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The post Why Phil Mickelson’s gripe with the latest rules change is flawed appeared first on Golf.

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You might be tempted to say that the USGA officials are the federal Southern District prosecutors from Billions while Phil is Bobby Axelrod, a former caddie now living large and flying private. That would be wildly inaccurate.

What’s accurate is that Mickelson, like Bobby Ax, has never shown much interest in authority figures of any sort. Phil, like Bobby, likes to push known or perceived boundaries.

As for the high-minded and sometimes verbose USGA, it does not, of course, get everything right, but it exists to give golf the structure it needs. That’s a noble cause. A game without rules is a playground free-for-all.

Mickelson, 51, who has had one of the longest and greatest careers in golf history, won the PGA Championship in May with a 47.9-inch shaft. He won a PGA Tour Champions event last week in Jacksonville, Fla., with a driver that was also a tick below 48 inches with 5.5 degrees of loft. Kids, don’t try that combo at your home course without parental supervision. Golf balls are expensive.

Mickelson, the son of a pilot who grew up in tech-minded Southern California, has always been interested in clubs and technology. When Phil was in high school in San Diego in the mid-1980s, metal drivers were starting to make an impact in golf, but the gold-standard driver of that era still had a persimmon head the size of a peach, with about 11 degrees of loft, connected to a 42.5-inch steel shaft.

The fellas, in the last days of the Sansabelt slack, would brag about their blond “oil-hardened” MacGregor Eye-o-Matics. They were high performance artworks. But Mickelson won the 1990 U.S. Amateur, at the mile-high Cherry Hills Country Club, in Denver, with a metal driver with a 45-inch shaft, to which he had added an inch for the occasion.

He was pushing then and 31 years later is still at it. What a run. All that pushing, it’s likely one of the things that keeps him young. Plus, his shades (cool!) and hair (longish and no gray!) and tweets (funny!).

How you judge the language of Mickelson’s most recent tweets on the subject of driver length likely says something about how you feel about the issue.

His opening salvo:

“Stupid is as stupid does.” Mrs. Gump. Really though, are the amateurs trying their best to govern the professional game the stupid ones? Or the professionals for letting them?

Drivers

Funny. Not accurate.

The USGA, despite Mickelson’s contention, is not run by amateurs. It is a non-profit run by trained professionals working with all of golf’s various and competing constituencies, including the PGA Tour. It is accurate to say that the PGA Tour, by long tradition, uses the USGA rulebook, with some exceptions. 

His follow up:

It is extremely disappointing to find out that the PGA Tour adopted the new USGA rule through the media. I don’t know of any player who had any say or any kind of representation in this matter. I do know many are wondering if there’s a better way.

Not accurate.

Rory McIlroy is the chairman of the Tour’s Player Advisory Council. Jon Rahm, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas are all on the 16-person board. OK, maybe Phil hasn’t known Harry Higgs, who is on the board, for all that long, or all that well. But they did have a knockdown, drag-out money match last summer, set up for all to see through the magic of Twitter. “I don’t think it will make a world of difference, but 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 said this week in a CJ Cup press conference, regarding the new shaft limits.

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Mickelson’s low opinion of the USGA is hard to fathom. He was the low amateur at the 1990 U.S. Open, the USGA’s flagship event. A few months later, he won the U.S. Amateur, the USGA’s debutante dance, the event that has launched hundreds of careers. He played on the USGA’s winning 1991 Walker Cup team, at Portmarnock, in Dublin. His 1990 U.S. Amateur win got him into the 1991 Masters, where he was the low amateur, hanging with Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Hord Hardin (the club chairman) and Jim Nantz in Butler Cabin when it was all over. He was the low amateur again at the ’91 U.S. Open.

Yes, of course, it was Phil’s immense skill that got him the trinkets and the team jacket and the special chair in the basement of Butler Cabin. But without expert administration at the hands of the USGA there wouldn’t be a competitive game at all. Augusta National is deeply aligned with the USGA, starting with Bobby Jones, a high priest of the USGA and a founder of Augusta National. As for Phil’s record six silver USGA medals for his six runner-up finishes in U.S. Opens — that is mind-boggling. It puts his career in a category all its own.

