The Rules of Golf are probably the biggest divergence between the best players in the world and the rest of us. They have to play the Rules to the letter or suffer dire consequences. Weekend players, however, take extreme liberties with them.

In many cases, it’s not even out of a desire to cheat. Sometimes, it’s a matter of ignorance. It’s also an issue of the Rules not always being practical on busy public courses. Be honest, how many of you go back to the tee to hit another shot after you’ve discovered that your ball is lost or has ended up out of bounds?

All of the golf leagues I’ve been involved with had local rules that overrode the Rules of Golf in some fashion. For instance, lost balls are played like a lateral hazard with a two-stroke penalty.

I’ve also seen league rules that allow players to improve lies within bunkers. The reasoning behind that? I don’t know for sure, but it probably has something to do with the fact that so many people have trouble with bunker play that it starts to look like a Three Stooges short and they just want to remove as much of the difficulty as possible to keep the matches moving.

Speaking of removing difficulty, the phone conversation I told you about at the top was with someone that works in the equipment industry. A ball maker, specifically.

The USGA (for those of us living in the US and Mexico) also happens to govern golf equipment regulations. I’m sure the vast majority of you remember the big to-do about wedge grooves that took effect at the highest levels at the beginning of 2010.

Wedge groove regulation isn’t the only area of influence the USGA has. Every club or ball manufacturer that wants their product approved has to submit for testing and that product has to meet a series of technical and performance specifications.

Many times, clubs and balls that help players hit longer, straighter, and with more or less spin are technically possible to achieve, but not without violating the regulations set forth by golf’s governing bodies.

Remember the Callaway ERC II driver? It was a driver that promised players longer drives. And it delivered by exceeding the maximum allowed COR (the spring-like effect of the club face). It was banned from competition and under intense pressure, it was removed from the market.

If you want to play in any formal events in the U.S., chances are that USGA rules and regulations will apply. That would probably cover everything from the U.S. Open down to your club championship.

But exactly what percentage of golf played is accounted for in those events? A tiny fraction. The number of golf courses in the United States is somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000-20,000 (give or take some) depending on who you ask.

It doesn’t take much computation to figure that even with all the important national, regional, and local events, all the club championships, and all the other formal events, they don’t even come close to the number of casual rounds played each year.

Let’s even say for a moment that any round entered for handicap purposes should be a formal round, played by all the appropriate rules and regulations. It should be that way, but whether it really happens is a different matter entirely. We’ll pretend that the handicap rounds are all on the up-and-up for the purposes of discussion.

What percentage of golfers even bother to get an official handicap and to post regular scores to the system? According to the USGA, about 4.5 million golfers are issued official handicaps by clubs.  Compared that to the estimated 26 million golfers in the United States and you’re talking about less than 20% of players. I’ve seen it with friends. The ones that like to play for money kind of know each other’s games and just negotiate strokes on the first tee. Most of the rest just show up and play for fun and never post a score, or those that do certainly don’t conform to every last rule and regulation, which kind of negates the validity of it.

So why do I bring this all up?

It goes back to the conversation I told you about. It got me thinking about why recreational players abide by the same rules and regulations as tour pros, when the objective for them is really just to have fun.

Don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of reverence for the history of the game. I also believe it should be played with integrity and honor. I believe that there is a place for the Rules (even though I think some should be changed). I also believe that there should be regulations on equipment that governs competitions.

At the same time, why should someone that goes out and plays 10 times per year, doesn’t play in any events, and doesn’t maintain a handicap, have to try and spend time working on his swing because the USGA doesn’t allow clubs and balls that will fix his slice to be approved for use?

Shouldn’t he just be able to grab clubs and balls that help him hit straighter and hit the course and have fun? Your answer might be that he can do whatever he likes if he’s not posting scores or playing in official events. No one is stopping him. Right?

But that’s not exactly true. The USGA actively works to preserve and promote the integrity of the game, which is generally a good thing. But it also means that big companies are pressured to not sell non-conforming equipment. Why else would Callaway pull the wildly successful ERC II off the shelves?

Those dreaded groove regulations that hit tour pros this year won’t hit that recreational player I talked about until 2024. The question is, why will they hit him at all? Why shouldn’t manufacturers just have divergent lines of conforming and non-conforming equipment?

