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We're in that special hell of rules controversies with the implementation of the new Rules of Golf. There have been some growing pains with the new rules, and that has allowed the golf media to tee off on its favorite target, the USGA. Which, to be fair, can make itself an easy target: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/despite-harsh-words-from-some-tour-pros-usga-pleased-with-roll-out-of-new-rules-of-golf. That aside, I wanted to talk about the "controversy" about the knee-height drop that the Rules now require. Rickie Fowler got a one stroke penalty for dropping from shoulder height this past weekend. Cue the complaining from him: https://golfweek.com/2019/02/22/rickie-fowler-hit-with-one-shot-penalty-for-illegal-drop-at-wgc-mexico-championship/ I can forgive him - he just had a brain fart, probably didn't gain an advantage in this situation, it cost him money. I'm always annoyed when I get a penalty, personally, and it's absolutely never my fault, okay? But cue the pearl clutching from the media: https://www.golf.com/news/2019/02/25/backstopping-pro-tours-under-policed/ I'm here to tell you that this is wrong, and knee-height drops actually make a ton of sense. One of the best things the new Rules do is simplify dropping. Now, all you have to do when dropping is land the ball in the relief area (without touching you or your equipment before hitting the ground) and ensure the ball comes to rest in the relief area. If you don't do this, you have to redrop. Pretty simple. Yes, you have to figure out what your relief area is, but that's pretty simple, too. (For a fuller explanation of this, see Rule 14 and the definitions in the Rules of Golf.) The old rules were much more complex. Specifically, if your ball rolled to one of 9 areas after you dropped it, you had to redrop. For example, if your ball rolled more than 2 club lengths away from where your ball hit the ground, you had to redrop. You had to know all of these 9 areas to know if you needed to redrop or not. So, the new way is simpler, right? Instead of learning 9 different triggers for a redrop, you only have to learn 1. Great! Why am I talking about when you have to redrop? This is why we're dropping from knee height. Generally, under the new Rules, your ball cannot go as far after hitting the ground as it used to without triggering a redrop. Dropping from knee height reduces the chance that a redrop will be necessary. It also means that a ball has less of a chance of embedding in sand when you drop it. It makes a ton of sense, really. Now, you might say, that's all fine, but why not allow dropping a ball from anywhere above knee height? I think you could easily game the rules to be able to place the ball when you really want to by simply dropping from shoulder height instead of knee height. Think about dropping on a side slope, for example. You're much more likely to have to redrop and place if you drop the ball from a higher point. Sure, this is rare, but why take the chance? We're all on the same page, right? Knee-height drops make a lot of sense. (If you want to know more about the changes to dropping, this is an excellent article that talks about this in a bit more detail: https://rulesgeeks.com/2018/12/30-days-of-2019-rules-changes-day-16-procedure-for-dropping-a-ball-in-playing-it-from-a-relief-area/) Now to the point of all of this: golf media, please take 5 minutes to understand the rule before issuing a HAWT TAKE about the rule. The USGA has a one page sheet that explains the rule: http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/new-procedure-for-dropping-a-ball.html. You don't come off very well when you fail to read that. I know it's fun and easy to just mindlessly bash the USGA, but they do get things right. This is one of them. (Oh and by the way, the Rules are actually really good, as a whole. Maybe I'll talk about that in another post later.)

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/report-pga-of-america-moving-to-texas-hopes-to-bring-pga-championship-ryder-cup-to-frisco http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2018/03/07/pga-america-relocating-texas-new-site-host-pga-championships-ryder-cups? No, it's not really "Tour Talk" but it's the closest we've got.

What in your personal opinion, either from going yourself to a PGA event or hearing from a reputable source, is/are the best course(s) to follow around your favourite player(s)? - sightlines - ease to follow through all 18 holes - viewing multiple holes from one area