The baseline question is this and it has (to most people) an obvious answer: Should a ruling body tell us, the governed, different limits and tolerances for the equipment with which we play? My answer is of course! Do you want to see a yard-high tee so you could hit nothing but line-drive hook shots over the shortstop, like a major-league prospect grooving his swing off a tee in a batting cage? The USGA is saying 46 inches is plenty long enough. Now if you’re Jordan Hahn, the 6-foot-8 touring pro, you might argue that 46 inches is not long enough for you. That’s a problem for which there is no simple solution. But broadly speaking, 46 inches seems like a reasonable limit. There has to be some limit, right?

Well, Phil clearly likes 48 inches, and 49 might be coming next. That’s his prerogative, to make the case. But it’s the USGA’s obligation, to keep the game sane, to adhere to some semblance of tradition.

Anyway, when the Tour announced that it would be adopting the 46-inch limit, it used this careful language: “The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council recently reviewed the subject and we have concluded that the PGA Tour will implement the Local Rule on Jan. 1, 2022.” That suggests that Phil can still use his 47.9-inch driver on the Champions tour. And who knows what the future will bring. Maybe Phil will find other places to play, beyond the relatively short reach of the USGA, where he and his long driver are welcome.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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The post Ryan Palmer puzzled by rules inquiry after Tournament of Champions third round appeared first on Golf.

The post Ryan Palmer puzzled by rules inquiry after Tournament of Champions third round appeared first on Golf.

Palmer, who closed out his third round at 21-under in Maui, was heading into the scoring tent to certify a Saturday 64 when he was approached by PGA Tour rules official John Mutch. Mutch was concerned about a situation that occurred on the par-5 9th hole, coincidentally the only non-birdie par-5 for Palmer on Saturday thanks to a chunked chip shot.

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“When I walked in there, I saw Mutch with a book out and I was like, ‘What’s this about?’ And I started going through my mind on the day,” Palmer said after his round. “Then when he said, ‘We have a situation on 9,’ and I immediately was like, let’s see, I hit a good 3-wood, fluffed a chip, told [caddie James Edmondson] I hit the wrong club, and then went to where I was ended up chipping again, I still had no idea.”

As Mutch explained, a Golf Channel feed picked up video of Palmer’s chunked chip, which appeared to show the 44-year-old kick away a divot as his ball rolled back toward him.

If Palmer intended to clear out the divot from the path of his ball, it would prove a violation of Rule 11.3 of the Rules of Golf, which states, “while a ball is in motion, you must not deliberately alter physical conditions or lift or move a loose impediment or movable obstruction to affect where the ball might come to rest.”

For Palmer, the discussion surrounded trying to assess intent. If he moved the divot away with the intent of keeping it out of the ball’s path, it would be a violation of the rule and a two-stroke general penalty. If there was no intent to improve his lie, Palmer was in the clear.

“There was no intention of me trying to help my ball because there was no way my ball was even close to where I was at,” he said. “I was just discussing with James I hit the wrong wedge on the chip shot, in disgust, and then when I got there, I just kind of did the old kick the divot, p—-d off motion and the ball stopped five feet away from me.”

Fortunately for Palmer, footage of the incident seemed to defend his argument. His ball veered away from him and to the left as it rolled down the false front, a safe distance from the location of the divot. After a brief discussion, Palmer avoided a penalty (if not some confusion).

“After that it was, based on the Rules of Golf, there was no intention of me trying to abuse the rule,” he said. “There was no way, because that ball wasn’t even going to be close to where I was at…Now, if I would have ran three feet further to the right and kicked a divot where the ball ended up, okay, now, I see the issue. But from where I watched and where I was standing, there was no way of me improving my lie whatsoever.”

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For this edition, I spoke with Kellie Stenzel, who is an instructor at Palm Beach Country Club in Palm Beach, Fla., Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., a frequent GOLF.com contributor and a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher in America. Since we covered the history of the game in the first segment of the series, Stenzel and I spoke about the basic rules and information a beginner should know before they step on the course for the first time. We covered a bunch of ground, from how to study the game on TV to proper etiquette on the course and more.

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What are some of the basic golf terms I should know?

One note that Stenzel stresses is that the terminology in golf is not intuitive.  “It’s almost like there’s this language that, until you get some of the terms, you don’t really fit in,” Stenzel said. One stepping stone to feeling comfortable as a golfer is learning some of these terms.

One of the most important things that Stenzel stressed is that the terminology is different depending on whether you are righty or a lefty.  For example:

If you are a right-handed player and you hit the ball that curves a little left-to-right, that is a fade. If it curves a lot left-to-right, it’s a slice. However, if you are a lefty, the terms are inverted — a  fade curves a little right-to-left and a slice curves a lot right-to-left.

