There are some rules in golf that can make players’ blood boil when they’re out on the course.
At one point or another we’ve all fumed at having to take three off the tee after hitting your first shot out of bounds. Or our ball has landed in a footprint in the bunker and we’ve not been allowed to fix the lie. Some rules just make no sense.
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Among those rules are the fairway divot rule. If you hit your ball in the middle of the fairway but it lands in a divot, you cannot take a free drop. You have to simply accept a terrible lie. It seems unfair, and punishes a good shot.
But Michael Kim shared a controversial take about why this golf rule does not need to change.
Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images
Michael Kim defends fairway divot rule
Many golfers insist that if your ball lands in another player’s divot in the middle of the fairway you should get free relief. You should not be punished for hitting the ball where the golf course wants you to hit it.
However, during a Q&A on X, Kim gave an alternative opinion, explaining why he thinks the rule should stay how it is.
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He was asked about the rule, and replied to an X user: “I don’t think you deserve a perfect lie just because you hit the fairway. It rarely happens and it becomes tough to determine where and what a divot starts and ends.”
You obviously get bad breaks in golf, it’s part of the game, but the sport is hard enough as it is. Why punish players for no reason?
It’s one thing saying this as a professional who hits the majority of his fairways, but most amateurs rejoice at the chance of taking a shot from the short stuff. It’s truly heartbreaking stuff when you arrive at your ball and see it in a divot, so that’s why the rule must change.
Michael Kim says there’s not much that can be done about slow play
Another issue which is plaguing golf, especially at the professional level, is slow play. PGA Tour pros are consistently taking over five hours to complete their rounds. Fans are desperate for a solution to this epidemic which is making the product far more difficult to watch.
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A shot clock has been suggested by some, and others have asked the tour to enforce their current slow play rules more strictly, docking shots from repeat offenders.
But when asked on X, Kim said there’s not much that can be done to solve the issue. He said, “It’s way more of a traffic problem or like a toll gate. It’s not really about slow play. It’s about the number of groups on a golf course at a given time. Not much you can do honestly”.
Kim may be right on one thing, there are simply too many players on the course at some of these events. Some majors have a 156-man field, so getting them through the golf course in a timely manner is bound to be a challenge.
However, watching some players take minutes to hit their shots is a painful experience, and there’s clearly things that can be done to speed them up. The moment the tour starts to dock shots instead of giving warnings, they will take their shots quickly, no doubt about it.
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Kim gave his thoughts on two golf rules, and got it totally wrong on both of them unfortunately!
Read the full article here