It’s probably not feasible to relax equipment standards in the current system because they have to fit the bill at every level of play. From the point of view of those at the highest levels, they’ve already had to “Tiger proof” golf courses. Can you imagine what would happen if PGA Tour players were routinely hitting 400 yard drives, spinning the ball from everywhere, and hitting it straight as an arrow?

That’s a valid concern (though whether it would be positive or a negative is a matter for debate), but so is the concern that the average golfer’s drive length, according to Golf Digest surveys, is barely over 200 yards. And what about the fact that most high handicappers might only hit, at most, a few fairways and greens in regulation during a round, and they realistically probably won’t hit any. This is why having dual standards might be the way to go.

There are statistics out there that show that the number of golfers in the U.S. is shrinking. This is certainly for a variety of reasons. How many, though, stop playing, or don’t play as much, because they’re just not having fun? Maybe they can’t hit it far enough. Or maybe they have trouble hitting fairways. Or maybe they have trouble getting the ball to stop on the greens. Or maybe they even have trouble keeping their shots from slicing out of play.

Would it really be a bad thing if the weekend player could just get access to equipment to maximize his potential to have fun playing the game? Would it also be a bad thing for there to be a second set of very simplified Rules, meant strictly for recreational players?

As it is, there are only thirty-some rules defined in the Rules of golf. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of pages of decisions on the Rules because the tiny booklet of rules doesn’t really give players enough direction, or it’s phrased in an arcane way that’s difficult to understand. Not only that, as I said earlier, for players on busy public courses, rules are optional, at best.

You might be thinking, “well, these types of players can already do whatever they want, so why should there be another set of rules for them?” And you’d have a good point there.

The point of the USGA is to promote the integrity of the game. These recreational players, and golf leagues, and informal groups of friends that exchange a few bucks after a round, still could benefit from a framework to live within. Even recreational players like to compete with friends or even strangers occasionally, and there’s just no reason to treat those fun competitions like The Masters.

I’m not suggesting that players go out and emulate Tin Cup and play rounds with baseball bats and garden tools. I’m certainly not suggesting that the game itself should be fundamentally transformed. At any level, you’d still go out, hit a ball with a crooked stick until you get it into a hole, and then count up the number of strokes it took.

But why shouldn’t people playing strictly for fun have easy access to equipment that might violate USGA tournament regulations but that helps them play better golf? And why shouldn’t they have a simplified set of rules that helps them figure out how to get from A to B without hundreds of pages of decisions? Why should they have to deal with the discomfort of returning to the tee to hit another shot while another group stands around waiting impatiently?

To some of you, this is blasphemy. The argument is probably along the lines of, golf is what it is, and if people don’t like it, they shouldn’t play it. To an extent, I’m in that camp. I don’t think we need to transform the game just to lure people in that wouldn’t otherwise play.

At the same time, the phone conversation I told you about really got me thinking about the reality of the situation.

What exactly is accomplished by pressuring companies to discontinue equipment lines that don’t conform with arbitrary standards? And make no mistake, those standards are very much arbitrary. The USGA has decided that a ball cannot travel past 317 yards, given a certain club head speed, so they hit submitted balls with a robot. If they travel too far, they are deemed “non-conforming” and generally are either just sold as novelty balls or die because big companies cave to the pressure of producing only conforming equipment.

Photo: Ian Brown (igb), Flickr

Remember the flap with Phil Mickelson early in 2010? He played a 20-some year old Ping wedge with non-conforming grooves that was allowed by virtue of a legal settlement, in protest of inconsistent rulings on club conformance.

The Callaway irons he was going to play last season were ruled non-conforming because while they technically met the new groove regulations, they still generated spin that was deemed to be too high, despite the fact that regulations don’t call out a specific cap on spin rate. Apparently, they violated the “intent” of the rule, as opposed to violating the rule itself.

I’m going to tell you about a non-conforming ball you might not have heard about when I talk more about the subject in the next several days. I was kind of shocked at the story and I’m interested to hear what you all think.

To boil all this down, I think what I’m saying is this: the USGA should maintain the Rules and regulations of the game in the manner it has done so for decades. Competitions should be formal and should conform to those rules and regulations.