If a right-handed player hits the ball straight out to the right without any curve, that is called a push, and if they hit it out to the left without any curve, that is considered a pull. Once again, this is completely flipped for lefties.

How should I be keeping score?

For any beginner, Stenzel stresses one important lesson — don’t feel pressured to keep score as you begin. There’s no point in getting discouraged, frustrated, or even bitter when you aren’t performing like the pros you see on television. One thing Stenzel tells her beginner students is not to worry about the score at first. Then, once they get to a point in their game where they feel comfortable enough to keep score, only to keep score on the holes where they perform well.

“If you finish the hole and it feels like you could easily count it up, then maybe keep the score on that particular hole,” said Stenzel. “The nice thing about a handicap system— where you’re posting your scores to get an official handicap — there’s typically a maximum score that you can have. So it doesn’t mean that if you’re having a bad hole, you’ve got to play every shot to the bitter end and make yourself crazy.”

How do I use a scorecard?

Stenzel notes that when you are a beginner arriving at a new golf course, a great place to start is the scorecard. Firstly, it helps you differentiate between the holes, and see which are longer — the par-4s and par-5s — and the shorter par-3 holes. Next, it helps with choosing which tees to play on the course; Stenzel sees no issue for a beginner — whether you are male or female — with choosing the most forward set of tees.

One element of the game that may be a bit complicated for beginners to first grapple with, is the concept of handicaps. You’ll see that each hole has a number next to it indicating the “handicap” of that hole. It’s basically a difficulty rating; the no. 1 handicap hole is the most difficult, while the no. 18 handicap is the easiest.

So how do you use those? As Stenzel explains, the higher the handicap you have, the more strokes you are “given” as you play the course, with the extra strokes are typically given on the more difficult holes.

“So an example would be, let’s say I’m a 0 handicap, let’s say you’re a 19 handicap,” said Stenzel. “You would obviously get one stroke for me on every hole, but there’ll be one left over and that would fall on the number one handicap hole.”

What can I learn from watching golf on TV?

Stenzel notes that there are a great deal of practices, techniques and behaviors one can learn by watching the pros on TV. For instance, Stenzel said, watching someone like Justin Thomas’s posture as he hits the ball can be extremely informative, as his setup is as close to perfect as it can get.

For even more beginner golfers, Stenzel recommends watching how each golfer’s swing is unique.

“There are so many different ways to swing a golf club —you don’t turn on the TV and you see the same swing over and over again, you see, completely different swings,” said Stenzel. “So I think seeing setups, seeing grips, and seeing [that] there’s more than one way to swing a golf club.”

How do I keep my cool on the course?

This question is especially important for me — as a lifelong tennis player, I know all too well how isolating and frustrating a solo sport can be. Keeping composure and a level head is undoubtedly one of the most important skills for any athlete.

Stenzel summed up the best approach very aptly: even really good players hit really bad shots.

Having a method to calm down — whether it be taking a deep breath, stepping away from the marker/ball, or repeating a calming phrase to yourself— is a worthwhile strategy for golfers at every level.

However, it is also important to let the anger, frustration, and annoyance motivate you on your text swing.

“Frustration and anger can be wonderful motivators,” said Stenzel. “Okay, what am I going to do about it? Am I going to take a lesson? Am I going to go practice? How much work does it take to really make change and make improvements?…The sooner you can recover, the better you’re going to be on your next shot.”

How do I find the right course for me?

Everybody has their own kind of course that suits them: some prefer the tree-lined courses of the Northeast, others prefer seaside courses, courses with a lot of bunkers, courses with many hazards, small greens, big greens, you name it. Each course has a unique personality — it’s all about finding the one that suits you best. Only way to do that? Go out and try some different types!

What can I practice at home?

One of the easiest things to practice at home — and what will be beyond useful as you progress to playing tournaments, matches, or even just messing around with your buddies — is putting. There are also many instruments and training aids you can use to help you with this, such as a little putting mat for your house. Stenzel sees immense value in this.

“I think just practicing like grip, posture, and then once again, getting that club down to the ground [is important],” said Stenzel.  “Like brushing your carpet, or going into your backyard and hitting the grass but repetitively practicing setup and getting the club down to the ground.

