The rules of golf have come under considerable scrutiny of late, and every time someone dares suggest that maybe these tweedy rules are a little bit too restrictive and absurd, the purists rise up as one and scream TRADITION! RESPECT! HONESTY IS WHAT MAKES GOLF THE BEST SPORT EVER! And on and on. We wonder, then, how the purists will react to criticism of golf's rules from a rather notable source: the Golden Bear himself.
"Probably the whole book of the rules of golf should be changed. If you try to figure it out, it should be common sense, yet common sense never seems to prevail. A USGA rules official said that it was much more difficult to pass the test to be a rules official than it was to pass the bar exam. There's no reason for that. The game should be simple. People should be able to understand the rules and the rules should be common sense."
Yep, that's Jack Nicklaus, the guy who's embodied the best that golf has to offer for half a century, saying that the rules of golf are flat-out ridiculous. What say you now, purists?
Nicklaus was speaking to the Golf Channel's new "Morning Drive" (nice choice of a title, that) show when he took his shot at the rules. Obviously, he wasn't being critical for the sake of being critical; the man just wants more people to play golf. Is that so wrong?
Conversation turned to Nicklaus's own golf game -- amazingly, he doesn't believe he's played a full round since walking off the 18th at St. Andrews in 2005. And as for the eternal Jack-vs.-Tiger Woods question? "[F]or all intents and purposes, my career was over at 40," Nicklaus said. "I never really worked at it like I should have worked at it. Had I known Tiger was coming along, maybe I would have worked a little harder."
Fine stuff from one of the best in the game. For the full interview, click here to go to Golf Channel's Morning Drive site.
Jack Nicklaus interview [Morning Drive/Golf Channel]
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