Should Tour Players Have Their Own Set of Rules?

[MrDC]

I think everyone should play by the Rules of Golf.

And I agree the flagstick rule is one that won't make it, it's the only rule that I don't get.

[Gunther]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

They're whiny and would probably want stuff like Lift, Clean, and Place in your fairway, and other stupid things like the divot holes thing regular people complain about, too.

Look, most PGA Tour players don't even know the Rules very well. So they're some of the least qualified players to comment on the Rules.

I can't imagine what they'd come up with.

Didn't appear they were talking about things like that.  Tweets I saw were about a concern that tamping down spike marks would be abused on tour (not sure how) and they didn't like grounding club in bunker.  

Appeared they were trying to keep it tougher or more exclusive on the pro circuit while allowing for more liberal amateur rules.  Justin Thomas chimed in as well.

Poulter wants to institute a rule to outlaw the greens books/charts, citing the time it takes to review it.

[DaveP043]

11 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Didn't appear they were talking about things like that.  Tweets I saw were about a concern that tamping down spike marks would be abused on tour (not sure how) and they didn't like grounding club in bunker.  

Appeared they were trying to keep it tougher or more exclusive on the pro circuit while allowing for more liberal amateur rules.  Justin Thomas chimed in as well.

Poulter wants to institute a rule to outlaw the greens books/charts, citing the time it takes to review it.

The two that I mentioned, DaLaet and Berger, didn't mention anything specific, they just say they want the PGA to have its own rulebook.  As DaLaet put it, he doesn't like the "old boys club in NJ" controlling the rules that govern his play.  Many of the others took issue with individual changes, like many on TST have, but stopped well short of wanting a separate PGA rulebook.

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Didn't appear they were talking about things like that.  Tweets I saw were about a concern that tamping down spike marks would be abused on tour (not sure how) and they didn't like grounding club in bunker.  

Yeah, they also complained about divot holes.

Their concerns about making a "trough" by tamping down the putter on the green seem unfounded. Tour greens are firm, so I don't think you could even really do it, and to actually do it you'd have to spend so long doing it EVERYONE would know what you were doing, and you'd be excommunicated from the game and shamed to no end…

Plus, you (still) can't (under the proposed rules) ground your club in the bunker near the ball, or take practice swings. Sometimes they don't know what they're talking about.

11 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Appeared they were trying to keep it tougher or more exclusive on the pro circuit while allowing for more liberal amateur rules.  Justin Thomas chimed in as well.

Ams already ignore the rules when they want. Bifurcate the rules and many ams will ignore both sets.

11 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Poulter wants to institute a rule to outlaw the greens books/charts, citing the time it takes to review it.

The pace of play rule, properly applied, should let the pros do whatever they want… so long as they can do it in the allotted time.

[jamo]

I vote for no. It's never seemed like a good idea to me.

[saevel25]

I voted no.

[sjduffers]

I voted no as well, but they already have some adjustments in the current rules such as: Lift Clean and Place more often than really necessary, the sprinkler head in the line of putt from off the green treated as an obstruction, the embedded ball rule everywhere (instead of short grass only), the one ball rule, etc...

Granted, these rule changes are via local rules or conditions of competition and there is still room for that with new rules, but at least the core of the rules are, and should be, the same for everyone.

[woodzie264]

7 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

Once upon a time they used tea cups of soil to tee the ball up. In the distant past, we used to say "Play it as it lies." We had "winter rules."

This is a dumb argument. They play by the set of rules they agree to. The easy part is keep the set of rules as they are (or were a hundred years ago). The hard part would be coming up with a new set of rules which grows the game. 

Despite what 90% of you want, at some point the game will shrink--and grow even more expensive which means exclusive--which means at some point probably everyone hear will be unable to afford it. (The rich aren't here; they have their caddies read it to them.) 

How many poor kids do you see yachting?

Somehow folks perceive golf as being true to itself. For expedience sake (aka money), it is a chameleon. Pretty obvious, actually, but easily concealed from people.

This whole post seems like off-topic unprovoked bitterness...

[Buckeyebowman]

8 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

That's so true . .I don't think I ever played with anybody who followed all the rules . .except maybe accidentally.  I even knew a couple guys where I worked who claimed to be 8-10 handicaps - and they cheated every single time I ever played with them.  The point being that I think certain kinds and amounts of cheating are just accepted in some circles of players . .so it's like already having multiple sets of rules. 

Exactly! One set of rules for golf and various golfers can abide or ignore as they choose.

As for myself I try to play the ball down when things firm up around here, but a lot of guys mug it till they're happy. We've been able to play 3 rounds of golf in February in NE Ohio! This is just shy of a miracle! In these conditions we play lift, clean and place EVERYWHERE! We're not anywhere near the skill level needed to play shots with enormous globs of mud covering half the ball! After all, we are trying to enjoy ourselves.

And in the Fall, we invoke the "leaf rule", since some of the courses we play aren't all that immaculately groomed!

And if one of us hits a drive OB we'll take the stroke penalty, but not the distance, and everyone here knows why!

[chilepepper]

Everybody should play by the same rules... at least those that maintain handicaps. Other than that play by whatever rules you want. 

[JonMA1]

I voted no because I like the idea of a standard set of rules for all skill levels. But I don't really care that much what the pros do when I'm out there trying to break 90.

[Yukari]

I voted no.  When I play basketball or other sports, I play by the same rules as the pros.  So why should golf be any different?

As for those saying others don't play by the rules during casual rounds, it is not your problem unless you have a bet going.  I don't care how others play, but when I play, I would like to follow the same rules to see how good the pros really are.

[CarlSpackler]

No. Golf is golf. I'm not happy that I will likely have to learn all these new nules that are being discussed, but if they become THE rules, I will play by them. I will stop renewing my USGA membership in protest though. 

[Bryan Kasper]

22 hours ago, klineka said:

Same with basketball, other than the shot clock and how long the quarter/halves are, one of the only differences is the distance of the 3 point line (again similar to different course lengths)

I wish this was the only difference in amateur/ college and pro basketball. Unfortunately basketball is where they are lax on some of the simple calls in basketball( carries, travels, travels( i had to say it twice because it happens so often). 

I would vote no every time as i think when you start making rule changes for "special" people then the game loses something in my opinion. i cant think of what is lost, but it is a sense of oneness almost. although what if the pros were forced to play with wooden head drivers woods etc. that would be pretty cool actually. similar to baseball. interesting topic, but i think the oneness of the game wins out for me

[krupa]

22 hours ago, bmartin461 said:

I can see the argument both ways and I do think tour players play a different game than amateurs do, course setup, difficulty etc. 

I'm curious what the argument for different rules would be.  I agree that Tour players are playing "a different game" because they're so good and need long, challenging courses but I don't think that has bearing on the rules.  

What would be an example of a different rule?  Just make them play by the rules as they are today while everyone else uses the proposed changes?  What advantage/benefit is there to that?

[Groucho Valentine]

Professional golf is the only sport that doenst have at least some sort of bifurcation between the amateur ranks and professionals. I don't see a problem with it if rules are different for their game. 

[Aflighter]

I vote no because most people still dont know the rules. If you change rules then some will probably not remember what rules have changed anyways.

[DaveP043]

14 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Professional golf is the only sport that doenst have at least some sort of bifurcation between the amateur ranks and professionals. I don't see a problem with it if rules are different for their game. 

There are already local rules and conditions of competition for each event that differ from or modify the basic Rules of Golf.  Where do you think that the "PGA Tour" rules should differ from the USGA Rules?  For those cases, why should they differ?