At the same time, the USGA should recognize that the vast majority of players do not play in competition and don’t even maintain handicaps, so these players should be encouraged to use a highly simplified set of rules and regulations, with the aim of maximizing the fun that they have on the golf course.

I’m not advocating that we need a new governing body or that we should stop listening to the USGA and R&A. I’m asking that the USGA, and all of us that hold the sport in high regard, recognize that there are two sides to the coin, the tournament side, and the recreational side. I believe it’s detrimental to have a one-size-fits-all approach to the principles that govern the game, and that the game would be better served with a simplified, relaxed set of rules and regulations for the recreational player. Companies should be encouraged to make equipment that pushes the limits of physics to help recreational players have more fun, while still keeping tight control of equipment used in tournament or handicap situations.

And obviously, it would be up to recreational players to decide whether they wish to play to tournament standards, as they do today. Personally, that’s what I would do, if I was given an option, but I firmly believe that an overwhelming majority of players would eventually choose the more relaxed regulations. Maybe not right away, but eventually.

So what do you think about this? Am I nuts? Am I not seeing the big picture here? Would two divergent games hurt golf overall? Is it even a real concern? Or, would it only just codify what already happens in the real world already?

Let me know what you think. In the meantime, we’ll be talking more about the issue in the next several days.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Should Tournament Golf and Recreational Golf Diverge?

Those of us living in the United States seem to be especially affected by slow play.

Some of the problem, no doubt, has to do with the design of courses. In Europe, many courses were built before the existence of motorized transportation so they were made for walking. Tees and greens are closer together, minimizing the time it takes to get from one hole to the next. I’ve heard that 3 1/2 hour rounds are common, or are even expected.

Perhaps an even bigger part of the problem is the culture of players on courses today. Many players either don’t care or just don’t know about the issue of slow play and what they can do to help the situation.

That leads me to the purpose of this post. What follows is not something I created. It was sent to me by a reader who played golf with a stranger (he believes his first name was Jim), and that man was so concerned about slow play that he took the time to create a list of a hundred ways to combat the problem. He gave the list to the reader who provided it to me.

I’d like to extend my thanks to the reader because he didn’t just mail me a paper copy of the list. He cares enough about the issue of slow play that he transcribed all 100 items electronically and e-mailed them to me. I can only imagine how time consuming that was and I’m grateful for the effort.

And now, I share that list with you. I’ve included the first 20 items here. The complete list can be found on the Slow Play Manifesto page. Since slow play is such a huge issue, I’m making this list easy to find by placing links to it in the menu bar at the top, in the page footer, and anywhere else that makes sense.

Feel free to share it in any way you see fit. Education is a big part of the solution to slow play. That doesn’t just mean educating fellow players. It also means letting courses know that we consider slow play to be an issue that they should be addressing, as well.

Without further ado, the Slow Play Manifesto…

—————————————

A Supplement to the USGA Rules of Golf to Encourage a Faster Pace of Play

“Slow Play!” is the universal complaint of golfers everywhere. Compared to other recreational activities, golf times are excessive.

Half of a football game is played in a little over an hour; a complete game in a about 3 hours. A full nine inning baseball game lasts about the same. A good movie runs about two hours. If you rent a horse, a bicycle, or a tennis court, you readily agree to a time limit, usually not longer than two hours. Why then take four-and-a-half to five hours to play a round of golf?

The answer is that slow golfers don’t realize how slow they are playing, nor would they know what to do about it if they were told they were slow.

The following rules are designed to encourage slow players (especially the high handicappers) to take less time on the course, and coincidentally, to derive more pleasure from the game without sacrificing a single stroke. To the contrary, the same rules that save time will also contribute directly or indirectly to a lower score.