Well, today I passed all of my Level 3 tests for the PGA apprentice (or "associate"?) program. I emailed in my application for membership, and the next election date is apparently July 2. So far as I know, I'll be elected to membership on July 2… and become a PGA Class A Member with an A-6 classification (https://www.pga.com/pga-america/pga-information/pga-america-member-classifications - Golf Instructor). So, about $10k and nearly eight years (seriously, my deadline for not having to restart from square 1 is July 23) later… here I am. It all started back on May 7, 2010… Continued forward on July 18, 2010… And the clock began ticking five days later when I bought my Level 1 course materials. I went to my Level 1 seminars pretty quickly. Then took quite awhile to finish up the work portfolio. Before two years had elapsed, I won the first two PGA section events I entered - a pro-am at Lawrence Park GC with my team, and the pro-assistant in the fall with @david_wedzik. Then I was suspended when I hadn't finished Level 1 in < 2 years. Shortly after that was done I scheduled my tests: Tournament Operations, Business Planning, Customer Relations, Introduction to Teaching and Golf Club Performance, and Golf Car Fleet Management. I registered for Level 2, which reinstated me, but didn't play any events. I again dragged my feet before going to Level 2 seminars in 2015, I think, with my buddy Paul Kaster. I did the work portfolio, had it passed on May 31, 2017, and then took and passed my tests on August 7, 2017: Golf Operations, Turfgrass Management, Intermediate Teaching and Golf Club Alteration, and Merchandising and Inventory Management. So, with less than a year remaining until I'd have to start all over… I registered for my Level 3 trip to Florida for December, 2018 and submitted my work study portfolio a few weeks ago. Earlier today I passed my Level 3 tests: Advanced Teaching and Golf Club Fitting, Food and Beverage Control, Human Resources - Supervising and Delegating, and Player Development Programs and Teaching Business. I submitted my application for membership and should be elected, I believe, on July 2. Now, a brief Q&A. Why did it take me so long? Though I appreciate that the PGA trains you in all facets of a golf operation, I sometimes found it difficult to work up the motivation to complete a work-study portion on Food & Beverage or Golf Car Fleet Management when I don't believe I'll ever want to do those things. I want to be an instructor, a teacher, a coach, and I've devoted ALL of my energy to that. I don't want to be a head pro, or a general manager. So motivation was tough, as was access. I found it awkward to ask an often-times competing business for access to some of their private business data. For example, to fill out the "merchandising" section of your work portfolio, you have to talk about the merchandising operation at your facility. My facility - Golf Evolution - doesn't have one. So I had to talk with another course (or courses) and ask for access to their information. I'll be honest - I fought this a bit. I didn't think it was right or fair to require me to ask another person for access to their business information. I understand that the PGA wants you to be a well-rounded golf professional who can step into any job they offer, but take a look at the classifications they have: https://www.pga.com/pga-america/pga-information/pga-america-member-classifications. This list includes: A-12 - College or University Golf Coach A-16 - Golf Course Architect A-18 - Golf Media A-19 - Golf Manufacturer Management A-22 - Rules Official others… Some of those jobs don't have a Food & Beverage operation. They don't have to Manage a Golf Car Fleet. They don't have a Merchandising operation that they can control. Heck, with my work here on TST and elsewhere, I could almost be A-18, and then I don't even know how I would have done the instructional parts of the work study stuff, let alone the rest of the stuff that almost assume you're an assistant professional at a standard green grass golf course facility. That sounds kinda weird. What are you gonna do about it? Honestly, I think the PGA should have "tracks" or "majors" like in college. We get the equivalent of a "liberal arts" degree - we're reasonably well versed in a lot of things, but mastery of any one section is left to our own work and effort. The PGA seems to want to really produce broad-topic type professionals, but in my opinion if a guy did the PGA program and majored in "instruction," and someone hired him to be the director of golf at a resort… then either that hiring person made a mistake or the person is otherwise qualified. PGA membership, IMO, doesn't have to mean that you're qualified to do any of the Class A classifications. We didn't learn much that would let me become a golf course architect or a golf media member, for example, yet there are classifications for it. So what should the PGA do? I see they just announced version 3.0 of their PGM program, and I don't know what changes they've made. I'm curious to know… If I were in charge of PGA education, I'd develop "tracks" or "majors" like I talked about above. If you wanted to be an instructor, you could take Level 1 and Level 2 instruction-related classes, perhaps even with a "senior thesis type paper" or project. Your education would be handled by some general PGA folks, but mostly by some PGA A-6 or other instruction-based classified members. If you wanted to become "dual major" or a "triple major" you could do that too - just take other classes. If you wanted to work in the pro shop, you'd take the merchandising and golf car fleet management classes. If you wanted to be certified as a manager type, or head pro, you could take the HR/Management type classes. Maybe even the F&B classes. All of the "majors" would require a cursory overview and knowledge of the other classes, but it wouldn't be to the level that we currently have in PGM 2.0. So the PGA of America is bad? Heck no. I think they're just a little behind the times, and could use an update to account for the idea that the idea that the head pro owns the golf shop and the golf cart and does the instruction and oversees F&B are a thing of the past. People in golf are specializing more. We have teachers who only want to teach. Head pros who don't control the shop, but oversee tournaments and the membership and train the shop and bag room staff. Specialization is where it's at. I'd like to see the PGA move a bit more toward creating "master of one" professionals than "jack of all trades, master of none". And for all I know, that's what PGM 3.0 does. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm proud of the work I did. I'm proud to have put in the time and effort, even if it took me awhile (though in my defense, I was often busy WORKING in the golf industry, not just putting it off out of laziness… I spend 80-100 hours a week on golf as it is!), and I'm proud of what the PGA stands for and does. I'm proud of the PGA Championship, the members I've met over the years. I've not talked about it much, but I've trained hundreds of PGA members, through 5 Simple Keys® and Lowest Score Wins®, and I've presented (with @david_wedzik) at several section PGA education days. I look forward to being a productive, well-respected, diligent, hard-working member of the PGA who gives back. My small complaints (above) are not without a desire on my part to work with the PGA and to share my ideas and energy and to help them create the best program(s) possible. And, I'm keeping my eyes wide open - I suspect my attitude and opinions will change post-election to membership, as I learn more about how more of the PGA works. I look forward to continued education, earning MSR points ongoing, and even getting a specialization which I think I can do within about six months. P.S. I'm posting this to the Locker Room until after July 2. Not because I don't think there's anything in here which is damning or even negative, just… I don't want to have to go over what I've written to make sure I've said everything accurately. I've shared all of this with PGA folks privately and sometimes publicly before, so it's not new. The PGA as a whole is a well-respected, well-run organization, and I'll be proud should I be elected to membership, and look to remain a productive member for years to come. Basically, I don't want to jinx anything.

Heard it on sports radio today. Apparently Tiger has committed to play at Riviera CC, in the "whatever it is called now" Open! Or Invitational! It's a new name now, and I don't really recall it. Apparently this a blast of nostalgia since this was the first pro tourney Tiger played in as a Sophomore in high school at the age of 16. Hope this isn't the start of of a "farewell" tour!