Hey USGA – What about the spirit of the golf game?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The USGA has just dropped a bomb with one of its handicapping changes.
They now deem solo rounds of golf to be unacceptable for Handicap posting. The reason given indicates that peer review is crucial to confirming a player’s potential scoring ability.
In other words, as Chris Chaney from wrong_fairway says, “hey single, we don’t trust you to post an accurate score.” Ouch!
The first section in the Rules of Golf addresses this essential part of our sport.
To quote:’ Golf is played, for the most part, without the supervision of a referee or umpire. The game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and abide by the rules. Therefore, all players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner and demonstrate courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf.’
What is your opinion of this latest move by the USGA?
“The USGA Handicap System is constantly evolving to ensure that the System works for the game today and tomorrow.”
Steven Edmondson, the USGA’s managing director of Handicapping and Course Rating, said in a statement. “As we examine the game domestically and globally, these revisions support the integrity and reliability that millions of players around the world expect of this System. We continue to explore substantive changes as we work toward a World Handicap System in the years ahead.”
The USGA announced six “key changes,” five of which are pretty benign.
From clarifying the definition of a tournament round to adjusting scores when a player fails to hole out, the USGA just put some new lingo into its handicapping system guidelines to cover its bases. One of the key changes was pointing out that if a player anchors his or her club during the round and doesn’t assess the correct penalty, that score is not allowed to be posted, which seems redundant.
However, the one change that has brought the USGA back into its comfort zone of general disdain is this…
Did you know why golf balls have dimples – Read this!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The reason golf balls have dimples is a simple one.
Balls would not fly very far with no dinples.
The ball would not fly at all without them. If a golf ball was smooth like a billiard ball, the ball would fly less than 50 yards when hit with a driver. Great if you don’t want to lose a ball, but not great if you are playing a 7000-yard course! Find out through the United States Golf Association (USGA) about the science of ball flight.
NBC Learn, in partnership with the United States Golf Association and Chevron, explores the Science of Golf. Here, Steve Quintavella, USGA equipment standards operations manager, illustrates why golf balls have dimples and what they do for distance. Visit www.NBCLearn.com for more.
Is the USGA Rulebook Only for Competitive Golfers?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Did you know that the golf rules were drawn up in 1894 to determine the top golfers in the world at the time?
Along with national golf competitions in both the USA and Scotland came a request ‘for the formation of a governing body to run a universally recognized national championship.’ Thus, the rules of golf were born to govern the best golfers of the period.
Today, because most golfers are recreational and not professional, why not have a separate rule book? As in little league or weekend softball teams, players should adhere to a less stringent playbook than MLB players.
The U.S. Recreational Golf Association has moved forward with this idea, but where is the USGA on this?
Can all those USGA rules be hurting golf? (photo by USGA Publications)
Believe it or not, the USGA doesn’t govern all of golf. And it certainly doesn’t preside over recreational golfers like you and I. The USGA, along with its rulebook, does have a place in golf. But the idea it’s the supreme ruler of all things golf is a rather widespread misconception (this goes for the R&A as well). That being said, I outline below why most recreational golfers should cast-aside the USGA rules in favor of something written more for, well…recreational golfers.
1) The USGA rules weren’t really written for recreational golfers
Let me begin by stating in no way, shape or form am I advocating we throw-out the USGA rulebook. Those rules are absolutely necessary to achieve the USGA’s founding mission: To determine the best golfers in the world. This history is clearly told on their website:
“1894 – In September, William G. Lawrence wins a ‘national amateur championship’ at Newport (R.I.) Golf Club. In October, Laurence B. Stoddard wins a ‘national amateur championship’ at St. Andrew’s Golf Club. C.B. Macdonald, runner-up in both events, calls for the formation of a governing body to run a universally recognized national championship.” – USGA.org
Today, the USGA is basically still doing the same thing for the top amateurs. In addition, the PGA has adopted the USGA rulebook too. This all makes sense for determining the best golfers in the world.
But what about the rest of us?
All golfers – from the youngest to the oldest; the worst to the greatest; are forced encouraged to play by the USGA rules. This notion is foreign to many of the other major sports that also have youth and recreational participation. Think about your son or daughter’s little league; or your work softball team – do those strictly adhere to the rules of Major League Baseball? Of course not. The rules have been made simpler to encourage new players and promote fun.
