R&A是全球高尔夫球规则的管理机构，《高尔夫球规则》意义重大，确保所有球员在比赛中遵守规则与礼仪，更重要的是，传承这项运动的精神，以下跟随京城高尔夫一起细数高球史上9次重大变更：

　　1. 关于妨碍击球的规则 The Stymie Rule

　　高尔夫不是可以打防御你的对手的运动!不过但曾有一段时间，防御性地干扰对手击球居然是被允许的。有很长一段时间，在进行比洞赛的时候，球员在果岭上是不可以移动自己的球的，就算这个球挡住了对手的推击线也一样。这时候被挡住推击线的球员就只能绕过这颗球或者把球挑起来越过“障碍球”。很残忍吧，直到1952年这条规则才被全面禁用。

　　Golf isn't a sport where you can play defense against your opponent, but once you could. For many years in singles match play, a person wasn't allowed to move his or her ball on the green even if it was directly in an opponent's path. A player facing the obstacle while trying to hole out was known as being "stymied." They could either try to putt around an opponent's ball or putt or chip over it. There were revisions to this rule over the years before it was totally abolished worldwide in 1952.

　　2.有关小白球的大小的规则 The Golf Ball Size Rule

　　1921年第一个关于高尔夫球的规格出现，要求是球不得重于1.62盎司，且直径不得小于1.62英寸，而此前由于没有统一规定，球的重量与尺寸一直是各式各样的。但是到了19881年的时候，USGA制定的直径1.68英寸的球成为了唯一一款合法的高尔夫球。现在很多高尔夫球制造商都想要通过改进小白球来增加击球距离，但对于这一点USGA和R&A似乎没有反应。

　　When it comes to golf balls, golfers today play a variety of brands and models -- they just don't come in all shapes and sizes anymore. Until 1974, the R&A allowed players to use a smaller ball (1.62 inches in diameter) in the British Open. In 1988, the ball was made illegal, and the USGA's 1.68 diameter model has been the only legal ball since. There has been talk about modifying the current ball to help curb distance, but nothing appears imminent at this point.

　　3. 拿起并擦拭球的规则 The Lift & Clean Rule

　　我们下场时，都理所当然地会在果岭上拿起并擦拭自己的球，不过在多年以前，此举可是很奢侈的。1950年著名的美浓公开赛延长赛中，劳伊德-曼格鲁姆由于在果岭上拾起小球擦拭，他被罚两杆。尽管美巡赛允许擦拭小球，但美国公开赛的主办方USGA对此有严格禁令，曼格伦为自己的想当然付出代价。当时的比杆赛，除非你的球挡住了另一球员的推击线，否则你是不能移动果岭上的球的(不过有些当地规则是允许这么做的)。十年后，1960年，USGA终于改变了这条规则：在标记了自己的球后，球员可以在果岭上拿起并擦拭自己的球。

　　We take marking, lifting and cleaning our golf balls for granted these days when we're on the green, but that wasn't always the case. Take the famous playoff at Merion in 1950 when Lloyd Mangrum was penalized two strokes on the 16th hole for lifting his ball to blow a bug off it. At the time, you could only lift a ball on the green in stroke play if it was in the way of another player putting (Some PGA-run events allowed a player to do so under a local rule). In 1960, the USGA changed the rule, allowing golfers to lift and clean their balls after marking on the green -- a decade too late for Mangrum.

　　4. 关于推击方式的规则 The Putting Stroke Rule

　　“长推杆禁令”可不是第一个为了限定推球方式而改变规则的首例。高尔夫球员会尝试任何可能的办法来提升自己的推杆成绩。早在长推杆问世之前，山姆-施耐德就使用过一种“槌击式”的推击方式。这种非正统的方法的确为他带来了好处，但是好景不长，1967年大师赛之后，鲍比-琼斯提出抗议，一个月之后USGA就立马禁止了再次使用这种推击方式。“如此奇怪的站姿和球杆，让高尔夫看上去像是另外一种运动了。”USGA的官员对此解释到。 嗯~ 听上去是不是很耳熟?

　　The anchoring ban isn't the first time the rules for putting methods have been altered. Golfers will try anything to improve their putting and long before long putters became en vogue, Sam Snead turned to a croquet-style stroke. The unorthodox method brought him success, but it was short-lived. Bobby Jones expressed his disapproval after Snead used it at the 1967 Masters and a little more than a month later, the USGA banned it, effective Jan. 1 the next year. "Bizarre stances and clubs were beginning to make it look like another game," then USGA Executive Director Joseph C. Dey Jr. said. Hmm. Sound familiar?

