Erik,
Your POV on this topic should be discounted because you are a subject expert in several aspects of golf, quite possibly by a couple of standard deviations. I know USGA committee guys who, after 15-20 years of taking the 3.5 days course, sweat the test lest they miss the grade and lose their positions. I am friendly with a guy who scored 100 on his second attempt at the test and is invited to most of the national tournaments, and he gets stumped from time to time.
The rules, IMO, should not be written for people like you, SL, and Pete to study carefully and memorize, but for guys like Sean, A.G., and others who are serious about playing golf under commonly understood standards, whether casually or in competitions. I have had a former Masters champion attempt to charge a player in his group of violating the rules by marking his ball on the green with a tee. I've seen any number of balls crossing a yellow line into a PA where relief was taken one to two club lengths from the estimated point of entry.
I'm in "The Book" every day when I am home. I've read it cover to cover at least twice (over 500 pages) and the more important, commonly applicable rules and definitions four or five times. Yet, I don't consider myself a rules expert.
When do you drop as opposed to place? Why if somebody hits my ball (wrong ball) I get to place it, but if I hit my ball OB from outside the teeing area, I have to drop the ball?
Why if someone (outside influence) throws the ball back from OB onto the course and unbeknownst to you, you play it, but if you haven't hit the next tee shot, you have to go back and correct the situation (stroke and distance)? In contrast, you hit a ball toward a PA, with K or VC you determine where it went in, drop a ball, hit it from there, and as you walk forward you find your original ball but are not allowed to correct the error? The answer that both balls were out of play just doesn't satisfy me.
Or dropping from an ACC, IO, and other free relief situations, why is complete relief a requirement whereas the more punitive drop from a PA, you could be standing in water but if your ball is just outside the line, the choices are to hit it from there or take an unplayable penalty. And worse, you take an unplayable penalty, drop, and it rolls again into another unplayable lie within the relief area- keep going with a penalty stroke each time until you get the ball to a position you can hit it.
And one of my favorites- I've seen it in tournament play- take a drop from a red PA (a lake) on a moderate, closely-mowned slope. The ball comes to rest, but as the player gets ready to hit the shot, a gust of wind causes the ball to roll back into the water. Tough luck, penalty stroke and re-drop. But if the ball went into the same PA within two clubs from the green and the relief area includes a section of the green no closer to the hole allowing the ball to be dropped on the green (test question: or do you place?), a quick mark enables the player to then replace the ball without penalty should a gust of wind blow it into the PA. Fair? Uncomplicated?
A player gets a free drop from a cart path into an area strewn with sticks and other loose impediments. He is allowed to pick these so he can drop into a clean relief area. Another player's ball in the same messy area is covered with mud so that he has to mark, lift and possibly clean just enough to identify it. If he picks up the LIs he gets the general penalty for improving his lie. Real fair and uncomplicated, right?
I could go on and on about situations I've experienced or witness through the many years. That it takes the USGA three or four full time employees to formulate, administer, and explain the rules would tend to suggest that there is a lot of complexity involved (I'm assuming that the R&A also has a good sized staff)-. I certainly didn't have the issues in basketball and baseball, though my eyes and judgement were not infrequently questioned.