The post Contenders DQ’d over rarely used rule at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball appeared first on Golf.

The post Contenders DQ’d over rarely used rule at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball appeared first on Golf.

If you’re hoping to compete in an official golf competition, a word of rules advice: get a grip … just not two.

On Wednesday morning at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, the pairing of Ty Gingerich and Cole Harris found itself DQ’d from the tournament with just two holes to play in the pair’s quarterfinal match. The decision came after rules officials deemed Gingerich’s two-gripped putter was non-conforming … after some 40 holes of use at the Country Club of Birmingham.

The thrust of the rules issue, which was first reported by Ryan Herrington of Golf Digest, came down to Gingerich’s split-gripped putter. Under the Rules of Golf, putters with split-grips are legal, but that comes with a stipulation: the grips must be at least 1.5 inches apart. Gingerich’s putter grips were well less than that distance, which meant his club was non-conforming, resulting in a DQ.

Rules

Rules Guy: Can I use my putter to move my ball back into position after marking?

By: Rules Guy

Gingerich, who had recently adjusted the length of his putter to adopt an arm-lock putting style, had inadvertently violated the rules of golf in the process.

“Prior to this morning’s resumption of the quarterfinal match between Evan Beck/Dan Walters and Ty Gingerich/Cole Harris, it was brought to our attention that Gingerich had used a non-conforming putter grip in violation of Part 2, 3c of the Equipment Rules,” the USGA said in a statement announcing the decision. “The violation resulted in a disqualification.”

The good news, if there is good news, is that at the time of their disqualification, Gingerich and Harris were already facing long odds of advancing. After 40 holes, the pair was down by one to Beck/Walters with only two holes to play.

Still, the decision highlights the irregular nature of the Rules of Golf, in which a pair of competitors could play 40 holes and advance through multiple rounds of an event before it was discovered their equipment violated the rules.

Later on Wednesday, Chad Wilfong and Davis Womble went on to win the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, defeating Drew Stoltz and Drew Kittelson in come-from-behind fashion.

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The post ‘Stupid is as stupid does’: Phil Mickelson slams USGA (again) over new club-length rule appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Stupid is as stupid does’: Phil Mickelson slams USGA (again) over new club-length rule appeared first on Golf.

Phil Mickelson is not the biggest fan of the USGA, and he rarely backs down from a chance to make his opinion heard on the latest decisions involving golf’s governing body in the United States.

The 51-year-old PGA Tour star has captured six major wins in his career, but none of them have come at the U.S. Open, the USGA’s flagship event, where he holds the record for six runner-up finishes.

Gear

USGA, R&A: Maximum allowable club length to be shortened under new local rule

By: Alan Bastable

If it’s not U.S. Open course setups (one of which resulted in what Mickelson called one of his biggest career regrets), it’s usually the Rules of Golf, and specifically USGA changes to the rules, that draw Phil’s ire.

And that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday. The USGA released a new local rule limiting the maximum length of a golf club to 46 inches. The official maximum is still 48 inches, but now tournaments and clubs can choose to institute the stricter limit if they so choose.

The rule change is part of a long-running attempt by the USGA to limit distance increases in golf, though USGA Chief Executive Mike Whan admitted in a statement, “this is not the ‘answer’ to the overall distance debate/issue, but rather a simple option for competitive events.”

Mickelson saw things very differently. Just days after capturing his third PGA Tour Champions win at the Constellation Furyk & Friends, he took to Twitter to publicly criticize the USGA’s decision using a quote from beloved movie Forrest Gump, “‘Stupid is as stupid does.’ Mrs Gump,” Mickelson wrote, continuing, “Really though, are the amateurs trying their best to govern the professional game the stupid ones? Or the professionals for letting them?”

The issue is personal for Phil. While according to the USGA only 3 perfect of pros use drivers longer than 46 inches, Mickelson is one of them. He had a 47.9-inch driver in his bag during his epic 2021 PGA Championship win at Kiawah Island. It’s one of the many changes he’s made to keep up with the increasing distances of younger players at his relatively advanced age.

Mickelson has also aired his grievances with the PGA Tour, which said in a statement Tuesday that it plans to enact the rule in tournaments come Jan. 1. On Wednesday morning, Mickelson claimed in a tweet that the Tour did not consult with players before making a decision on employing the rule.

Rory McIlroy, however, contradicted Mickelson’s account. Speaking to the press at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas on Wednesday, McIlroy said, “I was in all those meetings when we discussed it for quite a while, and I think the majority of players are on board with it.”