1. Start your round on time! When the starter calls your name, have your clubs and carts in position so you can walk immediately onto the tee. Choose partners, make bets, and determine honors in advance of your tee time. If your tee time is 8:15, don’t just show up at 8:15. Your first hitter should strike his ball at 8:15.
2. Take warmup swings off the tee before the first hitter tees up. It is inexcusable to take a divot on the teeing groung with a practice swing.
3. All manmade noise and motion should cease as soon as each hitter addresses his ball. If possible, stand so that you are out of his sight until he has finished his swing.
4. Watch the flight of each hitter’s ball and be prepared to help him find it if it is not in the fairway.
5. If your drive appears to have gone out of bounds and you intend to hit a provisional ball, wait until the others have hit their drives. It will give you a chance to relax and settle down.
6. Watch the flight of your own ball intently so you can walk or drive directly to it. This is especially true if you have hit it poorly. Looking away and acting disgusted will not get you much sympathy, and it may cause you to lose your ball.
7. Be sure to know the identity of your ball before you hit it. A good reminder is to keep an identical ball in your pocket. Try to use a different trademark or number from those of others in your group, or put a personal unique mark on your ball.
8. Anticipate your turn to tee off. Give the previous hitter time to watch his ball until it comes to rest, and to pick up his tee. Then, move immediately to your pre-chosen position between the tee markers and tee up your ball.
9. It is time consuming and unnecessary to step back, set your feet, waggle, sight your target, and take a full practice swing, or worse yet, two or three full practice swings. One “loosening up” swing to get the rhythm is plenty. Many good players take no practice swing at all.
10. When addressing the ball, put all other things out of your mind. Conversation, or banter, is unwarranted even when you’re only talking to yourself. It isn’t wrong to ask your fellow players to stop talking when you are ready to hit.
11. Keep your mental checklist short. If you consistently take more than 15 seconds over the ball, you are probably confusing yourself.
12. After hitting, spot your ball, pick up your tee, and promptly move out of the way of the next hitter. Regardless of your exuberance over a good drive or dismay over a bad one, be considerate of the next hitter and be quiet and still while he addresses his ball and hits.
13. Mulligans are not sanctioned and you should not take one unless the others in your group suggest it. Even so, think of the reaction of the group waiting behind you before you tee up a second ball. You should never take a Mulligan anywhere except on the tee, preferably the first tee only. (A provisional ball is not a Mulligan).
14. If you have never shot bogie or better, you should not play from the championship tees. The intermediate tees (members’ tees) will provide as much challenge as you can handle.
15. When playing in a mixed group, it will not speed up play for all to hit from the intermediate tees. Most ladies should hit from the forward tees.
16. On a golf course, the rules of golf supercede the rules of gallantry. Treat ladies with the same etiquette you treat every golfer, e.g., observe honors at each tee, but hit from the intermediate tees before proceeding to the forward tees.
17. Cart management is a skill in itself. Cart partners should share driving duty so there is never a delay while waiting for a designated hitter to return to the cart. In general, maximum driving and minimum walking will result in the shortest time from tee to green.
18. If partners’ drives are reasonably close to each other, both balls should be played from the same cart position.
19. If carts are unrestricted, drive first to the partner’s ball farthest from the hole, making sure you don’t go farther than either opponent’s ball. It is preferable to park behind the hitter at least a comfortable two club lengths from the arc of his swing.
20. If carts are confined to the cart path, carry two or three clubs to your next shot so you’ll be sure to have the one you need without going back to the cart.

Click here to continue reading the other 80 ways to speed up play on the golf course.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

A Slow Play Manifesto

The latest poll asked about the ways you improve your golf game.  If you haven’t voted yet, please feel free.  The question is, “Which of the following have you done in the past 12 months to improve your golf game?“  I presented you with a bunch of answers and asked you to pick all that apply (my apologies – for a brief period early on, you were only able to select one answer, but that has since been fixed).

This is how the responses broke down as of this writing (out of 167):

• Practice at a driving range or practice green (81%, 136 Votes)
• Read or watch instructional materials (63%, 105 Votes)
• Take a range lesson from a golf pro (34%, 57 Votes)
• Get a club fitting (22%, 36 Votes)
• Conduct a video analysis of your swing, (by yourself or with a pro) (20%, 34 Votes)
• Have a computerized swing analysis done (not at a club fitting) (15%, 25 Votes)
• Another thing which is not listed (15%, 25 Votes)
• Take a playing lesson from a golf pro (12%, 20 Votes)
• Attend a clinic at a local course or driving range (7%, 12 Votes)
• Attend a golf school (4%, 7 Votes)
• None of the above (3%, 5 Votes)

In many ways those answers aren’t surprising.

For instance, I’m not surprised that only 34% of you have taken a lesson from a golf pro in the last 12 months.  One look at my driving range tells me that if all of them were taking lessons, my course would need to employ a dozen pros.  I’m also not surprised that only 4% of you have attended a golf school.  They can get pretty expensive, after all, and often require travel and several days of commitment.

