THE NEW RULES OF
GOLF FOR 2019
WHAT IT MEANS FOR INDIA
As the apex body for Golf, in India,
recognised by the Ministry of youth Affairs &
Sports (MYAS), Government of India, as the
National Sports Federation and as the offi cial
“affi liate” of the R&A and the USGA (for
handicapping), the IGU is charged with the
task of implementing the Rules in India. By
agreement with the R&A , all Rules queries
received by them, will also be directed to the
IGU for response.
Our Rules Schools, since 2012, have been
a standout success and we are the 1st country
to run the R&A’s Rules schools in English,
China having started earlier but wholly in the
Chinese language. We have also run Rules
Schools for and on behalf of the R&A in other
countries as well.
As someone who spent 7 years on the
R&A’s Rules of Golf Committee (ROGC)
and closely involved in producing the new
Rules, starting 2019, I am indeed gratifi ed at
the results. True, traditionalists like me had
a hard time, at fi rst, accepting that radical
changes were to be made but when the ethos
of why these changes needed to be made
were fully understood, we had no trouble in
quickly embracing the changes.
While the 24 Rules (down from the 34 that
Ishwar Achanta
Ishwar Achanta, International Golf Referee, Council
Member & Chairman - Technical, Rules & Amateur Status
Committee of the Indian Golf Union, Former Advisory
Member of the R&A’s Rules of Golf Committee.
we had) absorbed many erstwhile Decisions,
the simplifi cation of the rules meant that
many Decisions were shown the door. This
augurs well for those us, who administer
the game since we have less situations to
remember and deal with! Over the last two
decades
of administering the game, I have
c
been confronted with queries on why the
Rules were so absurd and I would take pains
to explain the logic behind a particular Rule,
which served to confound the querist. While
the new Rules were written with the intent to
get a, complete, new comer, interested and
unafraid to take up this game, for the regular
golfer, life has been made easier without
having to remember each Rule, chapter and
verse.
MAJOR CHANGES
The R&A and USGA have produced a very
interesting summary chart listing some of
the major changes which is appended to this
column.
BYE BYE OCTOPUS
To me, the most signifi cant is the method
of dropping a ball. From shoulder height to
dropping from knee height has a huge effect
since it has compressed current Rule 20 to
18 G o l f P l u s
DECEMBER
2018