Tour Players and 2019 Rules (Running Topic)

[klineka]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

I'm no longer a Justin Thomas fan. He's coming off like a whiny, spoiled brat that would rather whine about everything than actually understand why something was done.

New golf rules anger Justin Thomas again at Honda Classic

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The new golf rules have had a vocal critic in Justin...

First he complains about the new rules regarding a damaged club, despite the fact that it wouldn't have changed the outcome for him.

Under the new golf rules, if a player bends a shaft during play, they can choose to repair the club and continue to use it. That’s a change from the old rules, when players were prohibited from using clubs damaged during the round.

Thomas made it clear how he felt about the change, saying, “You can just add that one to the list of rules that don’t make any sense.”

But the rule change would not have altered the outcome for Thomas. After trying and failing to repair the club by stepping on the hosel, Thomas chose to keep the damaged club in his bag because he didn’t know how the loft had changed and “wasn’t going to risk it.”

Then he gets pissy about the caddie standing (or squatting) in a spot behind a player on or near an extension of the line of play:

 

 

A caddie could say "you've been lining up left today."

Anyway, screw Justin Thomas. Whiny, whiny, whiny.

The USGA and PGA Tour got the rule right in penalizing Adam Schenk.

The USGA responded to Thomas. Can't say I really care for him anymore either

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by iacas
embedded tweet instead of a picture

[iacas]

17 minutes ago, klineka said:

The USGA responded to Thomas. Can't say I really care for him anymore either

 

 

Wow I LOVE that the USGA called out Justin Thomas. Big thumbs up from me for that.

[Vinsk]

Totally agree he’s being a whiney spoiled brat. ‘ It doesn’t provide any benefit’ well then JT why have the caddie there at all? You know it’s a penalty so make sure your damn caddie isn’t on your line when you take your stance. How friggin hard is that? 

[Missouri Swede]

He’s hoping that in the future “communication is had”?!

They put the proposed rules out for comment and feedback. They published the final rules more than 9 months before they went into effect. They put out a player’s edition, summaries of most significant changes, even videos. I seem to recall that there were some instructional meetings for players. Add to that what the USGA commented above.

I’m not sure what more he could have expected.

[iacas]

The USGA and the PGA Tour have been all over the Tours, too, sharing information with the players that wanted to hear it. Apparently that doesn't include Justin Thomas.

He and Rickie are now on my "root against" list.

[phillyk]

I’m disappointed by JT’s comments. Definitely like him a bit less. He says they are the ambassadors to the game and represent the rules to the golfing world yet most of us don’t use caddies or greens reading books, and thus have no real application as far as the rules and advancing the game are concerned. The new drop, why is this such a big deal? There is a reason behind it to make the game better, i still think this phase of being upset will pass. The equipment rule is a good thing, right?

[iacas]

7 hours ago, phillyk said:

The equipment rule is a good thing, right?

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/use-of-clubs-damaged-during-round.html

New Rule: Under Rule 4.1:

• A player is allowed to keep using and/or to repair any club damaged during the round, no matter what the damage and even if the player damaged it in anger.
• A player is not allowed to replace a damaged club, except when it is damaged during the round by an outside influence or natural forces, or by someone other than the player or his or her caddie.

Reasons for Change:

This Rule change greatly simplifies the complex Rules on damaged clubs.

Allowing a player to keep using or to repair any damaged club, regardless of the nature or cause of the damage, benefits players in several ways.

• It helps players avoid the disqualification penalties that could have arisen previously when a player hit a club against something in anger and then continued to use the club, not realizing that the shaft was slightly bent or some other damage had occurred.
• The player is able to choose whether to continue using that club in its damaged state or to use another club; whereas previously, for example, a player who damaged a putter in anger was not allowed to use it for the rest of the round (even if it was still in a usable form) and so ended up having to putt with a wedge or another club.

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/adding-clubs-to-replace-a-club-damaged-during-round.html

Reasons for Change:

This Rule change greatly simplifies the complex Rules on damaged clubs.

In particular, deciding when a club was “unfit for play” required a technical judgment that few players had the depth of understanding to make, and even referees found it challenging to make such judgments quickly and consistently on the course.

Allowing a player to keep using or to repair any damaged club, regardless of the nature or cause of the damage, benefits players in several ways.

• It helps players avoid the disqualification penalties that could have arisen previously when a player hit a club against something in anger and then continued to use the club, not realizing that the shaft was slightly bent or some other damage had occurred.
• The player is able to choose whether to continue using that club in its damaged state or to use another club; whereas previously, for example, a player who damaged a putter in anger was not allowed to use it for the rest of the round (even if it was still in a usable form) and so ended up having to putt with a wedge or another club.

Although there will be times when a damaged club is unusable and cannot be readily repaired on the course (such as when a driver head comes off), the practical ability to get a replacement club is seldom present other than at some elite levels of golf.