McIlroy added of the new local rule: “I think it’s more of a preventative measure. I think if this is as far as they want the ball to go, I think we’re too far past like trying to roll it back, but if this is sort of setting the limit, I think it’s just a preventative measure for the future.”

Mickelson’s remarks this week are not the first time he has commented on the new rule. Back in August upon hearing about the proposed change, he tweeted, “Word is USGA is soon rolling back driver length to 46 inches. This is PATHETIC.1st (sic) it promotes a shorter more violent swing (injury prone,) doesn’t allow for length of arc to create speed, and during our 1st golf boom in 40 years, our amateur gov body keeps trying to make it less fun.”

Mickelson, who received a special exemption from the USGA into the 2020 U.S. Open, is qualified for the tournament for the next five years thanks to his PGA win. You can count on some awkward moments when next year’s championship arrives on June 16 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

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The post This is the reason why arm-anchor putting is still legal appeared first on Golf.

The post This is the reason why arm-anchor putting is still legal appeared first on Golf.

The year is 2013, and the game of golf is in the throes of an insurgent revolution.

Two years earlier Keegan Bradley had become the first player to win a major using a belly putter. The next year, Ernie Els and Webb Simpson became the second and third, winning the Open Championship and U.S, Open, respectively. Els had bested Adam Scott, who also used an anchored long putter, on that occasion. Eight months later Scott became the fourth anchored-putter major-winner. His win at the 2013 Masters came in the same event 14 year-old Guan Tianlang became the youngest player ever to make a cut at a major championship — also using an anchored putter.

That’s when golf’s governing bodies intervened. That year they announced, starting Jan. 1, 2016, that anchored putting would be outlawed.

Fast forward to 2021, and there’s a new form of anchoring beginning to take hold: so-called “arm-anchoring,” or “arm-lock” putting. Two belly putter refugees — Simpson and Bradley — both use the technique, as does Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau and Will Zalatoris, among others. Now, there are calls for this method to be banned, with some wondering how it even remained legal in the first place.

That’s why it’s worth revisiting the rule itself. When the USGA and R&A made their decision, they were insistent that this rule change was categorically not a ban on equipment. Rather, it was outlawing a very specific technique.

“Rule 14-1b focuses only on the method of stroke; it does not limit the conforming equipment that may be used,” the USGA wrote in its official literature on the change. It even went so far as to illustrate “permissible” ways to use belly and long putters under the new rules.

Ultimately, that’s why arm-anchoring made it through the new rule unscathed — the framework golf’s governing bodies used for the new rule focused on the technique involved with making a “stroke.”

Under rule 10.1, the USGA defines a stroke as: “Fairly striking at a ball with the head of a club. The fundamental challenge is to direct and control the movement of the entire club by freely swinging the club without anchoring it. … The player must fairly strike at the ball with the head of the club such that there is only momentary contact between the club and the ball and must not push, scrape or scoop the ball.”

Putting

Here's how Bryson DeChambeau's 'engineer' putting style works

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Your ears may prick up at the word “anchoring” above, but the USGA makes it a specific point to clarify why arm-locking doesn’t fall under that definition: “If the player’s club, gripping hand or forearm merely touches his or her body or clothing during the stroke, without being held against the body, there is no breach of this Rule.”

Why? Because the putter is resting up against an arm, which is moving freely and independently of the body. The entirety of the club may be moving in unison with the arms, but the arms are moving the entirety of the club freely. There’s no fixed point anywhere, which is why it falls under the current definition of a “stroke.”

Once again, it’s a technique that was being outlawed, not a piece of equipment, under the justification that using a club in one very specific way prevented golfers from making a free stroke. Outlawing arm-anchoring would require remaking the underlying logic for the rule in the first place, which may prove the arm-anchorers’ saving grace.

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The post Why marking your ball with an alignment line should be prohibited appeared first on Golf.

The post Why marking your ball with an alignment line should be prohibited appeared first on Golf.

In 1744, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers drafted the first Articles and Laws in Playing at Golf. It’s a fun and colorful read rich with talk of horses, adversaries and misfortune. A different time, no doubt. The Honourable Company gave us only 13 rules, but their document serves as a Magna Carta of sorts for how we play today. The general ethos: play the ball as it lies, play the course as you find it. That was then.

The rules have had to be revisited for several reasons in recent years, advancements in technology and course architecture chief among them. The Honourable Company didn’t contemplate free relief from paved cart paths or electrical boxes, for example. Or high-definition super slow-motion that can capture infractions undetectable to the naked eye. As the game has evolved so have the rules. But the rules aren’t perfect and too often we disregard their spirit (see: intent to anchor). We must defend the rule book, not mold it to our liking. 

