"Our modern wink-wink culture is at odds with what golf is supposed to stand for."

After reading Golf.com’s Anonymous Tour Pro survey, Michael Bamberger came away disturbed by the suggestions of cheating or bending the rules on the PGA Tour. Bamberger was particularly annoyed with the assertion by one anonymously quoted player that officials are letting the players down.

But the job of enforcing the rules is fundamentally on the players. If the rules officials see a drop going awry, it is their job to step in and make sure it’s done correctly, and that is what they generally do. If one player says the ball crossed at point A and the other point B, the rules officials have to adjudicate, and they generally do. They are not the police. They’re not trying to catch players. Their first job is to help players turn in the most accurate scorecard they can. It is each individual player who serves as a police officer. He should be doing an ongoing and continuing and intense investigation of his own play and the play of the others in his group.