This change is consistent with the overall philosophy that a player normally should play the entire round with only the clubs that he or she started with or added during the round to get to the 14-club limit.

[bkuehn1952]

It is unfortunate that Justin and Rickie did not first seek out why the Rule(s) that they have run afoul with or dislike were actually enacted.  After digging into the why, they likely would have just moved on or possibly defended the change(s).  Instead, they immediately go public with their ire, which underlines the image for much of the public that golf is a stuffy, out-of-touch game with overly complex and intrusive Rules.  Talk about "growing the game."  Their public carping about the Rules changes has put the great game of golf in a bad light.

 

 

[iacas]

20 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

It is unfortunate that Justin and Rickie did not first seek out why the Rule(s) that they have run afoul with or dislike were actually enacted.  After digging into the why, they likely would have just moved on or possibly defended the change(s).  Instead, they immediately go public with their ire, which underlines the image for much of the public that golf is a stuffy, out-of-touch game with overly complex and intrusive Rules.  Talk about "growing the game."  Their public carping about the Rules changes has put the great game of golf in a bad light.

Yup.

[jmanbooyaa]

I find it obnoxious what Thomas is doing. You can disagree with the new rules but it is time to move on without the constant bemoaning. 

[iacas]

23 minutes ago, jmanbooyaa said:

I find it obnoxious what Thomas is doing. You can disagree with the new rules but it is time to move on without the constant bemoaning. 

This. I agree.

[Vinsk]

31 minutes ago, jmanbooyaa said:

I find it obnoxious what Thomas is doing. You can disagree with the new rules but it is time to move on without the constant bemoaning. 

Well it makes him feel cool. And ufortunately having a pack of his cohorts ( non-golfers mostly) 'like' his comments just feeds his ego. Having intelligent people chime in and try to explain the reasoning of the rules is of no interest to him or the other rule-ignorant people. We see this in many cases outside of golf. Hopefully someone will get through to him and he can realize what an ass he's being.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Vinsk

[klineka]

FWIW there's a pretty good chance that the drop Vijay took on the 17th today would have bounced further down and gone into the hazard if he had dropped from shoulder height.

He was able to play the ball after just dropping once from knee height.

[Vinsk]

Justin Thomas says he was shocked by 'upsetting' USGA tweet, calls it 'inaccurate'

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Thomas said it was "a little shocking" that the USGA responded to one of his criticisms via Twitter on Saturday.

Yeah. I'm sure the USGA just lied to try to make you look bad. You say in the beginning you've not canceled anything then later say they tried to contact you ' and it just wasn't a good time.' Come on JT. He obviously has no clue that his recent behavior has hardly been an example of trying to make golf look better.

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Vinsk

[sjduffers]

This JT "attitude" that he is showing lately started right from the get go in the new year (in Hawaii) when he said that he couldn't look at himself as a proper golfer if he left the flagstick in while putting. Never mind doing any kind of research, or at least experimentation, like many others did (and/or are still doing, as many more each week are leaving the flagstick in)...

Despite being in his twenties, JT comes across as a whiny old bastard that always finds something to complain about. He may be a good player, but that is not an endearing quality at all and not how you grow the game, especially amongst young folks looking up to you.  So, grow the f**k up, Justin (and your buddy Rickie, too)!

There, I feel better now. 

[Asheville]

Anyone conducting one's (or the nation's) business on Twitter is a twit.

[chspeed]

13 hours ago, sjduffers said:

 

Despite being in his twenties, JT comes across as a whiny old bastard that always finds something to complain about. He may be a good player, but that is not an endearing quality at all and not how you grow the game, especially amongst young folks looking up to you.  So, grow the f**k up, Justin (and your buddy Rickie, too)!

 

I agree about JT. The way he had a fan kicked out of tournament last year for rooting against him is still stuck in my craw.

Sure, he's a great player, but so are a lot of other guys. It's one thing if you're Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els. Then your criticisms can at least carry some weight. Ironically, those guys generally try to keep these types of complaints private. Well, maybe not Phil, but at least he's one of the all-time greats.

I have less of an issue with Fowler. At least he has a sense of humor about it. JT is just a big crybaby.

[klineka]

2 minutes ago, chspeed said:

Sure, he's a great player, but so are a lot of other guys. It's one thing if you're Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els. Then your criticisms can at least carry some weight. Ironically, those guys generally try to keep these types of complaints private. Well, maybe not Phil, but at least he's one of the all-time greats.

Why should Tiger, Phil, and Ernie get a pass?

If any PGA Tour player went after the USGA about the rules the way JT and Rickie have, my opinion of that player would go down just as much.

It's the fact that the players (regardless of which players specifically) who are calling out the rules have made no effort to understand why the new rules were implemented. 

It's more about what has been said rather than who said it, IMO.