Jack Nicklaus is one of the most respected people in the professional game due to the incredible success that he achieved throughout his career.
Nicklaus won an incredible 73 PGA Tour events during his time in the game, including a record haul of 18 major championships.
The now 85-year-old is often very outspoken on current topics in the world of professional golf and he never minces his words.
Nicklaus always speaks his mind when it comes to rule changes that he believes would benefit the game.
What is the one golf rule you would change if you had the opportunity?
There are numerous golf rules which are antiquated and some which simply don’t make sense.
One rule in particular which has been in place since the sport began has been the target of heavy criticism recently.
And Nicklaus has been calling for it to be changed for some time now.
Jack Nicklaus urged the USGA to change ‘unfair’ golf rule but they didn’t listen
As the professional game continues to evolve, numerous rules and regulations which are not fit for purpose will have to change.
However, one rule that Nicklaus has an issue with is probably one that will never be changed by the USGA and the R&A.
When speaking about one rule that he would love to see changed back in 2011, Nicklaus urged the USGA to address the fairway divot issue.
“Well, you know, I never thought it was fair,“ he said.
“If you watch television and you watch the Tour players play, and you watch their ball run through the fairway, particularly on short par fours or par 5s where they’re laying up.
“And you’ve got hundreds of divots there that have got sand in them, and you say, ‘oh, there goes the ball, oh, he ended up in the sand divot, he’ll have a tough shot with this one’.
“You’ve hit this great tee shot and you walk down there and you go, ‘oh’.
“The player would much rather play out of a replaced divot or no divot, he can play a shot, but to take it a substance that is artificial for that area…I mean, you’ve normally got soil on the ground. It’s normally hard, and then you put sand on top of it, it’s another surface you’re putting in there, and it’s soft, and the ball settles into it.
“I just think it’s unfair. I think it’s ground under repair, because you put the sand there to repair the grass.
“The guy who’s playing golf on a daily basis, he has half the fairway where he lays up his tee shot that is just half sand.
“No, it’s tough.“
The argument AGAINST free relief from fairway divots
Many people, Nicklaus included, believe that it’s totally unfair to be punished after hitting the perfect tee shot down the middle of the fairway.
However, there is one good reason why golfers do not get relief from fairway divots.
The line between what is a divot and what isn’t is simply too fine.
If players were handed free relief from divots in the fairway, the rule would be left far too open to interpretation.
Does the rule on mud balls if you hit the fairway need changing?
Let’s say that grass has partially grown back over an old divot.
Does the player whose ball ended up in that old divot receive a free drop? Or is he made to play it?
The main reason why the ‘play it as it lies’ rule was implemented in the first place was to take any uncertainty out of the decision-making.
If golf’s governing bodies changed the rule so that golfers were handed free drops from divots in the fairway, the already painful pace of play on the PGA Tour would become even worse.
The PGA Tour need to find a way to speed up the game, not slow it down. The fairway divot rule will not be changing anytime soon, and that’s a good thing.