Friday, September 21, 2018

Loose Ends

As time permits, a few items submitted for your approval...

Rules Stuff - While I was away, the USGA and R&A released their shiny new rules revisions, along with a heaping spoonful of blarney.  We mostly have been over this ground, but Shack and Alistair Tait have me reconsidering one aspect that I was previously OK with:
I’m all for simplifying the rules. I welcome cutting them from the 34 to 24. I like the fact we’ll be able to putt with the flag in the hole, reducing the search for a lost ball from five 
to three minutes, the emphasis on ready golf and that I won’t be penalized for accidentally kicking my ball while searching for it in the rough. However, I’ve got a problem with Rule 13.1c, which states: 
“A player may repair damage on the putting green without penalty by taking reasonable actions to restore the putting greens as nearly as possible to its original condition. Damage on the putting green means any damage caused by a person or outside influence.” 
The new rule then goes on to list ball marks, shoe damage (such as spike marks), scrapes, indentations, old hole plugs, turf plugs, animal tracks, hoof indentations and embedded objects as damage that can be repaired. In short, anything goes.
There is a caveat to the new rule that says such repair may be done “without unreasonably delaying play.”
Let me just say here that the old rule had its own share of problems, including incentivizing players to inaccurately mark their balls on short putts.  At the time of Lexigate, our hero Phil told us this was a common occurrence out there, and your humble observer thought it better to do away with the charade.

The powers that be tell us not to worry:
“It was an area in the extensive discussions that we talked about for some time because in all of this we were interested in speeding the game up, and this change in particular could potentially even go the other way. But what I would say is that it does present a completely different dynamic,” he said. 
“I think we’ll see people repairing damage as a collective at different times. I think what you will also see is that the putting green surfaces will generally be maintained throughout the day through the actions of all the players at different times in a much higher standard. So those players at the end of the are only repairing the minimal damage that hasn’t already been repaired. I think in reality it will work.”
And yet, worry Geoff does:
I don’t. And this is someone who believes in Rickman’s views on the rules. Primarily, I just can’t see how you can instill a “play it as it lies” mentality in today’s players or future generations when you can now make it lie on the greens. They already complain when all 18 greens are not of the same firmness and speed, and providing a free-for-all to manicure lines seems like less of a slow play issue and more of a core value undermining problem.

Certainly a case could be made that introducing spike-mark tapping could have alleviate pressure on supers to present perfect conditions. But the first time you watch an elite player turn golf into curling by massaging their line, I’m confident you’ll miss the old play it as it lies days.

We’ll find out soon enough!
The curling reference is worth a smile, though I'll take a pass on this issue, at least for now.  Even if Shack and Tait are correct that guys will be performing a mani-pedi on their line of play, we'll never see it on the TV coverage....

In a similar vein, Mike Bamberger is auditioning for the role of Tom Watson in this morality play, using that recent anonymous poll  as his tent pole:
HAVE YOU EVER WITNESSED A FELLOW TOUR PLAYER CHEAT DURING A TOURNAMENT ROUND?

YES: 44%
NO: 56%
“Multiple times. The Tour is a joke when it comes to enforcing the rules.”
“I’ve seen guys bend the rules and mark their ball improperly.” 
HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN A RULE AND NOT REPORTED IT?
YES: 0%
NO: 100%
To which he dispenses some tough love:
But the job of enforcing the rules is fundamentally on the players. If the rules officials see a drop going awry, it is their job to step in and make sure it’s done correctly, and that is what they generally do. If one player says the ball crossed at point A and the other point B, the rules officials have to adjudicate, and they generally do. They are not the police. They’re not trying to catch players. Their first job is to help players turn in the most accurate scorecard they can. It is each individual player who serves as a police officer. He should be doing an ongoing and continuing and intense investigation of his own play and the play of the others in his group.
I think Mike is spot on here, though a rather large BUT is to follow.   Like Mike, I am sympathetic to the plight of the rules officials, and I have myself noted that the current generation of players, who in most respects are gracious and show integrity, have for some reason not absorbed the importance of their obligation to protect the field.

I also am forced to note that in the most visible test of mike's premise, the Sung Kang drop a few months ago to which Joel Dahmen objected, the rules official did not support the player performing as Mike would have him do.  It's a small fishbowl, and word has gotten out that the officials can be rolled, so there we are.

But Mike loses me as he tries to make a larger point about society at large:
Our modern wink-wink culture is at odds with what golf is supposed to stand for. You may question the source, but Stormy Daniels, in a book coming out next month, “Full Disclosure,” claims that in 2006 Donald Trump promised to get her a role on his TV show, “The Apprentice.” Quoting what Trump allegedly told her, she writes, “‘We’ll figure out a way to get you the challenges beforehand.’” Later she writes, “He was going to have me cheat, and it was 100 percent his idea.”
WTF, Mike!  Societal norms have been degrading for a long time, so lets' not make our last stand on Stormy Daniels....agreed?

