This week we are combining our Putting Tip and Q&A in one mailing.
It involves a situation on the putting green upon which we felt you may be interested in making comment.
By now, most golfers have seen the extraordinary sight on the 13th green during the 3rd round of last week’s U.S. Open of one of the world’s best golfers after putting his ball and missing the hole, proceeding to jog after the ball and striking it back towards the hole before it came to rest.
There’s no doubt that this was unprofessional but I also saw it as the ultimate response to frustration. The USGA in their quest to protect par made some of the greens unplayable. There was not a level playing field and the morning players had a tremendous advantage on Saturday.The excuse was that the wind was unexpected. Is Long Island Sound not frequently windy? The greens at Shinnecock, as is true of other east coast open venues, were designed at the turn of the last century when greens rolled 8 on the stimpmeter. Every viewer witnessed what happens when these greens roll 13 or 14 with current agronomy practices. I’d like to know how long it took Shinnecock to recover and what dissenting members have to say about hosting the US Open.
“There was not a level playing field and the morning players had a tremendous advantage on Saturday.” True. However that occurs in tournaments all the time. Still fair. Brought some higher scoring players up and lower scoring players down becuase of the order of play. Sunday was still the day to win or lose. As i said before, Brookes Koepka played well and had no complaints. Greens unplayable, ridiculous. You had to use your head and get in the right position to score.
I think that Phil should have either been “DQ’ed” or done the right thing and withdrawn. He wasn’t going to win the tournament and he was so far down the leader board that the money he won would be relatively insignificant to him. I base my opinion on Rule 1-2; Note 1 in that his actions DID give him a significant advantage over the field as opposed to letting the ball continue to roll down the hill.
I share his frustrations with the course set-up on Saturday and think that the USGA once again has screwed up yet another U.S. Open. The lack of consistency in course conditions, pin placement and overall set-up was not fair to the field. Yes, everyone played the same course; however, to have two similar set-ups on Thurs. & Fri. and then a different set-up on Saturday with two holes almost being unplayable because of the pin placements was unacceptable. To add injury to insult, the “fix” for Sunday created yet a different set of playing conditions.
Mike Davis and the staff at the USGA has created a scenario where few want to watch the U.S. Open. We won’t even mention the horrible job that Fox Sports has done in their attempts to televise what has become a dreadful event.
I think Phil did what many of us want to do. It has been suggested he “disrespected” the USGA. No chance. He merely gave them the respect they deserved for the crappy way they set up the course. The USGA traditionally takes the best courses in America and makes changes leaving them unplayable. Shinnecock is a formidable test any time; it didn’t need the USGA’s “enhancements”.
As for a DQ, that’s the only part of this debacle the USGA got correct. Perhaps Phil could have made his point another way (such as the above suggestion to play Annie Annie over a few times) but this got a LOT of attention. Rules snobs be damned. HIs action didn’t harm anyone in the field and the decision is akin to those made in similar prior incidents.
Someone commented on Fox’s presentation. Yeah, they consistently drop the ball, but actually, I don’t care who broadcasts the US Open. I rarely watch it because I can see the kind of play we witnessed Saturday when I play with my friends every week. I don’t watch pro golf to see the best players in the world make double bogeys and worse.
So because the USGA didn’t do a good job with the event, that justifies Phils actions? That’s a pretty childish viewpoint.
Phil collected a paycheck for the event, and wouldn’t that money have gone to “the field”? If so, the field was not protected. And it’s considered a gentleman’s sport for a reason; respect for and adherence to the rules is paramount.
like tiger several years back using a bunch of spectators to roll a massive rock=a loose impediment quote unquote -away from his ball.All within the rules and approved by the USGA.Same difference.Not siding with anyone-Phil is not my favourite- but if the most aggressive and ludicrous rules arbiters on the planet cleared it as a standard penalty who are you to call him a cheat? On a good day could you get within 10 shots of him? Probably not.Are you an approved R and A or USGA rules official?Would love to know.
A disgrace. He should have been dq’d immediately.
Now, he should be charged with whatever the golf equivalent is of “bringing the game into disrepute”
And if he wanted to use the rules, let the ball roll 40 yards down the fairway, declare it unplayable, and retake putt with one penalty shot!!!
Bending the rules? Don’t think so – technically, he also improved his lie, or at least the one he would have gotten. Language should be added to prevent this from happening again.
