Golf Needs To Get Ahead Of Its "Banging Scheme" Before It's Too Late

Those following the Houston Astros debacle in baseball that was not properly handled by Commissioner Rob Manfred would likely agree that had more been done early on to stop the shenanigans, there would less of a crisis than the one now facing Major League Baseball.

I’m also confident in saying that had Patrick Reed been disqualified and suspended for conduct unbecoming a pro golfer following his Hero World Challenge lie improvement, there would not be an appetite for more Reed bashing that we see today.

Which, in case you didn’t know, continued Tuesday morning when Brooks Koepka mocked Reed’s efforts and excuses and used the dreaded cheater word. Thene things took an even more incredible turn Tuesday night when No Laying Up’s podcast with Peter Kostis led to explicit accusations of multiple cheating incidents.

From Will Gray’s GolfChannel.com summary of the Kostis portion of the podcast:

"I've seen Patrick Reed improve his lie, up close and personal, four times now," Kostis said.

One such instance came during the final round of The Barclays in 2016 at Bethpage Black, an event that Reed went on to win. After hitting his drive on the 13th hole into thick rough just off the fairway, Reed put an iron down multiple times behind the ball before ultimately hitting a 3-wood, a turn of events that drew Kostis' attention in live time on the broadcast.

"That's the only time I ever shut [Gary] McCord up. He didn't know what to say when I said, 'Well, the lie that I saw originally wouldn't have allowed for this shot,'" Kostis said. "Because he put four or five clubs behind the ball, kind of faking whether he's going to hit this shot or hit that shot. By the time he was done, he hit a freaking 3-wood out of there, which when I saw it, it was a sand wedge layup originally."

Kostis can’t be accused of sitting on his observations:

But another comment from Kostis may speak to something I saw extensively last week at the Genesis Invitational and also at the Farmers in January: a habit of most modern golfers to put their club down behind the ball in not-so-gentle fashion, test the lie, and often with obvious pressure levied.

Kostis on Reed:

"I'm not even sure that he knows that he's doing it sometimes. Maybe he does, I don't know," Kostis said. "I'm not going to assign intent. All I'm going to tell you is what I saw."

After watching players regularly put a club down behind the ball, change clubs, do it again and test how their club sits (even on tight turf), I can only conclude that no one has told a generation of golfers: “that’s a bad look to be, uh, banging at the ground. Some people might even think you are improving your lie.”

While it took a long time to get backstopping under control, perhaps someone in golf will begin talking to players immediately when they are seen banging away at the grass and pressing into the ground behind their ball. It might just prevent an integrity crisis the sport does not need.