The two main governing bodies in the game of golf have joined forces to announce proposals that will include the elimination of penalties for ball movement on the green, speeding up the general pace of play, and putting the onus on player integrity.

Sky Sports reports that the USGA, which governs the game of golf for the US and Mexico, and the R&A, which governs for the rest of the world, announced changes that will aim to simplify the game by cutting the number of main rules and definitions.

Some of the main proposals announced include the following:

Players will be encouraged to take no longer than 40 seconds per shot, along with the time being cut for finding lost balls from five minutes to three.

Penalty shots no longer need to be dropped from shoulder height.

There will be no penalty for accidentally moving a ball on the putting green or in searching for the ball, and a player is not responsible for causing a ball to move unless it is virtually certain that he or she did so.

There will be no penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits an unattended flagstick in the hole; players may putt without having the flagstick attended or removed.

There will be no penalty for moving loose impediments in a bunker or for generally touching the sand with a hand or club.

A player's reasonable judgement in terms of measuring or estimating a spot, line, area, or distance will be upheld, even if video evidence proves it to be wrong and an elimination of announcement procedures when lifting a ball to see whether identify or see whether it has been damaged.

In their official statement, they highlighted the following seven changes:

- Elimination or reduction of "ball moved" penalties
- Relaxed putting green rules
- Relaxed rules for "penalty areas" (currently called "water hazards")
- Relaxed bunker rules
- Relying on player integrity
- Pace-of-play support
- Simplified way of taking relief

David Rickman, the executive director of governance at the R&A, said that their aim is to make the rules easier to understand and to apply it for all golfers and they believe they have made significant improvements.

Thomas Pagel, who is Rickman's counterpart at the USGA concurred, by saying: "We are excited and encouraged by the potential this work brings both through the new rules and opportunities through technology to deliver them."

Like many sports in the current landscape, golf is looking to find ways to re-invent itself and keep up with the pack. It will be very interesting to see what the players themselves think of the proposed changes.

It will be very interesting to see what the players themselves think of the proposed changes.