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The post Golf Questions You’re Afraid to Ask: Who invented golf, and how did it become so popular? appeared first on Golf.

The post Golf Questions You’re Afraid to Ask: Who invented golf, and how did it become so popular? appeared first on Golf.

***

For the first edition of GQYAA, I figured I’d start at the beginning. As in, who came up with this crazy game, and how did it become so popular?

To better understand golf’s roots, I spoke with Maggie Lagle, a historian at the United States Golf Association. Lagle provides tours throughout the USGA’s museum — from school groups to former past champions — and conducts research into the history of golf. Some of her most substantial work has included studying how golf has influenced past U.S. Presidents, how military veterans use the game as a rehabilitation tool and golf’s relevancy during wartime.

During our conversation, Lagle and I discussed the origins of golf, its notable figures and how the game has evolved over time. 

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Who invented golf?

According to Lagle, there is still quite a bit of debate among historians as to the origins of golf, but there is no doubt that the Scots cultivated the foundations of the modern game.

“Early ball and stick games can be traced back to the 13th century,” Lagle told me. “Not only were these games being played in Europe, but they were also being played in Asia and parts of Africa as well. There were even ball and stick games that can be traced back to China in the 11th century, which is pretty incredible.” But Scotland kept the precursor to the modern game alive, and they were really the ones that ushered it into this present form, which emerged in the 15th century.”

Why is it called golf?

Etymologically speaking, “golf” was derived from either the Dutch work kolf or kolve, which simply translates to “club.” But then, as Lagle notes, in the Scottish dialect of the late-14th and early-15th century, the Dutch term became goff or gouff. It was only later in the 16th century when the word “golf,” spelled the way we all know it now, appeared. 

“The connections between the Dutch and Scottish terms are evidence of the active trade industry between Dutch ports and the ports on the east coast of Scotland, from the 14th-17th centuries,” Lagle said.

How did golf develop over time?

It wasn’t until the 16th century that information on how to play golf appeared in writing. This writing — which appeared in various books in Latin and Dutch — detailed the rules at the time (for example, in putting, the ball had to be struck; merely pushing the ball was forbidden). Golf during this period was mostly played in informal and very friendly games at match play in Scotland, and the links were public land.

These courses were often where livestock such as sheep and goats were kept as well, as these animals served as that generation’s agronomists and lawn mowers.

“[The townspeople] would just go play golf and bring their goat with them and let them go mow the grass,” Lagle said.

For a brief period in the 18th century, the game was banned by the Scottish monarchy. According to Lagle, the Scottish king felt the game distracted Scotland’s citizens from military practices and archery practices — as soldiers would routinely skip their training to get in a round on the links.

So, when did golf become really big?

It wasn’t until the 19th century that golf began to expand in popularity. Its growth, in large part, was due to the Industrial Revolution; the creation and development of the Scottish railway system allowed for English tourists to take the train to Scotland for golf trips and holidays.

Historians believe that early versions of golf — such as the aforementioned ball and stick games and early Dutch precursors to golf— arose in America between 1650 and 1660 in upstate New York. These early versions of the game began to rise in prevalence and popularity closer to the 1770’s in British and Scottish communities in New York City, the Carolinas, in towns such as Pinehurst, and Charleston, and Savannah, Georgia, all of which had golf clubs and active golfing communities. Documents from ship manifests at the time include quantities of golf clubs and balls being shipped from Europe to the United States. 

This popularity of the game died down around the War of 1812, but made its final, major resurgence in America in the 1880’s. By December of 1894, the United States Golf Association was established, and by 1895, the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, and the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf tournaments were first contested.

Who are the key figures to know about?

John and Elizabeth Reed are credited with popularizing golf in the United States. John Reed founded the St. Andrew’s Club (one of the founding clubs in the USGA) in Yonkers, New York in 1888. Elizabeth Reed founded Saegkill G.C. for women nearby. According to Lagle, John Reed is a pivotal figure who brought the game from Scotland and truly established it in America.

Lagle also pointed to Bobby Jones, who, even as he remained an amateur for his entire career, won the Grand Slam in 1930, and co-founded Augusta National during his retirement. 

Glenna Collet Vare — also known as the Queen of American Golf — dominated the American golf landscape in the 1920s, winning the Women’s Amateur Championship six times (the record for that tournament). 

More recently, golfers like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods have become not only household names in the golfing community, but internationally recognized sporting superstars and their celebrity has extended far past the sport.

