When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
This accompanies GolfDigest.com's plug for their Saturday rules show done in conjunction with CBS's Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett. But the photo does not tell us what Macatee is saying...
When you have star power like Bobby Clampett, it's hard to fathom a show with this much promise is going to be buried on a summer Saturday when most of the world is not glued to their computers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“RULES OF THE GAME” INTERACTIVE GOLF QUIZ SHOW PREMIERES
AUGUST 18TH ON CBS SPORTS AND GOLFDIGEST.COM
Hosts Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett Make Sense of Golf’s Trickiest Rules
Burbank, CA (August 13, 2007) – The first ever web interactive television quiz show highlighting the rules of golf premieres August 18, 2007 (4PM Eastern) on CBS Sports and GolfDigest.com.
RULES OF THE GAME is a one-hour special highlighting funny, surprising, and unexpected applications of the rules of golf in a fast-paced interactive quiz format. The show, shot on location from Ginn Reunion Resort in Orlando, Florida, features memorable moments from PGA Tour events, as well as re-enactments performed by CBS Sports golf team members Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett.
Among the gems revealed on the show are:
- The penalty for asking your opponent about his club selection.
- The penalty for tapping in a short putt with the grip end of your putter.
- The options presented by a shot that has landed on a bridge.
- The penalty for accidentally tapping a ball during a tee-box waggle.
Viewers are also encouraged to log on to www.GolfDigest.com to play along with the quiz throughout the broadcast. Those completing the quiz will be ranked on the accuracy of their answers.
RULES OF THE GAME is produced by Juma Entertainment in conjunction with the editors of Golf Digest. Bob Horowitz is creator and executive producer. CBS Sports’ Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett are the hosts. RULES OF THE GAME is sponsored by Bobby Jones Golf Company and the PGA Tour SuperStore.
Steve Elling looks at the controversy over Tiger's controversial first round drop.After opening with a 2-under 69 to begin his bid to become the first player in a half-century to win three consecutive British Open belts, Woods had to explain his role in a curious ruling that some claimed was caused by preferential treatment by a rules official.
Woods was 3 under when he hit a drive dead left on the 10th hole, which is when everything else started moving sideways as well. Given the sketchy explanation that officials with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club offered with regard to the ensuing free drop he received, the saucy British tabs fast made a federal case out of the questionable ruling.
Actually, since we're overseas, it was more of an international incident. Apparently, the belief abroad is that Woods not only rules the game, he rules the rulemakers.
After Woods yanked his drive into what might be the only stand of trees for miles, his ball came to rest on a line of television cables resting in the thick grass. Ninety-nine times out of 100, rules protocol calls for a player to mark the ball, move the cables, then drop the ball in the same spot with no penalty.
However, Woods said the R&A rules official on the scene, Alan Holmes, instead offered a free drop several feet away in an area that had been trampled by fans, claiming the cables were an immovable obstruction. Mark Roe, a BBC radio reporter and former European Tour player, was shadowing Woods' group and said he moved the cables with relative ease afterward. He more than insinuated that Holmes was intimidated.
"I think the R&A official became a jellyfish the moment Tiger Woods asked for a drop," Roe said on the air.
Roe added later: "I am absolutely disgusted. In 21 years, I've never seen a drop like it. The rules official has made a big mistake."
Woods shrugged and tried to explain what happened.
"It was a weird drop," he said. "I was as surprised as anybody. I've never seen that ruling before."
Steve Elling on Phil's wrist injury, with an interesting take on the support device he's wearing:
Mickelson received a cortisone shot last week, has been trying muscle massage, rehab therapy and various forms of stimulation to increase blood flow to the affected area, and is traveling with a shaman of sorts, former Green Beret Jim Weathers, whose business card lists him as "motivational speaker, shiatsu master and reflexologist."
The wrist is so iffy that doctors ordered Mickelson not to practice, sign autographs or participate in any "strenuous workouts." (Note to Tiger Woods fans: Insert punchline here).
Facts are, the Open isn't a place you come when you are nursing a hand injury -- it's a place you leave with one. Witness Woods at Shinnecock in 1995, when he hit a ball into the high rough, tweaked a wrist while hacking out of the hay, and had to withdraw.
Mickelson might face another uncomfortable hurdle, as in whether the wrist wrap is copacetic in the eyes of the golf rulebook. USGA rules official John Morrissett said Tuesday that he had not inspected the wrap Lefty is wearing, but said it appeared to be made of an "Ace bandage material with no rigid parts." Players are prohibited from using swing-aids and devices designed to restrict wrist movement.
The bandage covers part of Mickelson's left thumb, the back of his hand and encircles his entire wrist. Clearly, taping the wrist is intended to keep Mickelson from further straining the injury and any swing benefit would not be his directed intent. Mickelson joked there could be a crossover effect.
"I would say this will help me keep it one shot at a time, and this brace will help me alleviate any extra wrist break at the top of the swing that I may have," he said.
Then Mickelson turned to a nearby USGA media official and cracked, "Is it OK if I use this (bandage) now that I said that?"
Let's not dismiss it with a flip of the wrist. Morrissett said the bandage "doesn't appear to inhibit movement in the wrist," though it will likely restrict and support it to some degree. Otherwise, why wear it at all? Mickelson even indicated he would tighten the bandage before hitting shots.
"There's a chance somebody with the USGA will take a look at it," Morrissett said.
Okay rules aficionados, what do you think?
