Can rules changes save golf from decline?

Have you heard? They’re changing the rules of golf to make it a little more fun to play, a tiny bit easier and a tad less time- consuming. If you hate being in the sand, for instance, you can now pick up your ball and move it out of the bunker, a rule change that some of us have been testing out for years.

You can leave the flagstick in the hole when putting if you’d like, and the time allowed to search for a lost ball would go from five minutes to three, which is going to be a shock to the four guys in front of us recently who spent more time exploring the woods than actually playing the game.

The powers that be in golf — the U. S. Golf Association and the so aptly named Royal & Ancient — surprised us all Wednesday by announcing sweeping changes for a game that prides itself on being the antithesis of change. It’s all such a jolt that the biggest takeaway for me is this:

Golf is in more trouble than we thought.

For the past handful of years, the game has been hemorrhaging participants. In 2015, there was a decrease of 600,000 golfers, from 24.7 million to 24.1 million, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Complaints are that it’s too hard, too expensive, too timeconsuming, too elitist, too sexist and too racist.

Other than that, it’s the perfect sport for the 21st century.

For years, the golf establishment has stood by and watched as young people who should be taking up or at least trying golf have been lost to other sports. In particular, I’m picturing young women, millions of them, with more millions on the way, all of them having played sports for their entire lives because of Title IX, now in their 20s and 30s with decades of athletic activity ahead of them.

Are they flocking to golf? Of course they are not. They don’t think it’s for them.

Why don’t they think it’s for them? Because for generations, the men who run golf and some of its most prestigious clubs haven’t wanted anything to do with them. They built male- only clubs and fought very public fights to keep them that way. Some of them refuse to change to this day. Any girl or woman interested in sports knows all about that and has way too many other options now. Well done, guys.

So let’s change the rules instead. I’m loving this new rule about removing your ball from the bunker. The golf gods say if you do that, you’ll need to take a two- stroke penalty and then you can place the ball in the fairway or the rough behind the bunker. From there, you can take your next shot, which is likely to go right back into the bunker.

Some of these rules seem aimed at weekend hackers, others at touring pros. I particularly like the new rule that a caddie will no longer be allowed to line up a player, which will finally do away with the ridiculous scene on the LPGA tour, played out over and over again, of caddies telling the best golfers on the planet that they are aimed the right way. It’s a bad look and a colossal waste of time. Enough already.

Another great idea is to allow players only 40 seconds to play their shot. I’m not sure the pros are going to go for this one, but I do think a shot clock could be a huge hit on television.

And for those slow guys in front of my next golf game, get ready. We’re loudly counting you down.

ERIK S. LESSER, EPA Can’t get out of that bunker? A proposed rule would allow golfers to remove their ball from the trap for a two- stroke penalty.