Why isn’t there a separate set of rules for recreational golfers? For all that the USGA rules have done for the elite players in the game, the reality is the complexity of those same rules have hindered golf’s growth over the years – in particular with regards to recreational golfers (the vast majority of the game’s participants).
Let me also point out that while the USGA has been around for over 120 years, the game of golf was around for about 5 centuries before that. Makes you wonder how all those recreational golfers ever got by without the USGA rulebook.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The USGA has taken criticism from every angle.
Golf Pros, Press, General Public, and bloggers and posters like myself. But when you look at the USGA’s intent, they were only doing what they thought was right. And how many times in our lives have we thought we were doing something with honorable intentions, only to have it blow up in our face? Here is a great story from Michael Fitzpatrick of bleacherreport.com, who is on the USGA side. Maybe!
Chambers Bay certainly turned out to be a spectacularly beautiful location!
The USGA has long been the target of fierce criticism within the world of golf.
It has been accused of being too conservative and not progressing with technology and a changing culture.
It has been accused of being too rigid in its devotion to what many view as antiquated rules of the game.
The USGA has often attempted to roll back golfing technology that makes it easier for amateur players (who make up 99 percent of the golfing public in America) to enjoy the game, such as new golf ball technology and anchored putters. This has put the organization at odds with the PGA of America more than a few times over the past several decades.
In essence, the USGA is viewed by many as an organization that has been set in its outdated ways for far too long.
While there is certainly some credence to this unflattering public image the USGA has obtained, the organization has attempted to alter its behaviors in recent years. Yet these attempts have more often than not yielded even further criticism from players, fans and the media.
For example, the USGA had long been criticized for creating U.S. Open courses that were difficult to the point of being almost unfair.
Pundits claim was that it was over the top to have rough so thick that players were in effect receiving a penalty of at least one stroke for missing a fairway by just a few inches.
So, in 2006, the USGA tried introducing graduated rough at Winged Foot. At which time the organization promptly had the acusation of going soft on the best players in the world at an event that is meant to be the toughest test in all of golf.
In recent years the USGA has also tried to stray from its cookie-cutter U.S. Open course selection process (very long, traditional, northern golf courses).
The USGA took the Open back to Merion in 2013, which was a track many believed could never host an Open again due to its inability to stretch the course beyond 7,000 yards.
Merion with their familiar Basket instead of a flag was a stern test despite its length!
The USGA then took the 2014 Open back to Pinehurst, which had no rough at all and had been pursuing a center-row irrigation system to preserve water and operating costs.
Merion was widely regarded as a success in 2013, as was Pinehurst in 2014.
The USGA once again tried to push the envelope by selecting Chambers Bay for the 2015 U.S. Open.
Not a lot of water is needed to sustain Chambers Bay.
The greens are comprise of the exact same type of grass used throughout the rest of the course (fescue).
No expensive man-made water hazards were included in the construction process.
The bunkering consists of a mixture of sand and the natural soil, which is why you may have seen players removing stones from bunkers without being penalized last week.
Chambers Bay was chosen as much to showcase a working example of a sustainable, affordable golf course built on top of what was essentially wasteland. And it was chosen to challenge the best players in the world.
While Merion and Pinehurst were huge successes, Chambers Bay was clearly a poor decision by the USGA.
The main criteria through which to measure a good golf course vs. a bad course is quite simple—a good course rewards good shots and penalizes bad ones.
Unfortunately the exact opposite occurred last week at Chambers Bay.
10 Ways FOX could have improved it’s first US Open coverage!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
In my opinion, the inaugural coverage of the 115th US Open Championship by FOX Sports was OK.
US TV coverage can learn a lot from the European Tour. Less screen time for the announcers and more coverage of the golf. The Europeans have this down to a fine art.
As John Strege points out while writing for Golf Digest’s The Loop, some broadcasters like Brad Faxon, Julie Inkster, and Holly Sonders was underutilized while too much homage to the USGA was poured out in buckets by Greg Norman. It got a bit much towards the end.
And finally, in my opinion, the word “fescue” was said about a hundred thousand times! What happened to “He hit it in the rough”? Why did it always have to be “He hit it in the fescue”? I hope future broadcasts of this championship can learn from their glaring mistakes!
How did Fox Sports do with its initial foray into U.S. Open broadcasting? Let’s start with the premise that it’s a thankless job. If social media were the sole arbiter of what constitutes quality sports broadcasting, well, then no one does it well, whatever the sport, whoever the anchors and analysts.
