Grounding the club

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

They played the bunkers as "through the green" sand areas all week.  You didn't hear them mention that on the broadcast?  Not a bunker, not a hazard, practice swings and touching the sand permissible.

Just a unique rule of that course.  For normal sand bunkers, yes, you are not allowed to touch the sand with your club prior to your stroke.

Ah, I must have missed that clarification on the broadcast.    Thanks for the info !!

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Ah, I must have missed that clarification on the broadcast.    Thanks for the info !!

No problem.  I also heard them estimate that about half the field was taking advantage of the different rule and taking practice swings and/or grounding their club, and the other half was just playing out of the sand like they normally would.

[Motown88]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

No problem.  I also heard them estimate that about half the field was taking advantage of the different rule and taking practice swings and/or grounding their club, and the other half was just playing out of the sand like they normally would.

They all should have treated it like normal sand, that was a terrible local rule for a Major championship.  I understand that's how that course normally plays, but when you're hosting a major championship the course should play harder.  Just my opinion.

[luu5]

Originally Posted by Motown88

They all should have treated it like normal sand, that was a terrible local rule for a Major championship.  I understand that's how that course normally plays, but when you're hosting a major championship the course should play harder.  Just my opinion.

Seemed tough enough for most.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Motown88

They all should have treated it like normal sand, that was a terrible local rule for a Major championship.  I understand that's how that course normally plays, but when you're hosting a major championship the course should play harder.  Just my opinion.

It was explained in the Discussion thread that it was more about how the bunkers have no real definition.  There may be a lip at the front, but at the rear many of them just faded into weeds and grass and whatever.

Besides ...

Quote:

Seemed tough enough for most.

Yeah, I don't know how much easier it was just because they were allowed practice swings.

[dave67az]

I had mixed feelings about the whole thing.  On one hand, most of the long "sandy areas" lateral to a lot of the holes were clearly not well defined.  Had they been considered bunkers, I don't see how they could have decided where the boundaries were without someone staking them out.

However, many of the "sandy areas" (both fairway and green-side) were obviously man-made with well-defined borders and should have been played as bunkers (as I'm betting Pete Dye intended, though that's just speculation because I never heard his thoughts on last week...a total FAIL if the commentators didn't think to ask him).

It's just laziness, in my opinion, not to differentiate between poorly-defined, natural-looking "sandy areas" and obvious man-made bunkers.  It would not have been difficult to simply show the golfers on the course maps which areas were considered bunkers to be played as such.

Did it make any difference whatsoever in the scores?  Probably not.  That course drained so well that it didn't look difficult to judge, based on surface appearance only, what kind of shot to play.  And if you're in the sand enough for those practice shots to matter, you're probably not going to be very competitive in the end.

My wife, who's just learning the game, watched some of the tourney with me and at one point said "are they always this bad?"  Just wait till her first time on the course.  lol

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Motown88

They all should have treated it like normal sand, that was a terrible local rule for a Major championship.  I understand that's how that course normally plays, but when you're hosting a major championship the course should play harder.  Just my opinion.

Not really the topic here, but it's anything but a "terrible rule."

The course played plenty difficult.

[jamo]

Ah, I must have missed that clarification on the broadcast.    Thanks for the info !!

Yep, that's why they kept saying "sandy areas."

[Rulesman]

This should explain all:

http://www.usga.org/ourexpertsexplain.aspx?id=21474849584