The Rules of Golf

I love golf, it's without a doubt my favorite game.  I could golf everyday, and when the weather permits me, I try and do just that.  But why is it that the PGA Tour infuriates me?  As I've previously stated, I love the four Majors and can't get enough of them, but the rest of the year I'd rather watch Newman hit balls than watch a PGA Tour event.

January marks the start of the PGA Tour season, and after only one tournament, I'm already angry.  I suppose my beef isn't specifically with the PGA Tour, but more with golf in general, but as the Tour is the medium in which this happened, I'm going to take it out on them.  I am, of course, talking about the ruling against Camilo Villegas this past weekend, which saw the golfer DQ'd from the Tour's opening event.

Let's start by getting all the facts straight.  First of all, Villegas did break a rule, by moving a loose impediment while his ball was in motion, earning a two-stroke penalty.  Secondly, he did sign an incorrect scorecard, earning the DQ.  I have no problem with a rules infraction being enforced, but I have a big problem with how it all happened,  namely, someone calling in from their couch and him being DQ's after the round, the next day in fact, and with how old fashioned so many of golfs rules are.

The purpose of having to sign your scorecard is to ensure that you aren't cheating.  Your playing partner keeps your score, and the buddy system provides some sort of check and balance.  That might have been necessary in 1927, but today, when every shot a player hits is tracked by satellites, I don't really see the point.  Does anybody think that Jim Furyk might try to shave a couple of strokes off his score before submitting his card, because he doesn't think anybody will notice?  This isn't a club tournament where I shave at least two off my score each round, this is the PGA Tour, where there are 10,000 people watching live, not to mention several million on TV.  It just seems like an old fashioned, unnecessary solution in search of a problem.

So we eliminate the need to sign a scorecard on the PGA Tour, and what happens to Villegas?  He is given a two-stroke penalty and continues to play in the tournament.  The two-stroke penalty will achieve the same thing as the DQ intends to do, punish the player for his infraction, without kicking a player out of the tournament.  It isn't as if Villegas intended to break the rules, and then after submitting his incorrect scorecard, returned to his hotel to have a mojito and share a laugh with his buddies about getting away with one on the course.  It just seems so bizarre to say to a player, 'remember yesterday when you did something that nobody was aware of?  Well you can't do that, so we have to ask you to leave.'

Next, what the hell is this receiving calls from the TV audience?  I don't even know how one begins to get in touch with the PGA Tour to do this, but apparently it is possible.  Not only is a rules infraction being called on a player when the rules official in his group is unaware of any infraction, it is also being enforced the next day.  This doesn't make any sense to me.  If the Tour doesn't recognize an infraction on their own, they either need to have more rules officials, or they need to let things lie.  They definitely shouldn't go back to the previous day to enforce such a thing.  How far back can they go, what's the statute of limitations on this?  I don't want to see a legion of PGA Tour rules vigilantes, scouring archived footage for infractions.  Anybody game for going through the 2007 Masters coverage to see if we can spot something, and have Zach Johnson stripped of his Green Jacket!?

"Good round Dustin...but you're out of the tourament,
because some Scotsmen from 1868 say so.

People will talk about how this is part of the purity of the game, and how it's great such rules are always followed to the tee.  But really, it's just an old-fashioned organization that is afraid to update it's game for fear of alienating...nobody.  I mean the rules of golf are so vague and incomprehensible, they needed to release the Decisions Book, which says how different rules have been interpreted int he past.  Basically, 'what does this rule mean?  I don't know, let's see what somebody in Alabama, in 1987, thought.'  Rules need to evolve with the times, and the list of rules in golf that need to be changed immediately is long and exhausting.  Can't flatten spike marks?  'No, we have to punish one player because someone three groups in front of them doesn't know how to walk.'  Want to mark your ball with a tee?  'You can't because you'll gain too much of advantage from 'testing' the green.'  Give me a break, C-3PO couldn't learn anything from sticking a tee into the green, nor could anybody who has ever played golf.  It's 43C out and you're a caddy?  'Sorry, no shorts, it's not with the traditions of the game.'  Oh wait, they did change that one after a couple of caddies passed out and had to be taken to the hospital.  Note to self: hospital visits equal evolution on the PGA Tour!

On the plus side, there's only about three months until the Masters! 


twitter.com/TheRevBW
thesportsroundup@gmail.com
Agree? Disagree? We want to hear from you! Click below to comment