　　5. 抛球的规则　The Drop Rule

　　较早的时候，R&A曾规定抛球必须高过自己的头顶，或抛出六码以上的距离。知道1984年USGA才把此项规则改成了现在的样子：将手臂伸展至于肩部平行的高度然后抛球。这似乎足够简单了，因为在以前，单单一个抛球的问题都足够难住一大票职业球手。

　　When was finding a hazard even more embarrassing than it is now? When you had to drop the ball over your shoulder. In case you forgot or weren't alive, that was the procedure until 1984 (Much earlier R&A rules included dropPing a ball over your head or throwing it at least six yards), when the USGA changed it to what exists now: extending the arm at shoulder height and dropping (left). Seems golf's governing body made how to drop as simple as possible -- and that's a good thing since knowing where to drop can confuse even the world's best golfers.

　　6. 有关电视监督的规则　The TV Rule

　　高尔夫是唯一一项观众在家观赛也可以影响到比赛成绩的运动。 但最近针对观众在电视上发现的球员违反规则的处罚，得到了一些改善。规则33-7/4.5中提到，球员犯规后，就算现场逃过了同组和裁判的眼睛，被电视前的观众看到后仍将接受处罚。只是如果他上交记分卡之后被指认的话，将不必再被取消资格。

　　Golf remains the only sport where people at home can affect the outcome. But a recent change has made the potential penalty for a golfer less severe when fans watching on TV spot a rules violation. Thanks to rule 33-7/4.5, a USGA decision that kicked in before the 2012 season, a rules violation spotted on TV can still be penalized, but if it's not caught before a player signs his scorecard, he is no longer disqualified from the event.

　　7. 有关杆面沟槽的规则 The Grooves Rule

　　R&A表示他们与美国高尔夫协会联合进行了大量研究，结果证明当代的沟槽让球员在长草中也能获得与球道上一样的旋转。所有球杆，除了一号木和推杆之外，都将受到新规则的影响。修订后的规则不仅会限制沟槽的数量，还会限制沟槽边缘的锋利程度。

　　沟槽数量多可以给水或者草等物质开出更多通道，而沟槽边缘更锋利，杆面和小球能有更好的接触，从而有机会增加后旋的数量。此规则从2010年开始将在顶级职业运动中推行，而从2014年开始将在顶级业余运动中实施。“

　　In an effort to cut down on the amount of spin a player is able to generate, the USGA changed its conforming criteria for grooves. Essentially, the edges were softened and the shape was changed (above), to eliminate the U-groove or square groove. The move was made amid growing concern that too many players were employing a "bomb and gouge" strategy since they weren't being penalized enough for having to hit their approach shots from the rough. The new rule went into affect prior to the 2010 PGA Tour season and will be enforced in amateur golf beginning in 2016.

　　8. 关于风的规则　The Wind Rule

　　还记得那条过时的规则么：球员做好击球准备后，球被风或其他外来不可控因素移动的话，球员需要被罚杆? 事实上，知道2012年这条规则都仍然安稳地呆在规则书上面。不过当一批有影响力的球手都深受其害之后，USGA也开始让步了。现在你只需要在球的现有位置继续击打就好了，不需罚杆。

　　Remember that archaic rule that penalized players if wind or some other element beyond their control caused their ball to move on the green after they had addressed it? Actually, somehow that remained on the books until 2012. But after enough high-profile players were affected, most notably when Webb Simpson took a penalty for his ball moving before a tap-in that may have cost him the 2011 Zurich Classic (left), the USGA acted. Now, if a player addresses the ball and wind or gravity causes it to move, he plays it from the new spot with no penalty.

　　9. 关于“锚定球杆”的规则 The Anchoring Rule

　　禁令早就不是什么新闻了。而正式靠长推杆赢得自己唯一的大满贯头衔的基根-布拉德利、厄尼-埃尔斯以及亚当-斯科特加速了腹式推杆被禁的速度。

　　追究USGA和R&A以何种理由执行这道禁令已经毫无意义，下一个问题是，PGA Tour 是否会严格执行呢?

　　Golfers anchoring long putters to their bodies is nothing new. Those golfers finding success at the highest level is a recent trend, though. Keegan Bradley became the first player to win a major doing this at the 2011 PGA Championship and Webb Simpson (2012 U.S. Open), Ernie Els (2012 British Open) and Adam Scott (2013 Masters) have followed suit, which caused golf's governing body to take a closer look at the method. The USGA's new rule doesn't outlaw long putters, but it prohibits players from anchoring them to their body during the stroke. "This decision gets back to the USGA and R&A feeling that fundamentally golf for 600 years has been about picking up the club, gripping it with two hands and making a free swing away from the body," USGA Executive Director Mike Davis said. The next question is whether the PGA Tour and PGA of America -- two groups that have objected to this rule -- plan to comply?