(Update: Doug alertly pointed out in the comments that I had originally referred above to the 12% who had taken playing lessons with a pro.  The number taking range lessons is actually at 34%, but I wonder how many of them overlap with the 12% who took playing lessons.  In reality the number taking some form of lesson could be anywhere between 34% and 46%, which actually puts the total in the somewhat surprising category.  Though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because as I went on to state below, most people visiting here are those interested in game improvement.  What wouldn’t surprise me is if these numbers are higher than in the overall golfing population.)

A couple of things there are very surprising to me, though.

For one, I’m surprised that 22% of you have gotten a club fitting in the last 12 months.  I expected that number to be much lower.  I’m surprised there were that many of you that bought clubs in the last 12 months (or at least thought about it seriously enough to get a fitting), though I probably shouldn’t be.  We golfers are nuts when it comes to buying new equipment sometimes.

The biggest shock to me, however, is that only 81% of you have practiced at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months.  I want to scream, “WHY?!” but I’ll just calmy ask.  Why?

In fairness, 3% of you answered “none of the above”.  There are likely some non-golfers that came by and answered the poll.  I’ll throw those out and I’m still shocked that 16% of you haven’t practiced at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months.

I understand that most of you would rather play than practice.  I get it.  But those of you that found your way here for the first time were most likely looking to improve your game somehow.  As much as I’d like to believe you’re interested in my quest, the vast majority of you were brought here while searching for things to help you fix your game.  The Stack and Tilt.  Learning how to hit from sand.  Straightening your slice.

In general, I expect that most of you like to work on your game in some fashion.  I’m betting many of you like to read golf books, magazines, blogs.  You take lessons.  You buy training aids.  I would have thought going to the range and/or practice green is the most basic fundamental to game improvement like the need for air, water, and food for basic human survival.

It’s not even the fact that 16% of you didn’t practice at a range or green that boggles my mind the most.  It’s really the fact that you selected one of the other answers instead.  I sincerely hope you’re not taking lessons and not putting the teaching to work in between.

I have to know.  Those of you who did not practice at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months, please tell me your story.  I promise I won’t be judgmental.  I’m just extremely curious.  Do you just not like it?  Did you just accidentally not select that answer?  Do you just prefer to work on stuff out on the course?

Hopefully some of you 16% will fill me in, or maybe the rest of you know the answers and will let me know.  Either way, I’m intrigued with another great poll.  If you haven’t voted yet, please feel free.  I’m going to run it for a while longer.  I’m also interested to hear from any of you about your general practice habits.  If you read regularly, then you know all mine, so let’s hear yours.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Your Golf Improvement Strategy

That’s what J.P. Hayes did during the second stage of the 2008 PGA Tour Q-School last week in Texas.

Here’s a guy who is a former PGA Tour winner who finds himself at Q-School, fighting for his card after finishing 176th on the money list.  On the 12th hole of his first round, his caddy tossed him a ball that he realized later was a special Titleist prototype which was not of the same model with which he started the round.

Knowing it would result in disqualification, Hayes turned himself in.

I’m not here to praise Hayes for doing the right thing.  As pointed out on Jason Sobel’s blog at ESPN, this is something that Bobby Jones addressed after penalizing himself in the 1925 U.S. Open.  Upon being commended for his honesty, his reply was, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

So while Hayes did what he was required to do and doesn’t deserve to be commended, actions like his should be pointed out, if for no other reason than to expose one of the things that makes golf great.  It is a game of integrity.  As players, we should be following the example that Hayes, Jones and many other players have set for us.

Having played other sports, I know that integrity does not translate the same way.  I don’t think I ever saw an example of a player in a football game asking a touchdown be called back because he was guilty of a holding penalty.  When I played hockey, I don’t ever remember asking that a penalty be called when I tripped another player.  I’ve never seen a batter in baseball argue that a called ball was actually a strike.

Golf, however, is filled with examples of players doing the right thing and penalizing themselves, costing them major wins, regular tournament wins, earnings, and even Tour cards.

