I finally have something good to say about the USGA.

[RoverRick]

After b1tching and moaning about the USGA and R&A about the new grooves and anchored putter rules and the silly rulings that seem to defy common sense it seems that, somehow, sanity has broken out.

 

I understand that the purpose of the rules level the playing field but Petterson's (?) club touch a leaf in the backswing so that is loose impediment, two strokes, Keegan hit a reed that was no longer in the grounds, two strokes.  Ian drops his ball marker and it hits the ball, one stroke. 

 

Sadly, these will not be addressed.  However, there is some good news and what will addressed is this.

 

 

Among the changes for 2014-2015, four decisions are particularly noteworthy:

• New Decision 14-3/18 confirms that players can access reports on weather conditions on a smartphone during a round without breaching the Rules. Importantly, this new Decision also clarifies that players are permitted to access information on the threat of an impending storm in order to protect their own safety.
• New Decision 18/4 provides that, where enhanced technological evidence (e.g. HDTV, digital recording or online visual media, etc.) shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time. The USGA and The R&A have issued a Statement on the Use of Video and Other Visual Evidence to further explain the governing bodies' position on the use of this technology.
• Revised Decision 25-2/0.5 helps to clarify when a golf ball is considered to be embedded in the ground through the use of illustrations.
• Revised Decision 27-2a/1.5 allows a player to go forward up to approximately 50 yards without forfeiting his or her right to go back and play a provisional ball.

 

Now, if they would just make a rule that you cannot call in penalties from home at all. 

[Mr_Theoo]

I think that's waft the rule 18/4 is for. Because people calling in will not have seen it with the naked eye.

[whiskey golf]

I'm glad they got rid of the "armchair official" rule.

[HighFade]

Wow. I love these changes. They're really using common sense here. Maybe we can have someone from the USGA talk to the NCAA.

[revkev]

I thought that the PGA had already instituted the no call in thing as a local rule.

 

I like these rule changes but how about something more significant like "spike" marks on the green and unfilled divots in the fairway.

[fozcycle]

I thought that the PGA had already instituted the no call in thing as a local rule.

 

I like these rule changes but how about something more significant like "spike" marks on the green and unfilled divots in the fairway.

 

I totally agree Rev.......there is no reason that multi-million dollar golf tourneys should make players hit out of a divot when they are definitely in the fairway and they could not see beforehand.

 

As for spike marks, you should be allowed to repair the green as the damage is due to no fault of the player.

[NiftyNiblick]

If boxing can have so many rival sanctioning bodies, then golf should have more competing bodies than the USGA and its lapdog, the R&A, which forgets that it's the senior body of the two.

 

One rule that I ignore in all non-formal play (which, except for the occasional member-guest, is all that I play) is the fourteen-club rule.  My everyday bag has fifteen slots.  If I see an empty slot when I'm about to draw a club, I panic that I've left a club somewhere out on the course.  I'm not kidding.  That's why I fill all the slots.  In a second I would remember that there was supposed to be an empty slot, but by then, the surge of adrenaline would be enough to mess up my next shot. 

 

One wonders how they came up with such an arbitrary number as fourteen.  Maybe it was the number of hairs in the then USGA president's head (not counting his ears and nose). Or maybe it was the age of the cretin pedophile's lover.  In any case, it seems stupid to me, but what the hell do I know?

[silver & black]

I understand that the purpose of the rules level the playing field but Petterson's (?) club touch a leaf in the backswing so that is loose impediment, two strokes, Keegan hit a reed that was no longer in the grounds, two strokes.  Ian drops his ball marker and it hits the ball, one stroke. 

 

 

This is the kind of petty s**t that makes the non player watching on TV, laugh and make fun of golf.

 

It's the kind of petty s**t that makes a player who encounters said petty s**t during his/her round, get p*ssed off about such petty s**t.

 

The rules need to be looked at and revamped a bit. Some of them are just ridiculous.

[xxio]

Yes the divot in the fairway is unfair but when do you consider a mark on the fairway still a divot? What if it is half healed? For us that play lousy courses it may be easy to confuse with any other mark left by a pushcart or a small mower.

[BK in TEXAS]

Yes the divot in the fairway is unfair but when do you consider a mark on the fairway still a divot? What if it is half healed? For us that play lousy courses it may be easy to confuse with any other mark left by a pushcart or a small mower.

I'm always happy to be in the fairway...seems harder to do than it should be though.  I think if you find the fairway you should be rewarded with a good lie, even if it means "rolling" the ball a few inches. 

[xxio]

The reward is in hitting a good shot when luck had deserted you on the previous one.