Not Many Stepping Forward To Support Green Reading Books

The rules community may have the backing of top players should they target the new green-reading books.

Rex Hoggard reports from the Wells Fargo Championship on comments from Adam Scott and Lucas Glover.

“I think probably we should ban the book,” Adam Scott said. “If they feel that reading the green needs to be more of an art and it's an advantage to a player who's a creative, great green reader, then I wouldn't have a problem with that.”

Glover also took the position that putting artistry is being undermined.

“It’s more the powers that be see it as a possibility of losing the art of the game. It’s just like judging the wind or reading a lie, there’s got to be art to it. Science has already taken over enough.”

I'm still not understanding the passion for protecting artistry as the proposed new rules usher in rangefinders suggest the rules community is targeting these books selectively.

As I wrote for Golfweek, this screams of a pace issue more than a skill issue.

If you haven't seen the materials in question, Tripp Isenhour did a nice job showing what they look like and the benefits some players seen in them. Note the portion where he explains the specialized data that incorporates that days' hole location.

In advance of the Players, Justin Leonard shared this story on the Golf Channel conference call in support of banning the books.

JUSTIN LEONARD: I played last week at the Texas Open, and Steve Hulka was caddying for me, and he had one of those books with, you know, the arrows and everything. I looked at it twice and I couldn't -- it was too much information for me.

I think the reason they are looking at it -- and I'll tell you that I had a putt on Friday on No. 9 to make the cut, about a 25-footer. And Steve told me what the book said, and it did exactly what it said.

Q. Did you make it?

JUSTIN LEONARD: I made the putt. Absolutely I made it. Of course I did. I made the cut and played on the weekend.

But that being said, I think to me, it's a slow-play issue. It takes too much time. It takes the feel away from the game. I know we're in a time where technology plays such a role in all sports, and it's certainly playing a role in golf with TrackMan and everything.

But I think that there's also a – there needs to be a feel and guys using instincts and using past experience, charting putts and things like that from years past. Practice rounds are important.

I'm not a fan of these greens books. I think they slow down play and they take away a player's natural ability and need to feel and see what's going on on the golf course.