More HDTV Rules Of Golf Decisions On The Way?
/I'll be blunt: caller-inspired rules inquiries are not going away. The PGA Tour will not ignore evidence of a violation spotted on television or elsewhere despite the pleas of so many who have taken to social media since the Masters to lament the apparent absurdity of the current situation.
Because to do so would create a litany of situations where players are caught violating a rule, but because of such a clause to ignore what is spotted by fans, the perception--fueled by YouTube clips and blogs like this one--would then be that the players got away with a crime. The players are then tainted in far worse ways than had they merely received a penalty.
So get used to the status quo.
Now, if Commissioner Finchem wasn't so bizarrely frugal in the hiring of rules staffers, much of this could be remedied by having a designated telecast watcher that is part of the staff. And even though Ponte Vedra is swelling with VP's who don't do nearly as much as the members of the (union) rules staffers, Finchem has not wanted to expand their role. He even made them work without a contract for most of this year.
But to save a few bucks we'll continue to have it the current way. What may change, at least by the sounds of the quotes in Doug Ferguson's lead note today, is the power of HD in the eyes of the Rules of Golf.
And this might be golf's next frontier, at least when it comes to the rules.
''Our Rules of Golf committees - the USGA and R&A - are always trying to look forward at what they should address,'' said Thomas Pagel, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition. ''Certainly, HDTV has been on the forefront for the last several years.''
Pagel pointed to April 2011 and Decision 33-7/4.5 as ''the beginning of the review of HDTV and what impact it has.''
The faces on those decisions were Padraig Harrington and Peter Hanson. Harrington was disqualified for an incorrect score when HDTV revealed his ball moved when he was removing his marker on the green. Hanson's violation was a double-hit.
In both cases, the infraction was revealed only through the use of high-def - in Hanson's case, it was played in super-slow motion.
As we learned at this year's Masters when Fred Ridley crafted a way to prevent a Tiger Woods DQ, this rule only pertains to situations where the player was unaware they had committed a violation, only to have HD television reveal the crime. But might the rule be expanded to include more leeway to avoid the dreaded disqualification for signing an incorrect card?