If you’re determined to play golf during the coronovirus shutdown of most other activities – and you’re a stickler for the rules of golf – the United States Golf Association wants to be flexible when it comes to recording rounds for handicap purposes or in friendly games where the competitors don’t want to lose too much of the spirit of the rules to the reality of the times.
Of course if you and your buddies take mulligans off the tee, roll the ball in the fairway, flip it casually to the ground after hitting into a hazard and gratefully accept 4-foot “gimmee” putts, no need to change anything.
Purists should read on.
First and foremost, the USGA said in a statement released on Friday that it applauds golf course owners and operators who keep their courses open within the bounds of what local civic leaders allow (California included golf courses along with the shutdown of non-essential services), and with safety in mind, such as minimizing exposure to surfaces such as flagsticks, rakes, carts, scorecards and golf equipment.
“We all love the game for the escape it provides, and it is our great hope that we will all be able to play it, watch it and enjoy it together soon,” the statement said. “We continue to urge everyone to follow the guidelines from health and governmental officials to keep you and those around you safe, and to minimize any possible exposure to coronavirus. We all need to do our part to respect expert advice and make the right decisions to protect each other.”
Golf courses have relaxed some of the rules with safety in mind. Most notably, many have turned cups upside down within the holes, or placed a piece of the foam pool noodles at the bottom of the pin to keep one set of hands after another from reaching into holes to retrieve their balls.
Each group or individual player decides whether a putt is holed or not. Jacksonville Beach Golf Club director of golf Bruce Mohler estimated this week that when the club did 272 rounds of golf one day, there could have been nearly 5,000 instances of hands coming into contact with the cup and the flagstick. Since studies have shown that the coronavirus can linger on hard surfaces for hours or days, the math is clear – keeping players from reaching into the cup is a significant safeguard.
Given that, the USGA has a temporary measure in place in the U.S. to accept scorecards played under those conditions for handicap purposes, “using the most likely score guidelines, even though the player has not holed out.”
The USGA said the practice will be allowed until players are otherwise informed.
The issue of not touching the flagstick was an easy one for golfers: the USGA changes its rules at the beginning of 2019, allowing players to putt with the flagstick left in the hole. While most professional and high-caliber amateurs take the flagstick out, other accomplished players such as Adam Scott leave it in.
The changes to the 2019 rules also gave each local committee (club officials or rules officials) the flexibility to modify competition. For example, the committee can rule that white out-of-bounds stakes result in dropping within two club lengths of where the ball crossed the line, and taking a stroke penalty, rather than going back to the original spot from where the player hit, and taking a stroke penalty, plus distance.
The USGA also allows for a local rule that enables players to take drops from bunkers (no nearer the hole) and take a two-stroke penalty. Since most clubs are taking bunker rakes off the course as a safety procedure, it fits neatly within guidelines already set down by the rulesmakers.
The USGA has often been accused of being too rigid in its application of the rules. But the organization said some give is required for golfers as long as the coronavirus crisis continues.
“This flexibility will prove to be very helpful as Committees look to address many of the challenges they are facing within the current environment,” the USGA said in the statement. “While the Committee Procedures section is a tremendous resource and has much to offer, many of the current questions were not originally contemplated under the Rules of Golf and therefore there is no history or guidance provided.”
The USGA has published a complete set of guidelines for playing by the rules during the coronavirus at usga.org.