Golf: What are Recreational rules and when should they be used?
A: The vast majority of golfers are never going to be proficient enough to compete at a championship level, and they therefore should not be subject to the same strict traditional rules, many of which really slow down the “Pace of Play” unnecessarily. Golfers who have no interest in establishing a USGA handicap, and who want to speed up the game should use “recreational rules” instead, especially on courses that use “Pace Rules” where you will be kicked off the course if you are playing too slowly (they actually time you!).
The term “recreational rules” came up during the recent debate over the Callaway ERC driver, where Arnold Palmer mentioned the ERC driver should be allowed for “recreational golf”. Since most recreational golfers are not likely to ever compete on the PGA Tour, there is no harm in using the ERC or any other “illegal” club. Just as metal bats are illegal for major league baseball, but legal for all other levels.
It makes no sense to complain about Pace if you adhere to rules that slow the desired pace, and also the rules that make the game less fun, such as nit-picky penalties assessed for petty reasons that have little to do with a golfer’s performance, and ruin the spirit of friendly competition.
Friendly competition should be settled by relative skills, not by penalty strokes for reasons unrelated to skills. Otherwise, all of us should go to the nearest police station and insist on being penalized for every time we drove our car over the speed limit, and insist that everyone else do the same. Time can be wasted while golfers are in a petty debate over a rule interpretation. You should not have to hire a Philadelphia lawyer as your caddy to assure compliance. Here is a sample set of Recreational Rules:

…As a general rule of thumb, an infraction should only be a penalty if an unfair advantage was gained.

…Do not use the “honors” system. Instead play “ready golf” and hit whenever you are ready, as long as you are not distracting another player by doing so.

…To avoid confusion and time-wasting debates, all unplayable lie or lost-ball ball penalties should be only one stroke, not two strokes, and certainly never stroke and distance. This makes provisional balls unnecessary, thereby speeding up play. If golfer A loses a ball in a lateral water hazard, while golfer B loses a ball out of bounds, or unplayable lie, it makes no sense to have a one stroke penalty in one case, and a two stroke penalty in the other case. In all cases for our league, you drop another ball nearest the spot where the ball left the playing area (within 2 club lengths), with a one-stroke penalty, and this will improve the pace of play.

…Improving your lie is allowed within a 6-inch (arbitrary) radius. Pace can only be slowed by bad shots resulting from bad lies. It makes little sense to make recreational golfers hit from bad lies when they cannot even hit good shots consistently from good lies. Trying to hit from bad lies will only ruin whatever confidence they are trying to build. Recreational golfers usually play on public courses which are not as nicely manicured as the courses used for formal competitions, so they already at a disadvantage. Having to hit a ball from a divot hole is no reward for a good drive, and there are many more divot holes, crabgrass clumps, and dry-pans on public courses than on upscale courses. You may have noticed on some TV tournaments that due to unfavorable conditions, players were allowed to “clean and place” their ball in the fairways. To be realistic, their conditions are not likely to be as “unfavorable” as conditions !on public courses, so why can’t the average golfers do the same? Some pros have refused to play on courses where the grass is cut too high or the greens will not hold a shot as well as they are accustomed to. Average golfers have little choice but to accept such conditions, they have to carry their own clubs, read their own putts, judge their own distances, find their own balls without help from caddies and forecaddies, and pay their own fees, so give them a break.

…The rule for repairing greens should include the repair of spike marks or other types of damage. It makes no sense to allow repair of ball marks and at the same time not allow repair of spike marks. You should not be penalized for the carelessness of those ahead of you. Same thing for footprints in a sand trap. Golfer A and Golfer B both hit their balls into the same trap. One is in a nasty footprint while the other is not. That is not a fair outcome for two similar shots. The luck factor comes into play instead of shot-making. (Another example - your buddy is in the rough with a perfect lie, and you are in the middle of the fairway with goose poop all over your ball. This is supposed to be more of a game of skill rather than luck).

…Recreational golfers should be able to clean the ball anytime anywhere, except in a hazard. Getting mud on your ball is only bad luck and is not related to your skill. Hitting a muddy ball can only slow the Pace.

…The penalty for a ball hitting the flagstick on a long putt should not apply to recreational golf, as that can only slow the pace of play for the time it takes for someone to walk over and tend the flagstick for long putts, and then walk back to their own ball, while instead they could have been saving time reading their own putts.

…No need to assess a penalty if a ball accidentally strikes another ball on the green. Both parties are equally guilty for not getting the ball marked.

…Conclusion - In summary, many recreational golfers do not get to play as often as they would like, so why should they have a good round ruined by unlucky bad lies and unintentional rule violations? Let them enjoy the game, and at the same time give us all a quicker pace of play. (see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)