One wrong that should be made right: prohibit players from marking their balls with a line that may be used an alignment aid.

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By: Dylan Dethier

Why? Because it’s not legal. To be fair, it’s not illegal, either. In fact, the act of applying a line to your ball with the intent of it helping with alignment isn’t specifically addressed anywhere in the rules (it was before 2019, but no longer). But it feels unfair — at least it does to this golfer! — and that should mean something.

So, here we are with an opportunity to address the situation. 

Words matter. The first word that matters in this discussion is object: an object is a material thing that can be seen and touched. For example, a line is an object. Specific to this matter, the alignment line a player might put on his or her ball is an object, or at least it should be considered one. 

The Rules of Golf are clear on objects used for alignment. From Rule 10-2b (2): “The player or caddie must not set an object down anywhere on or off the putting green to show the line of play.” When a player sets down an object — like a line on a ball — to show the line of play, that, in effect, violates Rule 10-2b, or at the very least the spirit of Rule 10-2b. (The rules-makers will tell you that they don’t believe a marking is an object, even if that credo is not explicitly spelled out in the rule book. Therefore, they contend, aligning a ball with either a Sharpie line or manufacturer’s logo isn’t a breach of 10.2b (2).)

What complicates the matter is Rule 6-3a, which, as stated in the Rules of Equipment, “encourages the player to put an identification mark on his or her ball to help ensure that he or she plays their own ball throughout the round. There are no regulations to limit what or how many markings can be applied to the ball by the player, provided its original markings can be discerned.”

No regulations to limit: You could draw a star, a heart, initials, a straight line around the equator of the ball that you’ve sonically checked for “true center,” whatever you want. Again, words matter. But make no mistake: That straight line isn’t being used for identification, like initials might be. That line is being employed for alignment — and that’s outside rule 10.2b, or at least it should be. 

Rules

Rules Guy: Can I use the flagstick's shadow as an alignment aid?

By: Rules Guy

But wait! There’s more contradiction in 14.2c/1, which reads, “the ball may be aligned in any way when being replaced (such as by lining up the trademark) so long as the ball’s vertical distance to the ground remains the same.” Listen, people have been lining up the trademark for decades but that’s not the same as drawing an object to serve as an alignment aid on your ball. 

Ironically, what is much clearer than the tangled and nebulous relationship between 6.3a, 10.2b and 14.2c is the intent of the rules. They don’t exist to make the game easier. The purpose of the rules, at least according to former USGA president Richard Tufts, “is to make sure, as far as possible, that everybody plays the same game.” Among other feats in golf, Tufts wrote The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf, which literally makes him the guy who wrote the book in this regard. In fact, I think it’s safe to say both Tufts and at least one of his successors, Sandy Tatum, would frown on the lines we see on so many balls today. And yet, our game tolerates the act. 

I can already hear your counterarguments! Kindly allow me to address them:

Keep the line! Fans want to see more birdies!

The people you see on TV could make putts with grapes. It’s not going to hurt the best players in the world at all. In fact, as Tatum would have wanted, it will help identify them (plus they’ll play faster).

Next you’ll come after the line on my putter or driver! 

Club markings are already addressed in the Rules of Equipment. Plus, surely you can see the difference between an object you carefully place on the ground (to aid in the alignment of your body and stroke) and a decorative arrow on a 460cc driver that you blindly swing around your body at 90+ mph.

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By: Dylan Dethier

We need the line because it helps build better players to grow the game! 

You can and should use a line on the practice green because that’s the place for it. Not a game, not a game, not a game. Practice. We talkin’ about practice.

I know this is an unpopular and polarizing position that will certainly draw criticism and defensiveness from the line-users of the world. Please hear me when I say this: I understand you. I do not blame you. I was one of you! We simply subscribed to the rule book they gave us. 

But this game isn’t just about us. It’s about an adherence to the overarching rules that have been around for centuries. The spirit of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and the writings of Tufts may be 200 years apart but they don’t differ much. That’s our game. We owe the game more respect than to let loopholes override the rules that, as Tufts asserted, “make sure, as far as possible, that we are all playing the same game.”

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The post Rules School: How do you proceed if your club is damaged during the round? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules School: How do you proceed if your club is damaged during the round? appeared first on Golf.

From time to time, every player has broken a club. It can be as innocent as slightly bending the shaft when striking a tree root to the more aggressive and deliberate snapping of a club over your knee. No matter the cause, it’s a given that your equipment will take some damage from time to time.

But what’s the proper protocol when your club is damaged during the round? Rules school has you covered.