FOX Sports Joe Buck was the lone professional in the booth!
Fox did fine. Not great, but OK for a first effort, and nothing that would cause heads to explode. Or longing for ESPN and Berman.
So, with that said, here is my two cents (which at that price is probably too much) on 10 things Fox could do to improve:
1. Holly Sonders was not put to use in her strengths and instead was in the wrong role as interviewer.
Not a strength. She’d have been better in the role of moderator, as she did for Golf Channel, which leads us to…
2. Curt Menefee, an otherwise outstanding broadcaster and host of Fox NFL Sunday.
But his limited knowledge of golf became apparent early in the week. Sonders would have been a better fit.
3. Less USGA worship. It’s not going to happen, of course, because the USGA is Fox’s “partner,” as they like to say.
To its credit, though, Fox did not shy from reporting on course criticisms, which by extension were USGA criticisms.
4. What to do about Greg Norman? He’s an identifiable brand in the lead analyst’s chair, and that’s fine.
But he tended not to lead the analysis, but to follow points made by other commentators. Maybe less Norman and more Brad Faxon?
5. Less talking, period.
Cutting to the set for roundtable discussions was overdone, too. Show the golf.
USGA steps backward by confiscating competitors’ clubs!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
If you are lucky enough to get into the U.S. Open as an alternate, you should be able to play a practice round prior to the big event.
NOPE! And the USGA officials will even take your clubs away if they catch you on the course! YIKES.
Apparently, ‘alternates’ are allowed to use practice areas, but are not allowed to use the course prior to the tournament. Aussie Clint Rice was playing a casual round yesterday with Tour Player Geoff Ogilvy and had his clubs confiscated on the 13th hole at Chambers Bay in Washington.
Geoff Ogilvy was apparently not happy that fellow Aussie Clint Rice was not allowed to play a practice round before the US Open at Chambers Bay!
Ogilvy told the Australian press that it was ‘silly” because they were not holding anyone up and the course was not full. This overly stringent adherence to the rules is negative and causes eyeball-rolling by other nation’s golfers.
What do you think of the USGA’s decision? I think if you qualify for the US Open, you should get to play at least one practice round. Surely! Preventing that makes no sense to me!
9 Reasons to Play 9 Holes – #6 makes perfect sense!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The USGA is truly the best organization at serving the game of golf.
It is constantly offering initiatives to get more people in the game and to stay in the game. All of their 15 events, such as the US Open on Father’s Day, inspire new players.
On Wednesday, July 29th, the USGA, along with American Express, will present the second annual ‘Play 9 Day.’ In the two months following this event’s launch in 2014, a 13% increase in nine-hole rounds was recorded by their Handicap and Information Network. (Ghin)
With extensive marketing, the USGA encourages everyone to play golf on July 29 and bring family and friends along to share the fun.
Besides being more time and money-friendly, see 7 other great reasons David Chmiel at the USGA provides for playing 9!
Playing nine holes is a great way to spend time with the family, and introduce them to the game. (USGA/Kohjiro Kinno)
Last year, the USGA introduced the PLAY9™ initiative, highlighted by PLAY9 Day. PLAY9 encourages golfers of all abilities, many of whom have busy schedules, to find the time to play nine holes. The second annual PLAY9 Day will take place on Wednesday, July 29.Here are nine reasons why it’s always a great time to play nine:
1. Nine-hole golf has an impeccable pedigree.
The First U.S. Open in 1895 was played on a nine-hole course: Newport (R.I.) Golf Club. Arnold Palmer and Pete Dye, among other golf luminaries, learned the game on nine-hole courses.
2. The majority can’t be wrong.
According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), 90 percent of U.S. golf facilities offer nine-hole rates – and 4,200 nine-hole courses dot the U.S. golf landscape. From coast to coast, playing nine is an easy way to enjoy the game.
3. It’s an excellent way to start the day.
Early risers can make the first footprints on a dewy fairway. You can get a round in and still make it to work or school on time.
4. It’s a great way to end the day with others.
Grab friends and co-workers for a post-work round to shake off the stress.
The Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA Museum is Amazing!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Jack Nicklaus has achieved everything that a golfer could dream of. 18 Majors, 73 PGA Tour Victories, great family life, and a successful business.