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The post Inside the rule that allowed Bryson DeChambeau to replace his driver appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside the rule that allowed Bryson DeChambeau to replace his driver appeared first on Golf.

DeChambeau was plodding along with a solid start to the round as he made two birdies in his first six holes. When he stepped on the tee box at the par-4 7th, he made his usual thrash and the ball exploded off the club face. But when he bent down to pick up his tee, the head of his driver fell off the shaft. That’s right, DeChambeau swung with such might that he literally broke his driver.

He looked stunned. And who wouldn’t be? Luckily for him, the Rules of Golf covers situations just like these.

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According to Rule 4.1a, “if your conforming club is damaged during your round or while play is stopped, 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.”

The rule goes on to state that “damaged during a round means when the club’s performance characteristics are changed because of any act during the round, whether: by the player (such as making a stroke or practice swing with the club, putting it in or taking it out of a golf bag, dropping or leaning on it, or throwing or abusing it), or by any other person, outside influence or natural forces.”

DeChambeau didn’t miss a beat with the unusual circumstances, and he had a member of his team run out to his car for a replacement shaft. It was later revealed on the broadcast that he travels with two back-up drivers and three back-up shafts. Would you expect anything different from the most meticulous player on Tour?

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The post Bryson DeChambeau, fire ants and the ‘Dangerous Animal Rule,’ explained appeared first on Golf.

The post Bryson DeChambeau, fire ants and the ‘Dangerous Animal Rule,’ explained appeared first on Golf.

That’s why Bryson DeChambeau called over a rules official on Thursday while playing the par-4 7th hole at TPC Southwind: To see if he could get relief from what he thought might be an anthill. Or ant hole. Or “ant area,” as DeChambeau himself said. Once you’re looking for relief, the more ants the better, no matter the format.

Ken Tackett, PGA Tour rules official, arrived on the scene. DeChambeau, whose Bridgestone had settled in an unfortunate position atop a stick, said he was stepping on an ant and had noticed some holes nearby.

While Tackett acknowledged he saw a couple ants, he wasn’t sure that they were fire ants “in the sense that they would be a dangerous situation.”

“There’s a red ant coming out of it, right there. A couple of them,” DeChambeau said, pointing out a few crawlers unfortunately too small for Golf Channel’s cameras to pick up.

But why the search for fire ants (or a “dangerous situation”) to begin with, you might be asking? You’ve come to the right place.

Let’s head to golf’s glorious rule book, specifically to Rule 16.2.a, entitled “Dangerous Animal Condition.” That’s where we’ll find reference to various dramatic members of the animal kingdom: snakes, bees, gators, and yes — fire ants. Here’s how the rule is written:

16.2.a. When Relief Is Allowed

A “dangerous animal condition” exists when a dangerous animal (such as poisonous snakes, stinging bees, alligators, fire ants or bears) near a ball could cause serious physical injury to the player if he or she had to play the ball as it lies.

As they say in the rules biz, there’s fire ants and then there’s fire ants. This situation appeared to be the former. I’m not sure what the appropriate ant level is to be considered risk for “serious physical injury,” but this did not appear to be that situation.

What DeChambeau was hoping for was a free drop, which would certainly have meant relief not only from the ants but also from the pesky sticks on which his Bridgestone sat. Tackett was unconvinced.

The ruling was a bit of deja vu to DeChambeau’s last start, when he hoped for a generous ruling from an O.B. fence at the Memorial. Tackett was the official on the scene there, too, where DeChambeau ended up making a 10. This time, he was restrained throughout the encounter — though his caddie Tim Tucker pushed a little bit harder. “To me, it’s a burrowing animal hole,” he said.

The term “burrowing animal hole” was actually wiped from the rule book during the USGA and R&A’s latest modification to golf’s rules. But Tucker may have been referencing Rule 16.1, which covers animal holes and “abnormal course conditions” more generally. To get relief from a hole, under this rule, the animal hole would have had to affect his lie, stance or swing. To quote the rule:

“An abnormal course condition physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing.”

Tackett tested this theory briefly. “Take your stance, Bryson, real quick. I mean, it doesn’t interfere with your stance regardless,” he said. That was that.

DeChambeau played away from his poor lie, carefully avoiding sticks and roots with his next swing, and went on to make double bogey. In doing so, he dropped back to 2 under for the day, further off the pace set by Brooks Koepka.