Scenario: Your club is damaged during the course of the round, but it is still useable.

Old rule: Under the previous editions of the Rules of Golf, if your club was damaged you were not allowed to use it during the round. Even if the damage was so slight that the club wasn’t rendered unusable, you were not allowed to keep using it and were required to remove it from the bag immediately.

New rule: Now, under Rule 4.1, players are permitted to keep using the damaged club, or attempt to repair the club.

The full rule states, “if your conforming club is damaged during your round, you may continue to make strokes with the damaged club for the rest of the round, or have your club repaired by restoring it as nearly as possible to its condition before the damage happened.”

This includes damage that was made to the club in a fit of anger.

This rule greatly simplifies the complexity of rules on damaged clubs, so next time your clubs take some damage, worry not and play on.

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The post New USGA rule for amateurs means you can cash in BIG on a hole-in-one appeared first on Golf.

The post New USGA rule for amateurs means you can cash in BIG on a hole-in-one appeared first on Golf.

On Monday, the USGA and R&A announced good news for amateurs: beginning on January 1, 2020, the previously verboten acceptance of big prizes for hole-in-ones will be eliminated, and Rule 3-2b of the Rules of Amateur Status will be updated to say the following:

“An amateur golfer may accept a prize in excess of the limit in Rule 3-2a, including a cash prize, for making a hole-in-one during a round of golf on a golf course. An amateur golfer may also accept a prize in excess of the limit in Rule 3-2a, including a cash prize, for making a hole-in-one during contests held outside a round of golf, including multiple-entry contests and contests conducted other than on a golf course (e.g., on a driving range, golf simulator or putting green) provided in all cases that the length of the shot is at least 50 yards.”

As the Rules of Amateur Status currently stand, a player may not accept a prize in excess of $750 without a forfeit of his or her amateur status.

Tournaments

USGA alters rule, will allow professionals to compete after qualifying as amateurs

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The post Justin Thomas says he was shocked by ‘upsetting’ USGA tweet, calls it ‘inaccurate’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Justin Thomas says he was shocked by ‘upsetting’ USGA tweet, calls it ‘inaccurate’ appeared first on Golf.

Justin Thomas said it was “a little shocking” that the USGA responded to one of his criticisms via Twitter on Saturday, adding that it was upsetting to him because the USGA wasn’t factually correct.

“Justin, we need to talk,” the tweet from USGA PR read, responding to Thomas’s comment that the USGA needs to communicate with players. “You’ve cancelled every meeting we’ve planned with you, but we are reaching out again. We were at the first 5 events, and tournaments last year, and your tour has had a seat at the table for 7 years. We’d love nothing more than to give you a seat. Call us.”

After shooting a one-over 71 in the final round of The Honda Classic on Sunday, Thomas was asked about the USGA’s response.

You may also like USGA rules chief elaborates on Thomas tweet: ‘His opinion matters to us’

“It was a little shocking,” he said. “You know, I’ve had communication with the USGA, and I’ve talked with a couple of people about how I feel about having conversations with them, about what myself and the players think. It was a little upsetting just because it was inaccurate. I haven’t canceled anything, especially any meetings, but it is what it is, and all I want is the best for the game of golf and the best for the sport, and that’s what we’re going to continue to try to communicate with each other to get that.”

The USGA followed up its initial tweet by saying, “Justin, thanks for connecting with us offline. We look forward to meeting with you and talking through these issues. It’s clear we both want to do what’s right by the game.” But asked if a meeting had been scheduled, Thomas said, “Not that I know of.”

“That’s the hard part,” he continued. “We’ve tried to get on a couple calls, and I was in the middle of this three-week stretch, so I was like, ‘Look, I’m sorry, this time isn’t very good.’ But we’re definitely going to talk at some point, but we’ve had conversations this year multiple times with a couple different people. It’s not like it hasn’t happened. It’s just — it hasn’t the last three weeks because I’ve been at a tournament, and that’s my main focus.”

https://twitter.com/USGA_PR/status/1101978749199925248

Thomas has been one of the PGA Tour’s most vocal critics against some of the revised Rules of Golf. On Saturday he sarcastically commented “#growthegame” to a PGA Tour Communications tweet about a retroactive penalty given to Adam Schenk for caddie-alignment, which has been among the most scrutinized new rules. Thomas then responded to another tweet telling him to play by the rules, which led to him bringing up the communication issue and eventually the USGA’s responses.