Junior golfers, new golfers, and really all golfers should be introduced to the things that make golf great, with integrity leading the way.  It truly is a lesson that transcends golf and makes the golfer a better person.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

A Game of Integrity

Photo: Leo Reynolds/Flickr

These days, it’s pretty likely that your golf course has one or more “environmentally sensitive areas” that are intended to preserve the natural landscape.  Most often, they’re wetlands, but they can just as easily be fragile desert ecosystems.  Normally, these areas are designated by government regulatory agencies and they seem to be prevalent on newer courses, where environmental concerns are considered during construction.

At my course, these areas are usually marked with hazard stakes with green tips.  Most of them are lateral hazards, so the sensitive areas are lined with red stakes with green tips.  There are some signs as well.  You might have seen similar setups at courses you have played.

I have a major beef with these environmentally sensitive areas.

Before you think I don’t care about the environment, think again.  Golf courses absolutely have an impact on the local ecosystem. In the middle of summer, when it’s hot and dry, a golf course needs a lot of water to stay healthy.  Have you ever noticed ponds and lakes virtually empty from all the irrigation?  Well, in a stream-fed system, that means someone downstream isn’t getting water for some other purpose such as agricultural irrigation.  That’s why there are often restrictions placed on courses using surface water.

I’ve also seen the amount of chemical treatment required to keep a typical golf course up and running.  That includes stuff with a skull and crossbones on the container.  In most cases, players are not in danger, but there’s the issue of run-off, where these chemicals wash into the surface water supplies and end up being transported away.

I’m impressed at the effort being placed on lowering chemical and water usage these days.  Courses are doing a good job at balancing the needs of customers with the impact on the local ecosystem.  I’m all for that.  There’s even a course on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. that’s 100% organic.  Now that’s a feat and shows some real ingenuity.

So what’s my problem with “environmentally sensitive areas”?

Let’s see what the Rules of Golf have to say on the matter.  According to Appendix I, Part A:

Assisting preservation of the course by defining areas, including turf nurseries, young plantations and other parts of the course under cultivation, as ground under repair from which play is prohibited.

When the Committee is required to prohibit play from environmentally-sensitive areas that are on or adjoin the course, it should make a Local Rule clarifying the relief procedure.

On my course, the sensitive areas are those that were mandated with the state of New Jersey. By local rule, they play as hazards (lateral hazards, in most, if not all cases). But, that’s not all. In addition to that, players are prevented from even setting foot in those areas.

That’s my my complaint.  They play as hazards, but I can’t set foot in there?

I’ll give an example.  The second hole at my course is a short, but narrow par four.  There’s trouble right and running up the left side is woods with a mostly dry, environmentally sensitive, lateral hazard ditch right next to it.  The fairway ends on the left side with about 2 yards of rough then a cart path and then about another yard of rough dropping into the protected area.  We’re not talking about an out of the way location here.

The problem is, just about all year, there’s nothing more than moist turf and sand in that ditch and usually, it’s not even moist.  A ball hit in there is absolutely playable probably 95% of the time.  In any normal hazard, I have the option of playing the ball as prescribed by Rule 13-4.

The most basic fundamental concept of golf is to play the ball as it lies. The rules cover situations where this isn’t possible and outline procedures for relief or penalty.  In this case, the ability to play the ball as it lies is removed and the player is penalized.  The player is punished because the course happens to contain areas with external regulatory bodies have deemed sensitive.

I can sort of understand it in spots where the sensitive area is an actual pond or marsh or somewhere that it’s not really feasible to play a shot anyway, and damaging the ecosystem isn’t desirable.  But I promise you, if you could see the ditch at my course that I’m referring to, you’d have to laugh.  It really is just a grassy area with moist soil and sand at the bottom.

As if that’s not enough, I have to kiss a $3.50 ball goodbye that I can stand there and see.  That is, if I want to act strictly within the rules, and probably the law.  I’ll say this:  I never play out of those areas, but I’m not leaving a ball behind that was living in a carton when I arrived at the tee.

Am I blowing hot air here? Do those of you in other countries encounter the same kinds of situations?  How about those of you in the United States?  Is this common everywhere, or is it only uber-regulated states like New Jersey?  Would treating it like ground under repair make the situation fair, or just make it unfair in the player’s favor?