Randell Mell celebrates Honda Classic winner Mark Wilson's integrity and explains how his caddie earned him a two-shot penalty.
John Hawkins calls Tiger's free loading dock relief drop an embarrassment and asks...
Since when did the clubhouse and parking lot become part of the golf course? I’m no rules aficionado, but I’ve always thought that any shot that leaves the field of play is considered out of bounds.
BTW, did anyone actually see the ball turned over to Steve Williams or Tiger, as Bill Kratzert said on TV?
You have to love her honesty. And while they'll never be confused with Grisham, she probably should brush up on them a bit.
The Independent's Andy Farrell reporting from Royal Lytham:
And this is the basis of the problem with Michelle, which is ours as much as hers. Wie has done has great things, getting into contention in the majors, almost winning last week at the Evian Masters, and through to final qualifying for the men's US Open.
But she is not the finished article, and at 16 why should she be? She is still learning her trade and is still not a full-time golfer. This is her summer holiday, and yet already her every score, every shot, every action, every word is scrutinised.
Last autumn she turned professional, earning millions in the process, but in many ways she remains a talented amateur, albeit one with great potential. While she remains in mainstream education, she will not be able to complete her golfing apprenticeship.
It's the little things. She cheerfully admitted to not being quite ready for her early tee-time on Thursday and promptly bogeyed the first three holes. It's also the not so little things, like not being aware of the rule about sweeping away a loose impediment on the backswing in a bunker.
A two-shot penalty resulted when she did just this on Friday. "It's not a great read," she said sweetly when asked if she would be examining the Rules of Golf more closely. But an important read, and the fact that a shocking number of players have a limited knowledge of the rules is no excuse for a professional.
David Fay can't wait to tell Jim McCabe that the drop circles at Winged Foot were his idea.
Drop areas had cropped up all over Winged Foot -- 50 in all, seven around the 18th. White chalk circles were seemingly at every turn of the head and even worse, they were being used, even if it meant moving the ball closer to the hole.
Good gracious, what's next? Players can buy mulligans on the tee for $5? Gimme putts if they're inside the leather?
Surely, someone in the US Golf Association had goofed. The matter had to be brought to the attention of the executive director, David Fay. Did he know about this?
Turns out he not only knew about it, he initiated it. And he denied my request for two minutes of his time.
``You'll get more than two minutes," said Fay. ``This is my baby. This is why I'm wound up."
Imagine if we could get him this worked up about the ball!
``This slow game has, over the years, gotten slower, and in my judgment part of it was dealing with these things in `big-time golf' called temporary immovable obstructions," said Fay, his reference being all the grandstands and scoreboards that are constructed. Fay estimates that it takes as much as 10 minutes to take a free drop on a ``TIO" ruling, because it involves an array of particulars, like keeping the arc so that the angle of the shot remains similar, not moving the ball closer to the hole, getting patrons out of the way, taking down ropes.
``And time spent doing a TIO drop is time you never get back."
Almost Meeksian in its tone.
Thanks to reader Tom Kirkendall and reader Edward for the heads up on this interesting Steve Campbell story about Steve Elkington WD'ing after being told he couldn't wear spikes at Lakewood Country Club.
USGA rules allow players to use spikes at next week's U.S. Open at Winged Foot. At the sectional level, the USGA allows the host sites to set the rules. Of the 13 sectionals on American soil, two allowed long spikes and 11 required soft spikes.
"I made a stand for the sport," Elkington said. "The USGA does not have an across-the-board way of qualifying. How can they have some sites that are spikeless and some sites that are not — and the rules of the USGA don't apply?
"They lost the plot here today about what it's all about."
The Paula Creamer-Annika Sorrenstam spat at last week's Championship may tell us a lot about the state of the LPGA Tour under new Commissioner Carolyn Bivens.
Just a quick recap courtesy of AP:
The season-ending ADT Championship got off to a rocky start Thursday when the top two players on the LPGA Tour got into a tense dispute on the 18th fairway over where Sorenstam should have taken a drop from the hazard.
"Neither one of them was going to budge," rules official Janet Lindsay said.
After a debate that lasted so long it was almost too dark to finish at Trump International, the ruling ultimately went Sorenstam's way. She was allowed to go to a ball drop instead of returning to the tee, although she still made double bogey and fell out of a tie for the lead.
Hee-Won Han led with a 5-under-par 67 that essentially went unnoticed.
This round might be remembered as the start of a rivalry between the LPGA Tour's best players — one the undisputed star who already is in the Hall of Fame, the other a 19-year-old rookie with moxie.
"We were trying to determine where it went in," Sorenstam said. "We're standing 220 yards away, and we're talking about inches."
Creamer, who finished with a 68, stared hard at Sorenstam as the Swede spoke to reporters, and later had an animated discussion with LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens and Lindsay.
It would be interesting to hear what the animated discussion is about. It's hard to imagine that Creamer would be so insistent unless she believed Sorenstam was bending the rules.
Since the LPGA's firing of 18-year official Barb Trammell (who reportedly lost her job after she would not budge when a player wanted to belatedly enter an event after the standard entry deadline), the LPGA Tour has seen two high profile rules incidents since her departure. Neither of which was handled very well.
Golfweek's Jay Coffin reported that Trammell's "resignation" may have been motivatd by "a group of players who had made known to Bivens their increasing displeasure with Trammell's 'by the book' demeanor."
Just typing out loud here, but someone might want to tell Bivens that respect for the rules is vital to the integrity and image of a pro golf tour.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
