There are 3 main reasons for having Broken Joe Golf rules:

1. So we all play within the same rules.

2. So we do not allow any player to have an unfair advantage over his / her competitors.

3. The pace of play.

Last Sunday (and Thursday) there was some drama over whether or not a flagstick can be in the hole while putting from the green. From my perspective, it doesn’t matter because there is no clear advantage or disadvantage. As it turns out, the PGA thinks the same way as your Commissioner:

2019 Rule: Under Rule 13.2a(2):

• There will no longer be a penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits a flagstick left in the hole.

• Players will not be required to putt with the flagstick in the hole; rather, they will continue to have the choice to have it removed (which includes having someone attend the flagstick and remove it after the ball is played).

Reasons for Change:

Allowing a player to putt with the flagstick in the hole without fear of penalty should generally help speed up play.

When the players do not have caddies, the current Rule can result in considerable delay.

On balance it is expected that there should be no advantage in being able to putt with the unattended flagstick in the hole:

• In some cases, the ball may strike the flagstick and bounce out of the hole when it might otherwise have been holed, and

• In other cases, the ball may hit the flagstick and finish in the hole when it might otherwise have missed.

When looking at a breach of a rule, other than a specific Broken Joe Golf written rule, the question you need to ask yourself is: Was the breach of a rule done on purpose and in order to have an unfair advantage over his / her competitors?

Another topic of discussion was Rock teeing off in front of the tee markers.

1. Did Rock know that he had teed up his ball in front of the tee markers?

2. Did anyone say something when Rock first teed up his ball?

3. Did Rock tee the ball up in front of the tee markers in order to have an advantage over his competitors?

Did Rock REALLY have an advantage over his competitors by teeing up a ball less than an inch in front of ONE of the tee markers? Of course not. Now if Rock had teed his ball up in front of the tee markers because it was a flatter spot THEN that would be an advantage over his competitors.

For example, Jake teed his ball up about 3 yards behind the tee markers because from that distance he had the perfect club. He clearly now has an advantage over his fellow competitors. For that reason, we added a (pga) rule that everyone knows and understands.

BJG Rule #3. Teeing Ground

The "teeing ground" is the starting place for the hole to be played. It is a rectangular area two club-lengths in depth, the front and the sides of which are defined by the outside limits of two tee-markers. A ball is outside the teeing ground when all of it lies outside the teeing ground.

The current Rules of Golf published and approved by the United States Golf Association and the R&A Rules Limited consists of over 200 pages covering 34 rules in-depth. Do we really need to know every one of them to play Broken Joe Golf? How much time will that take to research and find each rule along with its subtopics?

As always, I am open for a discussion of the rules, whether we need to add one, delete one or update one but common sense must be one of our first rules.

The three most ignored rules that I see week in and week out are:

BJG rule 5.1 - You have 3 minutes to look for your lost ball. At the end of 3 minutes your ball is lost, move on with your life.

BJG Rule 13. Mark your ball, hell, mark all of your balls. You must always know what ball you are hitting and your group must know what ball you’re hitting. Don’t be the guy that hits 2 balls into the woods and then pretends he found the first one or say “Oh yeah, I forgot I was playing ball x.” Just add a stroke or 2 and play on.

BJG Rule 14. You must finish every putt and call your score to the group before leaving putting green. You must turn in your scorecard.

On the other hand, I no longer get asked about roots or fences.

Respectfully,

Broken Joe

Commissioner