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Environmentally Sensitive Areas

The WGC Accenture Match Play Championship really reminds me of that fact. Of course, I enjoy playing and watching all forms of golf. But there’s something about that one-on-one competition that really gets me going.

Playing a stroke play tournament provides a definite set of mental and physical challenges, but in the end, you just need to go out there and put up the best score you can. The rest is out of your hands.

Playing against someone in match play adds a whole new dimension. It’s not about going out and shooting a score. It’s about playing the individual.

Getting out-driven by 40 yards by a fellow competitor in stroke play doesn’t carry the same weight as it does in a match, where that hole is on the line. Same thing for stuffing a wedge close.

Gamesmanship can become a bigger part of a match than it can during a stroke play event. That one-on-one situation just leaves so many openings for mental manipulation of your opponent. I love it!

Don’t get me wrong – if you can’t get the ball in the hole, you can’t win in any format. In match play, however, a strong mental game can help a player beat an opponent that may have a superior physical game.

The big thing I like about the Accenture Match Play Championship is that it’s a “win or go home” format. There’s no chance of having a letdown in the first or second round and still having a chance to win on the weekend. If you lose, you’re out.

Next time you’re out on the course with an opponent, consider playing a match. It’s a lot of fun and a nice change of pace if you’ve been playing stoke play for a long time.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Do You Prefer Match Play?

For those unaware, I’m talking about putters that are significantly longer than what we’d think of as a standard putter.

The basic idea is that a player holds the end of the putter to their belly, chest, or chin. What that does is produce a more consistent pendulum stroke, removing some of the things that we now recognize as flaws in the modern putting stroke, such as wrist break.

The benefits aren’t just perceived, though. In his Putting Bible, Dave Pelz recommends giving it a try. His tests of thousands of players from his scoring game schools show that the majority of them make more putts of 6 feet or less with long putters than with any other putting method.

His testing also shows that anchoring the putter under the chin (creating more of a vertical pendulum) is marginally better than fixing it to the chest or belly.

Long putters are not without criticism though. Not so much toward their effectiveness, but more toward their fairness under the rules.

Many feel that anchoring the putter to your body is an unfair advantage over the traditional style. Critics point to elevated putting stats in some players who have made the switch.

So far, the USGA and R&A have refused to make rules limiting putter length.

Despite the benefits, some players have switched to long putters only to go back to a traditional putter. Vijay Singh is a perfect example. After some putting struggles, he switched to a long putter in 2001 and became much more consistent. However, in more recent years, he returned to a short putter at times.

My feeling is, that’s probably more of a mental move to overcome a bad putting stretch. When something isn’t working, it gets frustrating to the point where confidence drops too much. Switching to any new method that feels better at that moment in time has a way of recharging confidence and making the player putt better in the short term.

I’d like to know whether you use a belly putter or not. Vote in the poll below and let me know.

Also, I’d love to hear any opinions as to whether long putters and/or the technique of anchoring the club to the body should be banned.

Feel free to drop any thoughts into the comments.

n

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Do You Use a Long Putter?

It reminds me of a story involving Tommy Armour. He was asked by a member at Winged Foot how to spin the ball back, like the pros do. Armour asked the player how often he hit the ball past the hole, to which the member replied, “Why, hardly ever.” Armour’s response summed up the situation nicely: “Then, what do you want to spin it back for?”

I personally very rarely spin the ball back. It’s not a conscious decision. The ball just never reacts like that for me.

I typically hit the ball high and hard. Any well-struck shot with a short iron normally hits the green and ends up within a couple of feet of the pitch mark, if the greens are receptive. When they’re hard and fast, those factors come into play more and there will be more roll. But my shots seem to fall straight down from a mile high and stay right near where they land.

Sometimes, I can’t help wondering why my ball doesn’t spin back more often. I know how spin is caused in a technical sense, but I don’t know what it is about my own swing that limits the backspin.

When I start wondering, I think back to a PGA Tour event I went to several years back. It was the Buick Classic at West Chester Country Club in New York.

My friends and I picked a spot out along side the 7th hole on some rocks by the green. It was a wet day. The green is a multi-tiered green and if I remember correctly, the pin was on the top tier toward the back.

After a bit, we proceeded to watch four players in a row hit the green with their approach shots only to see them spin off the front of the green back down into the fairway. Incidentally, the fifth player we saw was Tiger Woods, who proceeded to stuff his approach onto the green like a dart.

