this months rules

[bladeplayer]

On this issues rules page, the main page refered to jaidee hitting the floodlight pylon . i actualy saw this on the coverage . when he didnt get the line of sight drop he (IMO) hit the pylon on purpose twice , wasnt that hard to play a draw around it even for one of our abilities . anyhow when the on course reporter saw him taking so many shots he aproached the referee & informed him the tee shot had hit the pylon , hence a free re tee under the local rule. anyhow my question is, should the referee have taken his word for this , who should have input? or who should be listend to or believed ? if a spectator said this would he believed .In the aftermath of the Harrington incident should anybody except players & officials have a standing on decisions etc ..

 

[Oddsocks]

personally id like to see players and officials only have a say. In no other sport can a joe public member call in and claim a foul/rule break so why golf. How many calls would fifa get for goals that were off side yet from the refs angle it was deemed on side and so on....

Playing a sport against the rule book is one thing, but when millions of viewers are also watching and having their imput its another.

 

[Aztecs27]

personally id like to see players and officials only have a say. In no other sport can a joe public member call in and claim a foul/rule break so why golf. How many calls would fifa get for goals that were off side yet from the refs angle it was deemed on side and so on....

Playing a sport against the rule book is one thing, but when millions of viewers are also watching and having their imput its another.

Could not agree more. It's a total farce.

 

[bladeplayer]

personally id like to see players and officials only have a say. In no other sport can a joe public member call in and claim a foul/rule break so why golf. How many calls would fifa get for goals that were off side yet from the refs angle it was deemed on side and so on....

Playing a sport against the rule book is one thing, but when millions of viewers are also watching and having their imput its another.

100% agree with you

 

[Matty]

It gets even worse when you consider the poor level of understanding of the rules of golf that we see on the course every week in the UK. I guess it can only get worse when you factor in people who watch but don't play!

 

[Oddsocks]

matty hit the nail on the head. game could and no doubt has been questioned by people who dont know the rules themselves, yet peoples games and living are questioned on these peoples own understandings of rules. It wrong.

I couldnt phone in and get button a drive through penulty so why can someone do the game in golf. It stinks!

 

[pokerjoke]

I agree,an outside interference is a no no,matty is right,the stuff you see out on the course weekends is crazy.I called a foul on myself last week when my ball moved as i addressed it,but you see it all the time.However imo the some of the rules of golf are crazy.The good thing is most players are honest,thats what i like.

 

[Yerman]

If the play by the rules what's the problem?

 

[Imurg]

To my eyes, once he's had his first drop, the ball's in play and anything that happened before is irrelevent. Not the case but maybe it should be.

The rules are definitely too complicated. I know they cover a huge number of possible instances due to the size of the course and the varying hazards within it. But they have to be able to simplfy the wording, the penalties and the decisions. Ordinary people struggle - that shouldn't be the case.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

That was a complete farce wasn't it. He definitely hit the pylon deliberately, seemed he had the hump about not getting a drop for some reason. As you say, it wasn't really affecting either his swing or line of sight. To wait until he got to the edge of the green and then send him back to the tee to start again was farcical.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I remember watching it and he was clearly doing it to prove a point although the referees didn't come out of it in glory after waiting several minutes while they discussed whether he could drop in the first place and then another wait once he'd hit the pylon again and it had gone OB. Then to let him get to the green before calling him back was daft.

I am not a fan of trial by TV. My solution is still to have a one or two hour window after the cards have been signed whereby if anything does get reported from an on course spectator or via the internet etc, players and officials could review the evidence and the scorecard amended without the player facing a d/Q for signing for a wrong score. After that time any evidence is deemed null and void and it is thought that as the players, officials and playing partners didn't see the offence then the score is allowed to stand.

Sadly this seems to be an growing trend and will only get worse as coverage intensifies, we get 3D coverage more often and is only penalising the top players (certainly at weekends) who get the coverage. Joe Hacker just making the cut and teeing off at 8.00am on Saturday isn't going to be televised and soit's an uneven playing field. It has to be equitable (hence the window)