When will tour players call out Keegan Bradley?

[Monte the Bear]

Watch this guy when his ball is in the secondary rough cut.

He selects a club, puts the club head behind the ball. Walks away.

He walks back, puts the head of the club behind the ball. Walks away.

He does this 4 or 5 times, until instead of going from a lie which has pure chunk or flyer over it to a lie which he can get the club onto the ball.

Rule 13-2.

Enough of this bull. Time to call this guy on his gardening.

[saevel25]

https://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Rule-13/

Quote:

However, the player incurs no penalty if the action occurs:

• in grounding the club lightly when Addressing The Ball ,
• in fairly taking his Stance ,
• in making a Stroke or the backward movement of his club for a Stroke and the Stroke is made,
• in creating or eliminating irregularities of surface within the Teeing Ground or in removing dew, frost or water from the Teeing Ground , or
• on the Putting Green in removing sand and loose soil or in repairing damage (Rule 16-1 )

Note the first bullet point. Keegan can ground the club lightly as many times as he wants. As long as he's not really pushing down on the grass with what looks like the intent to matte the grass down, then he is with in his right to ground the club lightly.

I get you are going after intent here. Which is hard to prove with out Keegan saying what his intent is. The USGA really doesn't have a rule that could penalize Keegan with.

[boogielicious]

A lot of player do that.

[Rick Martin]

Watch this guy when his ball is in the secondary rough cut.

He selects a club, puts the club head behind the ball. Walks away.

He walks back, puts the head of the club behind the ball. Walks away.

He does this 4 or 5 times, until instead of going from a lie which has pure chunk or flyer over it to a lie which he can get the club onto the ball.

Rule 13-2.

Enough of this bull. Time to call this guy on his gardening.

he's a slow player and needs to be called out for that

[FooFader]

I have to admit to not seeing this so can't really comment but if he is improving his lie as you say on purpose then thats completely against the spirit of the game

[Monte the Bear]

Seems like I'm not the only person to notice this.

http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2013/5/31/4383358/keegan-bradley-pga-tour-memorial-tournament-2013

[newtogolf]

Seems like I'm not the only person to notice this.

http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2013/5/31/4383358/keegan-bradley-pga-tour-memorial-tournament-2013

I've seen plenty of other golfers do the same thing, so either it's okay or they are all cheating.  It's magnified by Keegan who appears to have severe OCD given his pre-shot routine with the exact number of club spins, cha cha moves, etc.  He seems to do things in 3's but it's getting worse as he adds more things to his routine.

[Monte the Bear]

I've seen plenty of other golfers do the same thing, so either it's okay or they are all cheating.  It's magnified by Keegan who appears to have severe OCD given his pre-shot routine with the exact number of club spins, cha cha moves, etc.  He seems to do things in 3's but it's getting worse as he adds more things to his routine.

You would have a point if Bradley put the head of his driver, 3 wood, irons, or wedges behind the ball in a similar manner when on the tee or fairway. He doesn't. It's not part of his tee or fairway OCD twitchiness.

To me, it's flat-out improving the lie of the ball.

[newtogolf]

You would have a point if Bradley put the head of his driver, 3 wood, irons, or wedges behind the ball in a similar manner when on the tee or fairway. He doesn't. It's not part of his tee or fairway OCD twitchiness.

To me, it's flat-out improving the lie of the ball.

He does it on all his shots, I've seen him place the driver, irons, wedges, and putter directly behind the ball multiple times as part of his pre-shot routine.  I'm actually amazed given all his twitchiness that he hasn't accidently caused the ball to move sometimes.

[Monte the Bear]

https://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Rule-13/

Note the first bullet point. Keegan can ground the club lightly as many times as he wants. As long as he's not really pushing down on the grass with what looks like the intent to matte the grass down, then he is with in his right to ground the club lightly.

I get you are going after intent here. Which is hard to prove with out Keegan saying what his intent is. The USGA really doesn't have a rule that could penalize Keegan with.

He's not addressing the ball. Most of the time he's doing this, he has the club in either one or both hands, lifts the club away, walks away, maybe onto the fairway or green, comes back, does it again, walks away, talks to his caddie, does it again, goes back to the green or fairway, does it again, steps away, starts that stupid wind-up routine of his, adresses,  and hits the ball. He must have done it three four times last night and every time, no-one calls him on it.

Why is this? Does NBC or the GC need Keegan Bradley so badly they don't want to upset him? Someone with some balls call the guy out.

[Monte the Bear]

He does it on all his shots, I've seen him place the driver, irons, wedges, and putter directly behind the ball multiple times as part of his pre-shot routine.  I'm actually amazed given all his twitchiness that he hasn't accidently caused the ball to move sometimes.

Really?

This is from this years Riviera tournament.

[albatross]

I agree that at times, it's questionable.  He's still a faster player than guys like Crane or Na.  I like Bradley a lot, but I hope he's able to keep this anxiety in check because he's great for the game, and I would hate to see it become something he can't control.  That type of OCD is definitely a fine line between manageable and debilitating.

[Harmonious]

I agree that at times, it's questionable.  He's still a faster player than guys like Crane or Na.  I like Bradley a lot, but I hope he's able to keep this anxiety in check because he's great for the game, and I would hate to see it become something he can't control.  That type of OCD is definitely a fine line between manageable and debilitating.

It's not about how fast he is or isn't. It's about whether he improves his lie. I have noticed it in the past, and saw it again yesterday. He definitely improves his lie in taller grass.  I've also noticed that he presses his iron down onto the ground just outside, and parallel to, his target line. It seems like it could leave a slight indentation in the grass and potentially help in his alignment.

[boogielicious]

It's not about how fast he is or isn't. It's about whether he improves his lie. I have noticed it in the past, and saw it again yesterday. He definitely improves his lie in taller grass.  I've also noticed that he presses his iron down onto the ground just outside, and parallel to, his target line. It seems like it could leave a slight indentation in the grass and potentially help in his alignment.

Again, I see a lot of players ground the club behind the ball in the rough, not just Bradley.  What we can't see is how close they are to the ball.  There was another thread about this in the Rules Section .

[Monte the Bear]

Again, I see a lot of players ground the club behind the ball in the rough, not just Bradley.  What we can't see is how close they are to the ball.  There was another thread about this in the Rules Section.

Wrong. You can see it. A couple of times I've seen his ball get swallowed up - no way it's visible. By the time he's finished with putting the club behind the ball, you can see at least part of the ball.

I remember Mark Roe actually showing the video from behind Bradley as a 'before' and 'after' example.

[boogielicious]

Well OK then.  BUT, I see a lot of players do it, not just Bradley.  Phil M. does it quite a bit.  So obviously the PGA tour does not have a problem with it.

[Monte the Bear]

But does that make it right?

[albatross]

It's not about how fast he is or isn't. It's about whether he improves his lie. I have noticed it in the past, and saw it again yesterday. He definitely improves his lie in taller grass.  I've also noticed that he presses his iron down onto the ground just outside, and parallel to, his target line. It seems like it could leave a slight indentation in the grass and potentially help in his alignment.

Someone else commented on the pace of play, so that's why I mentioned that also.  As far as pressing the club down, I said I think it is questionable at times.  Kenny Perry had issues with this type of thing in the past.  He did this a lot.