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THE
USGA AND THE R&A ON THE SAME PAGE
The Rules of
Golf are revised only every four years by the United States Golf
Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews,
Scotland.
All of us who
opt to use the Rules of Golf in everyday play do so because we respect
the USGA and the R&A and because we recognize that uniformity
in golf is eminently desirable. The revision schedule assures that
rhe Rules will not be changed on a whim. Rather, the Rules changing
process is an involved, laborious one, which must end in an agreement
between the USGA and the R&A. If one body is not in favor of
a particular proposed amendment, that Rule will not be changed.
Imagine the
chaos that would exist if there were, as some have suggested, different
rules for professional and amateur golf, or if each country had
its own unique set of rules. It is this uniformity and worldwide
acceptance of the rules that allows us to compare our rounds to
those of the top players and to appreciate a tournament played on
the other side of the world.
In the history
of the Rules of Golf, these are the landmark years: 1744, when the
first code was written; 1952, when the USGA and R&A first issued
a uniform set of rules for the world; and 1984, when the rules were
reorganized.
Let’s
take one golf term with deep roots in the history of the Rules of
Golf, “Rub of the Green.” The term originated in another
game played on a green. Sixteenth-century records document the use
of the term “rub” in lawn bowling, when it refers to
the deflection of the ball by some unevenness of the surface of
a bowling green, a deflection from which no dispensation was given.
In golf, the term “rub of the green” appeared first
in the 1812 R&A code:
Whatever happens to a ball by accident must be reckoned a rub of
the green.
The wording
for “rub of the green,” like other terms and rules,
has changed many times over the years. Keeping up with the Rules
of Golf can be difficult even for the most avid Rules of Golf buffs.
For other questions
on the Rules of Golf, check out the other articles in NOGA's USGA
Rules Corner! Play well, and get to know the Rules of Golf!
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