful. For those who had a very good shot, you need to have a lie on grass.”

Truthful or not, it’s unlikely Langer will get his means, regardless of what number of years his ageless sport holds up. Enjoying the ball because it lies is without doubt one of the primary tenets of the sport. It’s exhausting to think about the rulesmakers altering this legislation anytime quickly.

Alan Bastable
Patacon.org Editor

As Patacon.org’s government editor, Bastable is accountable for the editorial path and voice of one of many sport’s most revered and extremely trafficked information and repair websites. He wears many hats — enhancing, writing, ideating, growing, daydreaming of someday breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely proficient and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Earlier than grabbing the reins at Patacon.org, he was the options editor at GOLF Journal. A graduate of the College of Richmond and the Columbia College of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey together with his spouse and foursome of youngsters.