On average, does knowing the rules add or subtract strokes...

[jjj912]

 

My experience is that knowing the rules well hurts the typical golfer from a scoring perspective, for sure.  That's because knowing them A) means you incur penalty strokes you otherwise wouldn't know you incurred and B) when taking relief is much more likely to put you in a worse lie than you would otherwise select.

 

For example, where tree cover and terrain creates rocky hard pan lies, I've seen many golfers roll the ball into the grass.  If you had no education in the rules, then you might think free relief from such lies was permissible.  Knowing the rules would force you to either take a penalty stroke or play off the hardpan.  

 

Another example, I've seen many golfers lose a ball, drop a ball in the fairway, and take only one penalty stroke.  If you had no education in the rules, then you might think this was correct procedure.  Knowing the rules would force you to either take two penalty strokes (Local Rule) or the stroke and distance penalty.

 

Another example, I've seen golfers play a ball that was OB as if it was in play.  If you had no education in the rules, then you might know that the white stakes marked OB and that play from OB is against the rules.  Knowing the rules would force you to either take two penalty strokes (Local Rule) or the stroke and distance penalty.

 

Offhand, about the only scenario I can think of where a golfer who better understood the rules might have a lower score is when a golfer encounters a lousy lie in an area that is ground under  repair but the golfer doesn't recognize it as GUR (or even know that GUR is a thing).  The problem, however, is that this circumstance and many other circumstances where knowing the rules would help, are circumstances that don't occur very often relative to the bad lie/lost ball/ball OB scenarios I've described above.

 

One caveat to the above comments is that these are based on non-tournament play.  In my limited tournament experience, the players' rules knowledge and application is a lot better, though I still experience some combination of shock and amusement when I'm at a tournament and someone asks the TD if the players are to "play the ball down" or when the TD feels compelled to emphasize that point unprompted.  

 

[Unrelated side rant:  I played in a "tournament" last year put on by a semi-public golf course.  I get there and it's organized and everything and it looks promising.  The TD runs through the housekeeping items before we tee off (shotgun start).  Near end of the speech, the TD makes a remark that is something along the lines of "we're here to have fun, so if you get a bad lie, just roll it into in a better spot".  I could only roll my eyes and think to myself "Gee, I paid extra for a tournament and now you are telling me I paid extra for a round of golf I could experience every other weekend for much less money".  I played and had a good time, but I decided then I'd only play in tournaments that were hosted by the state golf association. /end of unrelated side rant]