The fact is, these guys that spin the ball like that have extra work to do. It’s more calculations for them to do for each shot. Tune into an event on television any week and you’ll see the same thing. Sometimes they master it and sometimes they don’t, and are chipping on from the fairway.

Every time I wonder why I don’t spin the ball like that, I’m happy that I don’t have to do extra work to figure out what my shots are going to do.

There’s always a possibility that it’s more of a detriment than I realize and that as I become a better player, things will change and force me to investigate the problem.

For now, ignorance is bliss.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Much Ado About Backspin

Within the next 30 seconds, I was just trying to understand what I was on the hook for. I think it was a $1 a hole skins match with $0.50 pars, $1 birdies, $1 greenies, $1 sandies and who knows what else.

I just went out and played my normal game (I had an average round) and ended up with $5.50 at the end.

It had me thinking, though: how many people gamble on golf? Let’s just consider games that a person is a player in, not betting on the PGA Tour or anything else.

Since I’ve been playing the game, I’ve known people who refuse to bet because they don’t like the pressure. I’ve known people like myself who don’t really care either way, but won’t bet for more than they feel comfortable losing. And then there are the people like my brother. If there’s nothing on the line, they feel like there’s something missing from the experience. In fairness, he’s really not that bad, but I’ve known people that are.

The Rules of Golf include an appendix covering gambling and golf. Generally, informal betting is acceptable, even in the case of an amateur. It is considered unacceptable when the wager involves non-players or when the amount is considered excessive.

So in most cases, the Rules aren’t really a factor. It’s more a matter of how important it is to you (or how important it is that you not bet, if you believe gambling is wrong).

So I have to know. Do you bet on golf?

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Gambling and Golf

To me, walking wins out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I never take a cart. If I’m playing with a friend that I know likes to ride, I’ll ride. But I believe that walking definitely has a positive effect on a round. For one, it helps keep you more loose. Especially on a cooler day. Taking a shot then sitting down/riding until the next shot keeps you from really getting and saying loose. Cart riders will notice that they do loosen up some after several holes. Usually, that’s because they end up having to do some walking to the places they can’t take carts, like in sensitive areas or around the greens.

Another benefit to walking is that it gives you a chance to think about your next shot, or what you did right or wrong on your previous shot. As you walk up to your ball (assuming it’s not still a few yards ahead), you can be thinking about how you’ll be attacking the rest of the hole, going over some swing thoughts, or clearing out any negative emotions left over from the last shot or hole. Cart riders generally have a much shorter trip and may not get the same benefit. I really feel that when I walk, I’m more focused and play a better game, in general.

One undeniable benefit of walking is the exercise factor. While riding a cart provides some exercise because players still have to do some degree of walking where carts can’t go, walking the course provides a great workout. Consider the fact that a 7000 yard course is almost 4 miles of walking, and that doesn’t include the distances to get from one green to the next tee and extra walking you have to do to hunt down errant shots.

Not only does the player benefit from walking, but the course does too. Cart paths require maintenance. Carts cause a lot of wear and tear when coming off of cart paths where players tend to favor the same areas. I can also tell you from my four years working golf course maintenance in college, that way too many players ignore cart rules altogether. They ride their carts too close (or ON) to greens and tees, ignore roped off areas (you knew that little opening in the ropes is for mowers and walkers, right?), ride through wet areas, and so on. All of this has an adverse effect on playing conditions.

I believe that pace of play can be affected by carts too. It’s not so much the cart itself. Of course a person in a cart gets to his ball and is ready to hit faster than a walker. But in a foursome, what ends up happening sometimes is that both guys go to one ball, take the shot, then both go to the second ball or they engage in some other time-wasting cart antics. They should both be ready to hit in turn when next leg of the hole is clear. Four walkers typically fan out to their own balls and are ready to go when the coast is clear. I guess that’s more of an etiquette issue, and mostly just comes from ignorance, but it’s one that wouldn’t be so prevalent if more people walked.

While I can’t say I look down at people who use carts (especially since I do it sometimes), I really feel that there are just too many benefits to not walk some rounds here and there. You might find, like I did, that it helps your game more than you might think.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Walking Versus Riding