Stupid rule

[Norm3333]

The rule that penalized Padraig Harrington yesterday is a stupid rule. Obviously he did not move the ball. The wind did. Another dumb rule that is past its prime.

[TheNatural]

For that I hope he wins by three strokes. Let the Golf Gods show him justice.

[Shindig]

The rule that penalized Padraig Harrington yesterday is a stupid rule. Obviously he did not move the ball. The wind did. Another dumb rule that is past its prime.

It's a pretty easy penalty to avoid. In windy conditions, don't ground your putter. I think we debated this last year when one of the amateurs incurred a similar penalty... also on Friday, I believe.

[right handed phil mickelson]

The best thing to do in these situations is don't ground your club at all. Do your whole routine with the club in the air (like 2 inches off the ground), and don't ground it until you are just about to hit. This prevents any penalties, still ensures that you are doing your routine, and gives as little time as possible from the grounding of club until contact with the ball.

[bogeyhitter25]

I agree with shindig and rhpm. If it's that windy, you shouldn't ground your club.

[NM Golf]

The rule that penalized Padraig Harrington yesterday is a stupid rule. Obviously he did not move the ball. The wind did. Another dumb rule that is past its prime.

Not a dumb rule, if you ground your club and the ball moves its a penalty, period. If you change the rule and leave it open to interpretation on what moved the ball the wind or the player then you have a grey area. The rules cannot have a grey area. He knows the rules he shouldn't have grounded his putter if he thought the ball could move.

[PiKapp23]

I know Jim Furyk used to not ground his putter for this very reason. He always hovered the putter when he addressed the ball. Since Padraig is from Ireland I'm surprised he doesn't do this as well, because I know playing golf on linksland this has to be a somewhat regular occurance.

It's obviously a very 'iffy' rule, but I understand why it's there. As someone else said the rules should not be left to interpretion or subjectivity or deciding if it was the player or the wind. At The Masters the moment was caught on camera and it definitely didn't appear that Padraig caused it to move, but it's not really fair to those who do not have a camera on them.

[ctmurrray]

I think most players can't play well changing how they putt trying to avoid this penalty. Say 95% of the time you ground your club but 5% of the time when it is windy you hold your putter off the ground (either totally or until the last second). I know I can't. I know some pro's never ground their putter (I heard Nicklaus) but apprarently current pros ground their club just before stroking, even one raised in Ireland, and presumably exposed to more wind and faster greens that the rest of us.

There are many cases in a round where you might need the other players to help you make an on course decision. I have had to call them over to help me judge if my ball was in/out of the hazard or in/out of bounds. We sometimes have to ask to see who might be further from the hole and who putts first. If a ball hits one already on the green, help to determine the original location. So I think you could change the rule to one where the cause could be determined with similar help, no grey area need to exist.

[atrapasuenos]

Rules are rules, for sure I would be really pissed off and I felt sorry about that, birdie attempt and in a few seconds par attempt... :@

Greetings!

[Three Putt]

Stupid Rule, but a rule... any young golfer of promise should practice never grounding their club on any shot and stick with it. Jack never grounded his club on any shot for that very reason...not a big fan of Jack or the stupid rule though.

[Fourputt]

The rule that penalized Padraig Harrington yesterday is a stupid rule. Obviously he did not move the ball. The wind did. Another dumb rule that is past its prime.

Not a stupid rule, just another foolish blunder by a professional player who should know better. If I can hover my putter in windy conditions, then so should he be able to do so.

[Norm3333]

Not a stupid rule, just another foolish blunder by a professional player who should know better. If I can hover my putter in windy conditions, then so should he be able to do so.

How is this a stupid blunder? Did you see what happened? After he backed away, a full 5 seconds later, a gust came up and moved his ball.

You are right, he should have known a gust was coming.

[Fourputt]

How is this a stupid blunder? Did you see what happened? After he backed away, a full 5 seconds later, a gust came up and moved his ball.

Since they replayed it several times I saw quite clearly what happened. He obviously backed away for a reason..... he should have marked and lifted the ball if he thought there was any danger of it moving. Not doing so was a blunder. I know enough about the rules to do that, why shouldn't he? But then, on a windy day I wouldn't be grounding my putter in the first place, especially if the wind is blowing downslope on fast greens.

Sorry, but Paddy doesn't get a pass from me on this one. At one under par, he isn't in the contest anyway, so it's a moot point aside from reducing his paycheck slightly.

[HSip]

FourPutt has got it exactly right. Wind plus super fast greens. You've got to mark it if you're going to back off. As for hovering the putter - that works but if it's not part of your routine it might be hard to start doing on that stage.

[David in FL]

FourPutt has got it exactly right. Wind plus super fast greens. You've got to mark it if you're going to back off. As for hovering the putter - that works but if it's not part of your routine it might be hard to start doing on that stage.

That's why they have their names on their bags!

No one gives a second thought to not grounding a club in a hazard, or when the lie through-the-green is such that grounding the club might result in the ball being moved.......the fact that a putter is in your hand shouldn't pose any additional problem. Now, you want a silly rule.......let's talk about being unable to tamp down spike marks on the putting surface......

[NM Golf]

There are many cases in a round where you might need the other players to help you make an on course decision. I have had to call them over to help me judge if my ball was in/out of the hazard or in/out of bounds. We sometimes have to ask to see who might be further from the hole and who putts first. If a ball hits one already on the green, help to determine the original location. So I think you could change the rule to one where the cause could be determined with similar help, no grey area need to exist.

I don't know how you figure that's not a grey area. Just because you ask someone else doesn't mean its black and white. Its just subject to two people's opinion as opposed to one. Still a grey area. The rules are there to take the subjectivity out of the decision. You address the ball, it moves, one stroke penalty. Simple, no need to ask anyone anything. A good rule, and one everyone follows. I guarantee Padraig doesn't have any problem with it.

Not a stupid rule, just another foolish blunder by a professional player who should know better. If I can hover my putter in windy conditions, then so should he be able to do so.

Ditto. At least we can always agree on rules threads!

[Eore]

it may seem dumb, but it does leave the grey out of the area. although the rules can be quite vague at times.

[Norm3333]

FourPutt has got it exactly right. Wind plus super fast greens. You've got to mark it if you're going to back off. As for hovering the putter - that works but if it's not part of your routine it might be hard to start doing on that stage.

Since they replayed it several times I saw quite clearly what happened. He obviously backed away for a reason..... he should have marked and lifted the ball if he thought there was any danger of it moving. Not doing so was a blunder. I know enough about the rules to do that, why shouldn't he? But then, on a windy day I wouldn't be grounding my putter in the first place, especially if the wind is blowing downslope on fast greens.

Not a stupid rule, just another foolish blunder by a professional player who should know better. If I can hover my putter in windy conditions, then so should he be able to do so.

Was the post, "He didn't break the rule." or was it, "Stupid rule."?

I know he broke the rule. But, thank you for pointing out the obvious. I was a little unsure while watching the tournement. I guess I was confused when he replaced the ball and was putting for par instead of birdie. And, since I was still confused whether he broke the rule or not, I made a post about it being a stupid rule. My point was that, it's a stupid rule. Was Harrington foolish for not remarking the ball when the wind was causing the ball to oscillate? Yes. Did he have anything to do with causing the ball to move 5 seconds after he backed off and was watching the ball oscillate? no. That's why it's a stupid rule. Or maybe you believe that grounding your club behind the ball, will cause it to oscillate.