11/05/24
September 27, 2005
Moving the goalposts...: The United States Golf Association and The R&A, golf’s governing bodies, have announced 111 changes [.doc] to the book "Decisions on the Rules of Golf," published every two years and effective for all golfers starting Jan. 1, 2006. the most notable change is the one to the rule that caused Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik to be disqualified from the Open in 2003, but my personal favourite is a new rule regarding a player who "Jumps Close to Hole to Cause Ball to Drop; Ball Does Not Move." I'm hoping the embarrassment is to be supplemented with a two shot penalty.
Many of these changes look really good. Roe and Parnevik getting disqualified for signing the wrong card is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
posted by mcstan13 at 12:58 PM on September 27, 2005
Are they going to ban or penalise those ridiculous clothes?
posted by owlhouse at 04:35 PM on September 27, 2005
Dudes - I just found out that if the PGA tour says yes, or even if your club says yes, the new rules allow for GPS and 'laser ranging devices' to be used. Given that I can't hit the same club the same way two shots in a row, this won't help me much. And it takes the 'eye' out of the equation, which kind of spoils the game itself, I reckon.
posted by owlhouse at 12:19 AM on September 29, 2005
I'm sort of split on that one - on the one hand, I see your point about taking the eye out of the game, on the other, they already have in that the caddy will nearly always know the number - as such, you might as well let them use this stuff and it might speed up play a bit. It would probably have the opposite impact on the amateur game though - a bunch of mid-handicap hackers who've never hit a five iron the same distance twice getting their laser gun out for every shot and taking even longer to knock it round in 106. "Hey, Earl! I missed that last fairway by 37 and a half yards!"
posted by JJ at 04:29 AM on September 29, 2005
At PGA events, there should be mandatory testing of club faces, especially drivers. Tiger Woods agrees. Some of the guys are playing with corked bats, only they don't break and nobody ever knows.