Kelowna Springs Golf Club pro shop staff, Sam Pridham, left, Sam Striker and Gary Scramstad, right, are always at the ready to assist with players' golf needs.

(STACY PAVLOV / iNFOnews.ca)

The game of golf has been around since the middle ages, and so have the rules. But soon, golfers of all levels will be playing a slightly different game.
     Starting January 1, 2019, the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Association are introducing a number of new, simplified rules to the game. The idea is to make golf more appealing to a broader range of people.
     “It’s not that stuffy game that is so often traditionally thought. The simplified rules will better recognize that 99 per cent of golf does not need to follow the same rules that we see on television at professional golf tournaments. The reality is many casual golfers don’t care too much about most of the rules,” says Kelowna Springs Golf Club General manager Ian Robertson.
     The 32 rules that govern the game, popularized in the 16th century due to its royal endorsement, will be reduced to 22 by next January.
     A couple of the most noted changes include the hole flag will now be permitted to stay in during a putt. Another will say that if a ball is lost, the golfer can just drop it on the fairway and proceed, with a two stroke penalty. In existing rules, explains Robertson, a golfer is expected to go back to where they played the shot that became the lost ball. “This often meant they were walking all the way back to the tee box.”
     Although the rules have evolved somewhat over the history of the game, these current changes have been long awaited. Some of the first recorded rules penned in or around 1744 may bring a chuckle now, especially with the style of English used, but they weren’t too far off from today’s rules. If a ball be ‘stopp’d’ by any person, horse or dog, or anything else, the ball so ‘stopp’d’ must be played where it ‘lyes’, for instance.
     Robertson, who’s been the GM at Kelowna Springs since 1995, is looking forward to the changes for members and the public who play at Kelowna Springs, the busiest full length course in Kelowna.
     “These simple changes will have positive effects on the pace of play and general ease of understanding the rules.”
     Of the 225 original members from 1990, 30 remain members at Kelowna Springs. “We have an unbelievable sense of community. It is an engaged membership,” says Robertson, who adds that the walkability of the course is also appealing to all levels.
     “Kelowna Springs Golf Club has, for many years, been very comfortable embracing the casual, less formal side of golf,” says Robertson.
     This is evident by the beginner, friendly, fun, casual nine-hole play opportunities that are super popular. So much so, that nearly 100,000 rounds of the game have been played during the Back Nine Breakfast Special available for the first 90 minutes of tee times every day. Vegas Fun Days are a hit every Monday and Tuesday from 3 p.m. This league especially pokes some fun at the stuffy rules of golf, “Don’t like your lie? Tee it up,”  “Ball too close to a tree? Kick it out.”
     The best part of Vegas Fun Days is there will be a winner of a $1,750 golf and Vegas prize package at the end of the year.
     Nine and Dine, a simple weekend afternoon of fun and value includes nine holes of golf and a dinner voucher, while Weekday Double Twilight offers the lowest regular 9 hole rate.
     Families can golf together, kids as young as six can come enjoy nine holes, ladies nights and men’s nights are all part of the fun environment. As well, there are of course plenty of 18-hole specials as well.
     For golfers who want variety, or who are visiting and would like to be challenged on a variety of Kelowna courses, Kelowna Springs is part of Play Golf Kelowna, which offers five courses and three practice ranges for one incredible value.
     For more information on the new golf rules, check out www.rules.golf. For details on Kelowna Springs and their programs, visit www.kelownasprings.com/specials/

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