Julie Inkster DQ over rule violation....

[kafka01]

Does anybody else get the feeling, that the media tries to undermine the rules of golf, by all this reporting about how fair or unfair it seems when somebody gets penalized/DQ´ed lately? Yesterday i think, during the LPGA Coverage the GolfChannel ran a public poll where people could vote if they thought it was fair or unfair that Inkster got DQed. Well the answer to such questions always seem obvious, everybody seems to feel its unfair, but imo this kind of reporting/manipulating of the public is a disrespect to the rules of the game.

When a player steps on the first tee, he accepts the rules. And if he doesnt follow them, he gets penalized - there is no fair or unfair in that, cuz its the same for everybody.
A couple of years ago when i was relatively new, i went to the driving range to hit a couple balls during a tournament - back then i didnt know about it, somehow it ended up with the tournament director and i got DQed. Back then i thought it was unfair - nowadays i think if you do it knowingly, its just plain cheating.

[newtogolf]

Does anybody else get the feeling, that the media tries to undermine the rules of golf, by all this reporting about how fair or unfair it seems when somebody gets penalized/DQ´ed lately?

The media sells newspapers and commercials by reporting on controversial issues, even when they aren't really controversial. I think it's more about "cashing in" on fans emotions of the ruling than it is to undermine the sport, though the end result might be the same.

[iacas]

Does anybody else get the feeling, that the media tries to undermine the rules of golf, by all this reporting about how fair or unfair it seems when somebody gets penalized/DQ´ed lately?

Yeah. Same with the Dustin Johnson stuff.

[BonoVox]

What if a round is suspended for weather/dark. Could you use say alignment sticks the next morning as you warmed up?

[jamo]

Yeah. Same with the Dustin Johnson stuff.

And Michelle Wie and Brian Davis.

The members of the media must just be really crappy players who need more lax rules so they can impress their bosses.

[iacas]

What if a round is suspended for weather/dark. Could you use say alignment sticks the next morning as you warmed up?

Yes. Perfectly legal.

[pcmancini]

Is golf the only "professional" sport that uses amateur officials at its most important events?

[DarkPrince]

I was listening to PGA Network on Sirius today and heard some of the most I guess...ignorant comments by people calling in who were upset with the Inkster situation. Most of them made the jump from her to Dustin Johnson and then would go on ANOTHER rant. They argued that a little tiny weighted doughnut is not a training aid and she shouldn't have been DQ'd, and the rule needs to be changed. I say BS, its just like the snafu that would be caused by making bunkers outside the ropes waste areas and whatnot. You have to either draw a hard line, or be ready to have to decide each and every single item that could be considered a "training aid" that would be illegal to use during the course of a round. A weighted doughnut is a training aid, alignment sticks are training aids, so are putting lines, chalk lines, K-vests, V-harnesses, Pelz putting tutors, weighted headcovers, weighted clubs, putting mirrors, impact bags, tempo beepers and so on. If the rule were to be changed, you would again have to go through every possible situation with every possible "aid" and decide its fate. The rule is there for a reason, to prevent a player from gaining an unfair advantage over the rest of the field, the same reason you CANT adjust your FCT or STR8-Fit clubs during the course of an official round. If she had swung two clubs it would've been legal as it's just using legal equipment for different or unorthodox reason, using a training aid that is specifically engineered or designed for that reason violates the rule. She could have swung one club, two clubs, three clubs, she could have just stretched a bit, but you can NOT use a training aid during a tournament round.

Another caller commented on his son who plays in amateur tour events who shows up hours before his round to warm up and takes the time to remove every single one of those training aids from his bag so that he doesn't accidentally incur a penalty...yet Professionals on the PGA/LPGA/European/Nationwide...etc tours do not. I kind of like the idea of the European Tour requiring any player who requests a rules official more than 3 times to take a mandatory rules course. I don't know if that's three times in one year, or in one tournament or in just a set span of time, but its better than nothing :P

On another note, I really also liked the program "Tee'd Off with ______" today (can't remember his name, first time ever listening to the station). He brought up a somewhat valid point about the can of worms nature of allowing people to call in or email rules violations. Its not the enforcing of rules that is bad, if a violation occurs, the proper penalty should be enforced, it's just that the idea that armchair rule officials can call in and report possible violations seems to maybe undermine the rules officials themselves. His issue also came down to how exactly you can even get a hold of the rules officials or tournament directors. The numbers aren't listed since they change from week to week, you can't just find slugger white's email or phone number on the PGA Tour or USGA websites, and even members of the press/media do not have any of said phone numbers/emails (I'm sure some do, but not many). I guess his problem is more that it wasn't an "anonymous" viewer who called in, he argued that it had to be someone who was in some way associated with the tour or the tournament at hand...which kind of makes sense, but it still seems a little like jumping to conclusions. He just talked about how someone had mentioned that the footage that was used as evidence never actually aired on the Golf Channel's live broadcast, but I wasn't watching it so I wouldn't know. Anyone else find this idea interesting?

Also, someone argued it was unfair that Dustin Johnson only got 2 strokes added for grounding his club before taking an actual shot, but Inkster was DQ'd for swinging a club with a weight on it without even addressing a ball. Personally I'd say rules are rules, but the host pointed out that its a possibility that you can quantify the strokes that would be gained by johnson "testing the conditions" of a hazard, whereas Inkster or any player using a practice aid has possibly gained an unknown amount of strokes by practicing with the aid and changing their swing (unnaturaly?) mid round, so they must be DQ'd. I don't know if it's a valid point, but it makes some sense.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

Does anybody else get the feeling, that the media tries to undermine the rules of golf, by all this reporting about how fair or unfair it seems when somebody gets penalized/DQ´ed lately? Yesterday i think, during the LPGA Coverage the GolfChannel ran a public poll where people could vote if they thought it was fair or unfair that Inkster got DQed. Well the answer to such questions always seem obvious, everybody seems to feel its unfair, but imo this kind of reporting/manipulating of the public is a disrespect to the rules of the game.