Ryder Cup Stuff -  We'll lead with this amusing Josh Barton piece on the atmospherics of French golf:
The British have tended to have a superiority complex toward their continental neighbors, but perhaps that masks a degree of envy, too. There's an Internet meme based
on European national stereotypes: "Heaven is where the police are British, the lovers French, the mechanics German, the chefs Italian, and it's all organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the lovers Swiss, the mechanics French, the chefs British, and it's all organized by the Italians." Of course such characterizations are clichés, but nevertheless, it's hard to walk the streets of Paris in April and not feel a frisson; a certain je ne sais quoi. There's a reason France is consistently the most visited nation on earth with 89-million-plus international arrivals a year. People come for the food, the arts, the chateâux, the beaches. But perhaps what they come most for is the joie de vivre. For love. 
Only in France would someone design a golf course as an homage to a woman's body. Viewed from the air, Robert Berthet's Macon La Salle Golf Club in Burgundy, opened in 1990, is a riot of curvaceous mounds, contours and strategically positioned hazards that depict the body parts of a woman called Nicole, Berthet's muse. Many who play the par-4 11th, for instance, succumb to a gaping triangular bunker in the corner of the dogleg. After accusations of sexism, a "male" hole was added to La Salle's nine-hole course: a par 3 with a distinctively shaped tee and green, measuring 180 yards, though male members of the club are prone to exaggerate the length.
Amusingly, we had a British chef on our French barge, but he rocked...  Of course he was actually from Cornwall, which is a bit of inside baseball, settled by the Gauls, not the Saxons.  Anyway, it's a fun read.

And today's installment of Bryson being Bryson includes this over-sharing:
"What I'm looking forward to most is the team atmosphere. I remember that at the Walker Cup, and that was like nothing else, and I know it'll live up to the same standard. Maybe even better, too. So a lot of ping-pong going on over there, I know that for me. I just actually bought a ping-pong paddle last night, another new one. I needed a new rubber, so..."
Hmmm.... isn't that why the guys bring their WAG du jour?  Joking aside, has anyone ever heard of a ping pong paddle being called a rubber?   

There was also this on Twitter.  Attention to detail or mad as a hatter?  You make the call...

Ryan Herrington focuses on the golf course in his preview offering:
5.) THE COURSE WON'T FAVOR ONE TEAM OVER ANOTHER (WINK! WINK!) 
The not-so-well-kept secret of the Ryder Cup is the influence the home captains have in course setups, the assumption being that they'll cater conditions to benefit their 12-man side. In 2016, the visiting Europeans howled about how wide open Hazeltine National played and the easy hole locations that set up a birdie-fest. 
In charge this time, the Europeans would seemingly desire thicker rough and narrow landing areas off the tee to counter the Americans' perceived length advantage off the tee. European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn insists that he does not envision seeking many changes compared to how the course played in July. 
"It's not a big driver's golf course, but we know that," Bjorn says. "It's not like you're going to hit 14 drivers. There are going to be a lot of irons. That's the way the golf course has always been."
That's an element of  the difficulty of road games, but I'm sure the Task Force is all over it...  Though this photo makes it look like Atlanta Athletic Club or the Bear Trap:


From all accounts, bomb and gauge will not get it done this week..... Let's see if Captain Furyk has the guys ready for their examination.

Good Fun - Blogger UK Golf Guy gets a bunch of golf nerds to list their top ten courses, and fun ensues.  He asked Alan, as in Shipnuck, who responded with these:
1. CRUDEN BAY
A nonstop thrill ride of fun, quirky holes up, down, and across wild terrain.
2. PEBBLE BEACH GOLF LINKS
Demands more heroic shots than any other course and offers the most majestic view in golf.
3. NORTH BERWICK (WEST LINKS)
The quintessence of Scottish golf, with so many unexpected twists and turns and some truly iconic holes.
4. CYPRESS POINT
The first ten holes are peak MacKenzie in terms of bunkering and green complexes, while 11-17 is quite simply the best golf on the planet.
5. ST ANDREWS - THE OLD COURSE
The most fascinating and charming course we have, and there’s nothing like those greens.
6. MACRIHANISH GOLF CLUB
It begins with the best opening hole in the world and then just keeps on coming, with one great hole after another through heaving dunes.
7. NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA
The template of C.B. Macdonald’s and Seth Raynor’s skill, weaved into the ideal terrain.
8. LAHINCH GOLF CLUB
It has the kind of unforgettable holes that compels a man to cross an ocean.
9. MONTEREY PENINSULA COUNTRY CLUB (THE SHORE)
As elegant and beautiful as a painting, loaded with risk-reward shots that stir the soul.
10. CASTLE STUART GOLF LINKS
A stunning new design that feels like it’s been there forever.
No dogs on that list, though Pebble might be the worst of the bunch.  I've actually played all but one, so there's that....

 Shack offers his own list, along with folks such as Mike Clayton and Pat Goss.

FedEx Stuff - Lots of quibbling over the new format, but anyone who feels the the existing format works should be sentenced to read this Kyle Porter ranking of the eleven FedEx Cup finishes to date.  The over-reaction to this one gave us the present system:
11. Camilo Villegas wins, Vijay Singh gets rich (2008): This was the forerunner to the 2017 version and helped usher in a new era where a Tour Championship champion was all but assured of also winning the FedEx Cup. Because of its original structure, Villegas won the last two FedEx Cup events (and finished T3 at the one before those two) and still lost to Singh, who finished T22 and T44 at the final two (after winning the first two) and took home the $10 million.
No drama, but at least he was a worthy champion.  I'll take that in a heartbeat over Bill Haas and Billy Horschel... 

Have a good weekend and next week should be quite the wild ride.
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