ORLANDO, Fla. — The memo PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan despatched to gamers on the new Rules of Golf may be interpreted particular approaches primarily based as a lot on the timing because of the message.
One subject matter changed into being patient. “We are devoted to playing below these guidelines as we examine their effectiveness … And it is vital to acknowledge that we are not at the finish line yet,” Monahan stated in a memo sent Monday. Another change into looking at the USGA as a partner as opposed to a villain. “This is a collaborative manner, one that the PGA Tour has been part of from the start, together with all companies in the international golf industry,” he wrote. The desire is that it will lead gamers to stop complaining about the policies and virtually follow them.
The latter has not been as significant a problem as the media—social or otherwise—has let on. According to ShotLink information that tracks every shot on the PGA Tour, the best three penalties below the new policies were assessed to excursion individuals on roughly 258,000 shots hit this 12 months. One of them was the final week of the Honda Classic, where Adam Schenk was penalized for shots because his caddie was standing behind him for an awkward shot out of the bunker. The caddie alignment rule was already changed into adjusted on the fly a month earlier in Phoenix, permitting a participant to avoid the penalty if he steps out of his stance. Schenk didn’t; although it became obtrusive, his caddie changed into there to talk about the pleasant way to play the shot, no longer to reveal to him where to hit it. No, remember. Modern regulations are still written in black and white.