1. How many more years will Fox be the Network in Charge? I would love to see CBS handle the tourney!!!
2. Phil could have made his case better by waiting for the ball to come to rest 75 yards away and then playing it past the hole and then putting the ball 75 yards PAST the hole again. The act of putting off the green SEVERAL TIMES and delaying all groups behind him would have emphasized the severity of the green’s speed and caused 4-6 groups to stack up on the 13th Tee and drawn the focus to this green needs a windmill as a backstop for the hole. With a score or 12-14 with 2 or 3 putt attempts heading down the hill & off the false front of the green, Phil would have been compared to Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy instead of John Daley at Pinehurst.
Phil has a small window of opportunity to garner a US Open title. Seeing it taken away by the machinations of Mike Davis of the USGA certainly had to be frustrating. Phil is not a machine, he’s human. He lost his cool, and so did I. I stopped watching the Open after about a half hour of lousy coverage and never turned it back on for the final round. Mike Davis has ruined the USGA’s reputation for a fair course set-ups. I didn’t want to be as frustrated as Phil was. Apparently Davis missed the memo about the joke Shinnecock became back in 2004.
The USGA is wrong, it is the responsibility of the tournament organizers to have the tournament in tournament shape and to attempt to have the early players and the later players play on the same course as much as possible, from AM to PM, Thursday to Sunday.
The USGA has failed again and again and that is the frustration that the field and Phil felt. The USGA keeps saying they did not act correctly but each year they keep the same course preparation and let the conditions deteriorate to where it has gone to far and unfair for all of the players.
Unacceptable at that level. I understand the frustration with the course. With the winds they had – it was too fast. I like seeing the PGA have to work and be humbled, but I would not want to play that course with those conditions. I don’t mind the greens being that fast – but put some buffer that offers a challenge before you get to the 2-3′ tall rough. Just my thoughts.
Phil hit a ball in motion. Two strokes. Regrettable comments, while unwise for many reasons, do not incur a penalty. Disqualification would have to wait until the USGA makes politically uncorrect comments a breach of the rules. That will probably happen, since the USGA is staffed with morons.
Some months ago I contacted USGA onllne for an almost identical issue involving the Unplayable Lie rule…Could I intentionally drop out of a sand trap and just take the indicated 2-stroke penalty on top of the 1-stroke penalty for the basic U.L.? The answer was that I would be disqualified, or loose the hole in match play, because it would be a willful, intentional infraction. There is a underlying, harsh rule about intentional infractions. Mickelson stated repeatedly that he willfully broke the rule because he thought it would save in strokes despite the 2-stroke penalty.
Well said Bill.Every major is a privelege and a pleasure to watch except the US Open-that is year after year a debacle of unbelievably stupid course preparation-and that is NOT due to the course superintendents who are obliged to do what they are instructed to-by the USGA,
Thanks, John. Don’t you think that the party who should be sounding off here is the PGA? Phil didn’t commit more than a two-stroke offense, but his conduct as a member of the PGA surely should result in some kind of official sanction. Neither the USGA nor the PGA seem to be able to control or discipline these pampered children.
franklygolf 
Ultra-fast greens add little to the joy of playing.
There’s no doubt that this was unprofessional but I also saw it as the ultimate response to frustration. The USGA in their quest to protect par made some of the greens unplayable. There was not a level playing field and the morning players had a tremendous advantage on Saturday.The excuse was that the wind was unexpected. Is Long Island Sound not frequently windy? The greens at Shinnecock, as is true of other east coast open venues, were designed at the turn of the last century when greens rolled 8 on the stimpmeter. Every viewer witnessed what happens when these greens roll 13 or 14 with current agronomy practices. I’d like to know how long it took Shinnecock to recover and what dissenting members have to say about hosting the US Open.
“There was not a level playing field and the morning players had a tremendous advantage on Saturday.” True. However that occurs in tournaments all the time. Still fair. Brought some higher scoring players up and lower scoring players down becuase of the order of play. Sunday was still the day to win or lose. As i said before, Brookes Koepka played well and had no complaints. Greens unplayable, ridiculous. You had to use your head and get in the right position to score.
I think that Phil should have either been “DQ’ed” or done the right thing and withdrawn. He wasn’t going to win the tournament and he was so far down the leader board that the money he won would be relatively insignificant to him. I base my opinion on Rule 1-2; Note 1 in that his actions DID give him a significant advantage over the field as opposed to letting the ball continue to roll down the hill.
