Report: PGA Tour's PAC Votes To Outlaw Green Reading Books By Season's End

The players are bifurcating back to restore skill!?

No really. In a move no one saw coming and will have huge ramifications on multiple levels, the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council reportedly voted to get rid of green reading books by season’s end.

Eamon Lynch with the Golfweek exclusive that will be especially interesting given today’s USGA press conference.

The Tour’s Player Advisory Council voted to outlaw the books at a meeting two weeks ago. Support for the ban among the 16 players who comprise the Council was described by one person who was present as “overwhelming.”

“The books should be banned,” the player added. “Green reading is a skill to be learned.”

The skill word is huge here and will liven up other discussions about distance, grooves, rangefinders and any other number of things that have altered the sport.

Despite claims otherwise, the books slow the game down, provide an awful look for the “product” and have likely reduced time put into practice rounds in search of local knowledge. Oh, and the whole general skill of reading greens, imagination, etc. that was warned about when players fought to have the (expensive) cheat sheets.

The USGA and R&A attempted to reduce their influence—even while including them in official yardage books for their Opens—by changing rules on size of the information accessible during competition. The change has had the opposite effect, with players pulling the books closer to their face, appearing to work harder at reading smaller lines and only highlighting the absurdity of the books.

Lynch’s report says the vote would ban the books in Tour events by the end of the 2020-21 season in August.

The irony of players via their PAC in taking back an element of skill for the sport is beyond heartening. This move could also embolden the other organizations to expedite rule changes with skill in mind.