So it is only fitting that a room is dedicated to him at the USGA Museum. No small thanks also go to his longtime coach Jack Grout and his wife Barbara, who was by his side throughout his career.
Wednesday was the official opening and dedication of the Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA Museum in Far Hills, NJ.
For the people who go to these sorts of things, the experience is always the same: You can’t walk 10 feet without bumping into someone you know, or are supposed to know, wearing a blue blazer. If you know the face but not the name, you buy some time by asking if they’ve been playing much golf lately. And if it’s 85 and humid, like it was yesterday, brace yourself for the answer.
Regrettably, I spent only 15 minutes in the new room, which at 1,200 square feet is surprisingly intimate and houses just 82 artifacts. It’s a lean version of the sprawling Jack Nicklaus Museum in Columbus, Ohio, which gave some meorabelia on loan for the exhibit and will continue to rotate more. Several short videos and an interactive course-design feature pack additional layers of depth, but the impression is that the main concern of the curators was accessibility. The placards for each object are succinct and written in the first-person voice of Jack.
“[The USGA] did such an efficient job of not being overbearing with a big room,” Nicklaus said.
“They’ve put it tastefully in a place where it’s not going to get lost, where you can see it very quickly. There are three people that come to these rooms — streakers, strollers and scholars. Streakers spend about a half an hour and they’re through seeing everything. Strollers spend a couple hours and get a lot of information. A scholar could spend all day, or more…I think that’s what they’ve tried to accomplish.”
Someday soon, I’d like to return on at least the level of a stroller. But to offer at least a taste from my manic visit…
BEN SAYERS PUTTER USED BY JACK NICKLAUS
“I bought this putter in North Berwick, Scotland, shortly before the 1959 Walker Cup. It helped me to more than a dozen amateur titles, including both my U.S. Amateur wins.”
Easy to forget that Jack Nicklaus actually used a hickory shafted putter. With it, he sank what he’s said is the most important putt of his career; the final putt in the final match to defeat Charlie Coe in the 1959 U.S. Amateur.
Quick Guide to the Rules of Golf with Padraig Harrington – Part 1.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Knowing the rules of golf can save you shots during the round.
In the same way, you go to the range and work on your game, sometimes go to your rule book and study the rules. Better still, get the USGA’s book called “Rules and Decisions” This is a book filled with letters written into the USGA requesting a ruling that happened in live play. It is much easier to learn the rules this way, but it shows the complexity of a game played on different terrains in different weather conditions. Great read.
Here is the first part in a new series, “Do you know the rules,” that I will be posting on a fairly regular basis. These will feature common rules that often arise while playing the game we all love. To compete on a level playing field, we must all adhere to the rules. Our first video is brought to you by Swing by Swing
Which Rules 3 rules would you change if you could?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
We have to march all the way back to the tee and suffer a 2-shot penalty for hitting a ball out of bounds just right or left of the fairway. A playing partner on the same hole, hitting it off the other side of the fairway, into a body of water, incurs only a 1-stroke penalty, plus he’s afforded a drop from where it went in. Out of bounds should be played the same as a lateral water hazard. Stroke and distance is too severe a penalty, and then return to the tee holds up play for everyone, including the group behind us.
The second rule I dislike is the “play it as it lies” rule. Rule 13-1 says, “The ball must be played as it lies, except as otherwise provided in the Rules.”
Nothing is more annoying than hitting a perfect drive right down the middle of the fairway and finding your ball sitting in a big, fat divot. Especially playing a par 5 where you have to hit a fairway wood for your second.
The third rule I dislike is not being able to repair spike marks.
Rule 16-1a prohibits touching the line of putt except in removing loose impediments and repairing ball marks. Like that pesky divot in Rule 13-1, I think it unfair when I hit a perfect approach to the green and find a spike mark between myself and the hole. I make the perfect stroke with my putt, only to see it bump offline and lip out! I know that the USGA and the R&A tried to change this rule and then changed it back because they thought it took too much time out of the round.
The Royal and Ancient Clubhouse where the game has been governed for centuries.
Do you agree or disagree with me? Let me know which 3 rules you’d most like to see changed, and you could win a FREE 1-hour golf lesson at one of my Myrtle Beach SC golf schools.
The United States Golf Association must have decided that they had gotten too much good press lately 
The USGA has taken criticism from every angle. 
Playing nine holes is a great way to spend time with the family, and introduce them to the game. (USGA/Kohjiro Kinno)