On the bright side, he didn’t seem to have sustained any ant stings.

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The post Inside the Bryson DeChambeau drop ruling that had social media buzzing appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside the Bryson DeChambeau drop ruling that had social media buzzing appeared first on Golf.

DeChambeau led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Strokes Gained: Putting, but he also received some attention for a drop he took on the 15th hole during the final round. Not because he did anything wrong — he didn’t — but because the situation was confusing without the necessary context from the CBS Sports broadcast. Here’s what happened.

DeChambeau led the Rocket Mortgage Classic by two shots when he stepped to the par-3 15th, but he sent his tee shot over the green. It trickled through the fringe and just beyond the first cut of the rough and into the thick stuff.

That’s where the confusion started. Here’s where the ball came to rest, just to the side of two sprinkler heads:

When the broadcast returned from a commercial break, we saw DeChambeau and his caddie talking to PGA Tour Senior Tournament Referee Brad Fabel. DeChambeau had tees on both sides of the sprinklers and was taking a drop, since his stance would have been on the sprinkler heads.

“And this will be very helpful,” Jim Nantz said on the broadcast. Trevor Immelman added: “This is extremely helpful, Jim. His ball actually came to rest up against the collar there, so this is a good break.” After his second drop, the broadcast mentioned that the ball was in play and CBS moved to a different part of the action. About a minute later the cameras returned to DeChambeau, this time with a driver in hand and surveying another drop to the left of both sprinklers.

“They are still dropping?” Faldo said. “What’s going on?”

“I think they felt like the first drop went closer to the hole, Nick,” Immelman said.

DeChambeau then dropped a third time, and then a fourth, the last one coming to rest on the fringe before bouncing backward and stopping right on the edge of the first cut. DeChambeau knocked it close and cleaned up his par.

It was anti-climactic from there — DeChambeau cruised to a three-shot win — but social media was buzzing about his drop. What exactly happened and why, more importantly, did he get to go from the rough to the fringe, an obvious advantage?

But here’s what happened, and why DeChambeau did nothing wrong. Based off where his tee shot landed, his feet were on one of the sprinkler heads. That meant he was entitled to a free drop via Rule 16.1b, Relief for Ball in General Area. That’s what he was doing for the first two drops.

When the camera went back to DeChambeau a minute or two later, he had a driver in his hand and this time had moved to the left of where his initial drop was, and left of the sprinklers, with two tees stuck into the ground as reference points. It wasn’t mentioned on the telecast, but the driver was out because DeChambeau was taking free relief, this time since the sprinkler head was in the area of his intended swing, just as before it interfered with his stance. Per the Rule, he’s allowed to take one club-length of relief from the reference point. So DeChambeau dropped two more times, and he played his ball on the fourth.

To sum, DeChambeau essentially took relief from two different sets of sprinkler heads, using relief under Rule 16.1b twice. (According to the USGA, “This isn’t any different than, for example, taking free relief from a cart path and then after doing so having interference from a sprinkler head — you would again have the option to take free relief.”)

Many viewers were also confused how he could change surfaces from the rough to the first cut, but the Rules don’t differentiate between rough and fairway (or in this case, the first cut beyond the fringe). It’s all encapsulated in the “general area.”

The shot/drop wasn’t mentioned again until later in the broadcast, when CBS called it the “Geico Save of the Day.”

“Well, I think the save of the day was the drop,” Faldo said. “It hopped into the rough and he was standing on some sprinkler heads, and that was probably the real save.”

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The post The Etiquetteist: Can you take a free drop and feel guilt-free on shots lost in the rough? appeared first on Golf.

The unequivocal answer is: it depends. The official Rules of Golf do not allow it. But in certain circumstances, the rules of etiquette make it OK.

Let’s say you’re standing on the first tee with your buddies, peering down a fairway fringed by gnarly U.S. Open-style rough. It’s all but guaranteed that at some point in the round, each and every one of you is going to spray a shot into that thick stuff. Since you don’t have a spotter (this isn’t a tournament, right?) and you don’t want to slow down play with fruitless searches, there’s nothing wrong with calling a quick huddle with your friends and establishing guidelines for balls that go missing right before your eyes. You all saw where that shot went. You know it’s in there somewhere. Is it really lost? Nah. In this case, at least, you’re not obligated to play it that way.

What guidelines you establish for the drop — two club lengths from point of entry; as close as possible to the spot where you think the ball wound up — is up to you.