I just got a rulebook and haven't dived into it yet but....... in your situtation with the driving range, what about a guy that finishes his or her round and has to wait like a Bubba at the PGA for the others to finish for a possible playoff, so they go warm up while waiting and watching ..... is that any different from what you did?

[majorchamp]

So Julie Inkster was DQ'd from the tournament because she pulled out a weighted donut to help keep her loose during a 30 minute weight on the 10th hole.

So if that training aid is illegal..are you allowed to swing the club with your headcover still on the club? Are you able to wrap a golf towel around the end of the club to get a similar effect? Maybe a wet golf towel?

Just curious where the line is drawn...that is all.

[Bigtank]

What if a round is suspended for weather/dark. Could you use say alignment sticks the next morning as you warmed up?

No Penalty, Play is suspended.

This could have been totally avoided if she would have just Played Thru !!!!

[qtong]

To my understanding headcover is ok, but nothing designed to give you a competitive edge. But I could be wrong, afterall I got convinced into playing a plugged ball today during my club championship match.

[majorchamp]

To my understanding headcover is ok, but nothing designed to give you a competitive edge. But I could be wrong, afterall I got convinced into playing a plugged ball today during my club championship match.

Back in high school..was playing a tournament (btw I think they got this rule goofed up), but this guy hit his ball in what appeared from our vantage point to be a hazard in front of the green. He gets in there and wacks, wacks, wacks at the golf ball. After like 5 swings..turns out it wasn't even his ball. He found his ball (I believe) and knocked it out in 1 shot. Well, after talking to a rules official they claimed because his swings were attempted at a ball other then his own, there was no penalty for grounding his club...even though his ball WAS in the hazard during those swings. Still believe that was the wrong call, maybe the rule changed since 1998.

[qtong]

Yea, my ball plugged into the fairway and according to the club pro I should have recieved relief. Not gonna complain though, I hit the sweetest shot of the day, 160 out 8 iron 3 feet from the pin. First time I've ever hit a plugged ball.

[Bigtank]

really easy fix,

Inkster, should have picked up the closest small child and swung them around...problem solved. If anyone questioned it she could have just said it was fan interaction!

[zeg]

Is golf the only "professional" sport that uses amateur officials at its most important events?

The people actually responsible for calling the penalties are all professionals: they are the players themselves. Golf is perhaps unique in that errors made by those professionals can be pointed out by anyone with a pair of eyes.

I just got a rulebook and haven't dived into it yet but....... in your situtation with the driving range, what about a guy that finishes his or her round and has to wait like a Bubba at the PGA for the others to finish for a possible playoff, so they go warm up while waiting and watching ..... is that any different from what you did?

The distinction is whether the play is during a stipulated round or not. Between sets of 18 holes, most of the rules (except practicing *on* the course during a stroke play event and a few like that) are not in effect. The situation is similar when play is suspended---until it is resumed, you are free to do many things you would not be allowed to do during play.

It was surprising to me that one of these is the prohibition on asking advice: during a suspension, you are free to ask advice from anyone, including asking someone who's already played a hole what club they'd used (Decision 8-1/20).

[zeg]

The OP was already addressed here:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...l=1#post516660

Back in high school..was playing a tournament (btw I think they got this rule goofed up), but this guy hit his ball in what appeared from our vantage point to be a hazard in front of the green. He gets in there and wacks, wacks, wacks at the golf ball. After like 5 swings..turns out it wasn't even his ball. He found his ball (I believe) and knocked it out in 1 shot. Well, after talking to a rules official they claimed because his swings were attempted at a ball other then his own, there was no penalty for grounding his club...even though his ball WAS in the hazard during those swings. Still believe that was the wrong call, maybe the rule changed since 1998.

I think the result of this ruling was correct (though the logic as you've summarized it is completely wrong), provided that he took the 2-stroke penalty for a stroke on a wrong ball and he did not ground his club other than on the strokes. Per Decision 1-4/12 (which is an important Decision, I've recently learned), a single act generally only exposes you to the most stringent penalty that it incurs, not the sum of all the penalties. So a single stroke at a wrong ball in the hazard could give you 2 strokes for the wrong ball or 2 strokes for the grounding, but wouldn't give you both.

Also, there should only be 2 strokes, not 2 strokes times however many strokes at the wrong ball. This stems from Decision 1-4/12 also, but I think is less clear. However, it seems similar enough to the situation in Decision 15-3b/2 that I think the logic applies. That decision states, in part, "A penalty of four strokes for playing two wrong balls in succession before a stroke with the correct ball would not be justified."

[ghalfaire]

Not sure why you feel a viewer who knew the rules, caught the rule violation, and called it in qualifies as someone who "needs a life". Isn't there an official of some kind with every pair who should have caught the rule violation? I mean she had a donut weight on her club and most likely was swinging it around or holding it for a considerable amount of time and no official there saw it? Or if they did, they were willing to let it slide?

Because you have to go to some effort to call in a violation (although I believe it was emailed in this case). It isn't just pick up phone and use your speed dial or turn on the computer and email it, you have to do some research work and spend some time to find proper number or address to report a violation. But I wasn't questioning anyone's right to, just don't understand why anyone would for such a minor violation. I can't think of another sport where a spectator can call in a rules violation and change the results of a competition. But maybe there is. But since it is legal, and as I said in the original post, I don't think Julie has any complaint and apparently neither does she.