“It is unfortunate,” Thomas added on Sunday. “It just was — it really hurt me. It was upsetting to me because they were putting — the information they put out there was inaccurate in terms of me canceling meetings, and that doesn’t make me look good, and that’s just when I got a little upset, and then we had talked some communication with them because I know those guys — I’ve talked to them, and I’ve talked to them about the rules this year. We’ve all tried to communicate and tried to get better relationships with them. It is what it is, and all we’re looking is to better the sport and better the game.”

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The post USGA rules chief elaborates on Thomas tweet: ‘His opinion matters to us’ appeared first on Golf.

The post USGA rules chief elaborates on Thomas tweet: ‘His opinion matters to us’ appeared first on Golf.

If 56-year-old Vijay Singh contending for a PGA Tour title was the most surprising development in golf Saturday, a close second was the USGA’s very public (and pointed) response to Justin Thomas’s relentless criticism of the new rules.

“Justin, we need to talk,” began the tweet from the USGA public relations department’s Twitter handle. “You’ve cancelled every meeting we’ve planned with you, but we are reaching out again. We were at the first 5 events, and tournaments last year, and your tour has had a seat at the table for 7 years. We’d love nothing more than to give you a seat. Call us.”

Tournaments

“Justin, we need to talk”: USGA responds to Justin Thomas’s critical tweets with one of its own

The tweet was startling for a couple of reasons: one, the USGA sounded a bit like a fed-up principal admonishing a misbehaving student, and two, the organization is not known for engaging in Twitter spats. The 55-word message was also a window into how strained the relationship has become between the USGA and the third-ranked player in the world.

On Sunday morning, in response to questions from GOLF.com, John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships, elaborated on the tweet. When asked why the USGA decided to engage Thomas is such a public forum, Bodenhamer said:

“It’s clear that direct communication on important topics is critical. We are happy we will have the opportunity to have a live conversation in the coming days. It’s important that we foster a direct connection with players. We have been at several tournaments and we will continue to do so. We have been reaching out to players after every rules issue and after we’ve seen their posted comments back to us.  We want to open the door.”

News

Justin Thomas sounds off on new rules: ‘I think they’re terrible’

How many meetings has the USGA tried to set up with Thomas?

“Suffice to say we all tried to connect, it didn’t happen, now we will,” Bodenhamer said.

Presumably that summit will happen soon, and when it does, what message would the USGA like communicate to Thomas? “When we connect we will share that his opinion matters to us, that we are willing to have an ongoing dialogue, and that he should feel welcome to reach out to us at any time,” Bodenhamer said.

In an appearance on Golf Channel Sunday morning, Bodenhamer added:

“It’s very clear there is a certain level of discomfort with some Tour players, certainly not all, and we are working to address that with certain rules. We know we have more work to do.

“With the amount of change this was, we thought there would need to be clarification, and there still will be. We are only eight weeks into this. Things are going to continue to happen. We are going to have to continue to talk about it and engage with players. That’s the key, and we are going to make a concerted effort to do that, and to continue to do that throughout the season.”

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The post USGA, R&A chiefs differ on success of new rules rollout appeared first on Golf.

The post USGA, R&A chiefs differ on success of new rules rollout appeared first on Golf.

The revised Rules of Golf have been heavily scrutinized since their rollout on Jan. 1, 2019, and it appears the game’s most prominent leaders have contradicting opinions on their success thus far.

“I think it’s fair to say that it hasn’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked, but this is a big change,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers on Tuesday. “It is a change to the game, and having spent most of my life working in change projects in various different parts of the world, it’s not unexpected that we were going to have some difficulties.”

USGA CEO Mike Davis, however, had a different view. Speaking at the State of the Association at the USGA Annual Meeting in San Antonio on Saturday, Davis said, “From my perspective, I would say by and large they’ve been a huge success. They did exactly what we wanted them to do, which was really simplify the understanding and make them easier to apply.”

Yet on Wednesday at the Honda Classic, Justin Thomas became the most recent pro to speak out against the changes. He was blunt, calling the new rules changes “terrible.”

“Pretty much all of them seemed like they didn’t better the game, to me,” Thomas told GOLF.com. “I mean, the ball-dropping thing is weird, it doesn’t make sense. The tapping spike marks thing down — I understand that, but I think it’s a great amateur rule. I just think as a whole they just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”

The new knee-high drop rule was criticized by Rickie Fowler last week at the WGC-Mexico Championship, and another rules change, which had to do with caddie alignment, was tweaked earlier this month after several instances of its interpretation came under fire.

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The post Rules Guy: Is unstaked water still considered a hazard? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Is unstaked water still considered a hazard? appeared first on Golf.

You may also like Rules Guy: Can I use my phone to access my green-reading book?

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