Jon Rahm and the rules

[BIG STU]

Ummm yes! I've actually read "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" (roughly 600 pages) cover to cover.

I have also along with taking several rules seminars when I was a Class A PGA of America member and playing the minis.

I will be the first to say the Decisions book is as complicated as reading a Supreme Court Decisions book. I have always said that I would make a good "Rules Lawyer".

 

Golf has too many rules that have gray areas. Man They have more rules than the NFL NBA and NASCAR combined. 

 

A lot of people criticize players at the Tour level about calling over a Rules Official on every decision. But with high resolution cameras and such these days it really pays to CYA

[BIG STU]

If he's going to be a professional he should know how the game is played...ask your playing partner...ask your caddie...ask the rules official...

 

Agree with you on the ball mark though...he didn't gain an advantage by not marking exactly where it was. They should adopt a 180 degree rule so you can replace your ball anywhere within a 180 degree radius of your mark, no closer to the hole.

 

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Darn skippy dead on it you better know the rules if you are playing for a living. I did when I played for the living. Now I truck for a living and you can bet I know the Law on stuff pertaining to trucking.

 

Now one thing he needs to learn is what was always called Professional Courtesy. If I was in doubt or for that matter going to put my hand near the ball I would in that case call my playing competetor over to confer before I ever put my hand near that ball. A good common sense thing especially in that case is that 4 eyes are better than 2. Westwood being a veteran player could have advised his opinion or maybe seen that the root was not really dead or whatever the case. I always call a competeting player over to see what I am doing. It erases any thoughts of non intregrity. I actually do it in informal rounds now. One of the things my old man taught me make sure to square your actions and make sure that it is square with your opponent. 

 

Now I have never played an event under R&A guidelines but from what I understand from some fellow Pros from across the pond there are some slight procedure differences between them and the USGA or PGA Tour for that matter. That along with a language barrier caused the big blow up a few years back between Keegan Bradley and Jiminez. Personally for me if I had been in that situation I would have called Jiminez over to begin with along with an official. If there was a language problem I would have also had an interperter over too. Really to add if Pepsi would have been my caddy I would have told him to shut up first thing. The second warning would have been a knuckle sandwich. I guess I would have been boring and the GC would have had nothing to blow up unless I had fed Pepsi that knuckle sandwich

 

Now I am the biggest detractor against the USGA that there is. A lot of people mistakenly blame the USGA on the Lexi incident. A USGA official did not make that ruling. A LPGA official did and I will grant that it was under USGA guidelines.

 

Just my .02 FWIW

[revkev]

Rahm should have called a penalty on himself after the ball marking incident when he saw the video, even if the official said no penalty (which I find very disgusting after the Lexi incident). It would have been the honorable thing to do.

 

How does a referee in the scoring area overrule an on course official and playing partner who was there without video evidence? Just sayin'

I didn't see any of it - thankfully.

 

It highlights the fact that there needs to be a clearly stated policy about how potential violations are handled including some sort of reasonable time limit.

 

In regards to the Lexi thing you had two different governing bodies involved. I can handle those differences so long as there is a stated policy upfront.

 

 

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