Rules of golf to update and modernize the Rules, media outlets considered the ruling to be a response to an incident from the 2017 ANA Inspiration tournament, where Lexi Thompson was retroactively penalized four strokes from her third round score for mis-placing a ball, as reported by a television viewer, going as far as nicknaming it the "Lexi Thompson rule". Rules of golf The rules of golf consist of a standard set of regulations and procedures by which the sport of golf should be played and prescribe penalties for rule infractions. They are jointly written and administered by the R&A (spun off from
Holding the ball win the ball, then earn a free kick by tackling them; such a practice is considered to be against the spirit of the game as a contest. Changes to the rule throughout history have generally been brought about by moving undesirably close to one of these extremes, but many observers have differing opinions on which is the less desirable outcome and what the optimum interpretation would be. The holding the ball rule has its origins in Rule 8 of the Melbourne rules, the rule which placed limitations on a player's freedom to run with the ball. By the early 1870s,