So long as everyone agrees, you’ve got yourself a local rule for the day. (As part of this arrangement, you should also all agree that any scores altered by your local rule not be posted toward your handicap, as that wouldn’t be fair to others outside your group.)

Rules

In New England, this is known as the “autumn leaf” decision, as in, play on without penalty on shots that vanish in the foliage. And it makes a lot of sense, provided you have clarity and unanimity, and both are established in advance.

This is important. If not everyone in your group agrees to it, you can’t adopt the rule. Nor can you invoke it spontaneously, mid-round, just because you think you deserve it. Down that path likes anarchy. And arguments. And ugliness.

If, after starting your round, it becomes clear that you’d all be better adopting some version of the “autumn leaf” rule, it’s not too late to propose it to your partners, just as you might suggest playing winter rules when you get out on the course and notice that conditions call for it.

That’s the beauty of etiquette. It allows for reason to rule the day on days when the rules are unreasonable.

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The post The Etiquetteist: Can you take a free drop and feel guilt-free on shots lost in the rough? appeared first on Golf.

The post Why there was no rule to resolve Bubba Watson’s ‘bunker crab’ dilemma appeared first on Golf.

The post Why there was no rule to resolve Bubba Watson’s ‘bunker crab’ dilemma appeared first on Golf.

Watson found the greenside bunker on the par-3 17th hole during the third round at Harbor Town on Hilton Head Island, S.C., but when he reached his ball and inspected his lie, he realized a small crab had nestled under his ball.

Watson, McIlroy and their caddies examined the situation before calling for a rules official. Slugger White was soon on the scene.

“There was a camera, and you know, people [would] get mad because I hit an animal,” Watson said, pleading his case. “We got enough issues in our world right now. We don’t need crab issues, you know what I’m saying?”

Luckily for everyone, the crab eventually flipped on its back and scooted away, so Watson played his ball as it was, blasted out and two-putted for bogey.

But what if the crab had stayed under his golf ball? And what if this happens to you? Turns out you might have to get creative.

According to the USGA, a live crab is treated like any other animal (except for dangerous animals, where free relief is allowed under Rule 16.2), which means there’s essentially no rule for it. As Craig Winter, the senior director of Rules of Golf & Amateur Status at the USGA, explains: “The crab fits into the definition of ‘animal.’ If there was a dog near your ball (also an ‘animal’) and you called it so that you could play the shot without distraction, there isn’t a Rule that applies to that. This really isn’t any different than a caddie asking spectators to be quiet or to move when they are in the way — that’s also not covered by Rule.”

So in Watson’s case on Saturday, it was up to him to get the crab to move. He had a couple of options, like trying to encourage it to move — waving a hand near it or sometimes a player’s voice will work, Winter says — and if that doesn’t work, he could have physically removed it.

However, if the player causes the ball to move when doing any of this, the ball must be replaced and the player gets a penalty stroke, per Rule 9.4.

So there you have it. Next time you run into a crab on the golf course, you know what to do. And if you have to move it yourself, be careful! For several reasons.

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The post Why there was no rule to resolve Bubba Watson’s ‘bunker crab’ dilemma appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: If I drop but then find my ball under the cart, am I still penalized? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: If I drop but then find my ball under the cart, am I still penalized? appeared first on Golf.

Player A hit his drive into the rough. After the allotted three minutes of looking, we considered the ball lost, but when Player B moved his cart the ball was in plain sight. We felt it was only fair to let Player A proceed without penalty, but I’m sure we violated a rule. Which one? —Ron Crosser, via email

Dare I say, there’s no carte blanche for a cart block. As for fair, that’s a four-letter word, as is lost, which is what the ball in fact is, since it wasn’t found in time. The player must play under stroke-and-distance…unless (a) you were playing match play and (b) nobody was sure how correctly to proceed under the rules (which, oddly enough, “I’m sure we violated a rule” suggests… arguably). In that instance, a + b = you can decide amongst yourselves how to handle the situation, even if that procedure turns out to be as wrong as playing in flip-flops. This doesn’t hold for stroke play, since the field must be protected, and what’s verboten in both match play and stroke play is for players to agree to waive a Rule of Golf, under penalty of disqualification. Ignorance isn’t quite bliss, but it beats collusion 9 and 8.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: If I drop but then find my ball under the cart, am I still penalized? appeared first on Golf.