I share his frustrations with the course set-up on Saturday and think that the USGA once again has screwed up yet another U.S. Open. The lack of consistency in course conditions, pin placement and overall set-up was not fair to the field. Yes, everyone played the same course; however, to have two similar set-ups on Thurs. & Fri. and then a different set-up on Saturday with two holes almost being unplayable because of the pin placements was unacceptable. To add injury to insult, the “fix” for Sunday created yet a different set of playing conditions.
Mike Davis and the staff at the USGA has created a scenario where few want to watch the U.S. Open. We won’t even mention the horrible job that Fox Sports has done in their attempts to televise what has become a dreadful event.
I think Phil did what many of us want to do. It has been suggested he “disrespected” the USGA. No chance. He merely gave them the respect they deserved for the crappy way they set up the course. The USGA traditionally takes the best courses in America and makes changes leaving them unplayable. Shinnecock is a formidable test any time; it didn’t need the USGA’s “enhancements”.
As for a DQ, that’s the only part of this debacle the USGA got correct. Perhaps Phil could have made his point another way (such as the above suggestion to play Annie Annie over a few times) but this got a LOT of attention. Rules snobs be damned. HIs action didn’t harm anyone in the field and the decision is akin to those made in similar prior incidents.
Someone commented on Fox’s presentation. Yeah, they consistently drop the ball, but actually, I don’t care who broadcasts the US Open. I rarely watch it because I can see the kind of play we witnessed Saturday when I play with my friends every week. I don’t watch pro golf to see the best players in the world make double bogeys and worse.
So because the USGA didn’t do a good job with the event, that justifies Phils actions? That’s a pretty childish viewpoint.
Phil collected a paycheck for the event, and wouldn’t that money have gone to “the field”? If so, the field was not protected. And it’s considered a gentleman’s sport for a reason; respect for and adherence to the rules is paramount.
I approve of the subtle message Phil sent the USGA.
Should have been disqualified for blatantly cheating, using a rule to limit his scoring possibilities
like tiger several years back using a bunch of spectators to roll a massive rock=a loose impediment quote unquote -away from his ball.All within the rules and approved by the USGA.Same difference.Not siding with anyone-Phil is not my favourite- but if the most aggressive and ludicrous rules arbiters on the planet cleared it as a standard penalty who are you to call him a cheat? On a good day could you get within 10 shots of him? Probably not.Are you an approved R and A or USGA rules official?Would love to know.
A disgrace. He should have been dq’d immediately.
Now, he should be charged with whatever the golf equivalent is of “bringing the game into disrepute”
And if he wanted to use the rules, let the ball roll 40 yards down the fairway, declare it unplayable, and retake putt with one penalty shot!!!
Bending the rules? Don’t think so – technically, he also improved his lie, or at least the one he would have gotten. Language should be added to prevent this from happening again.
1. How many more years will Fox be the Network in Charge? I would love to see CBS handle the tourney!!!
2. Phil could have made his case better by waiting for the ball to come to rest 75 yards away and then playing it past the hole and then putting the ball 75 yards PAST the hole again. The act of putting off the green SEVERAL TIMES and delaying all groups behind him would have emphasized the severity of the green’s speed and caused 4-6 groups to stack up on the 13th Tee and drawn the focus to this green needs a windmill as a backstop for the hole. With a score or 12-14 with 2 or 3 putt attempts heading down the hill & off the false front of the green, Phil would have been compared to Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy instead of John Daley at Pinehurst.
If he let it roll to a stop he could called it unplayable and placed it back for 2 strokes. But whatever.
Phil has a small window of opportunity to garner a US Open title. Seeing it taken away by the machinations of Mike Davis of the USGA certainly had to be frustrating. Phil is not a machine, he’s human. He lost his cool, and so did I. I stopped watching the Open after about a half hour of lousy coverage and never turned it back on for the final round. Mike Davis has ruined the USGA’s reputation for a fair course set-ups. I didn’t want to be as frustrated as Phil was. Apparently Davis missed the memo about the joke Shinnecock became back in 2004.
The USGA is wrong, it is the responsibility of the tournament organizers to have the tournament in tournament shape and to attempt to have the early players and the later players play on the same course as much as possible, from AM to PM, Thursday to Sunday.
The USGA has failed again and again and that is the frustration that the field and Phil felt. The USGA keeps saying they did not act correctly but each year they keep the same course preparation and let the conditions deteriorate to where it has gone to far and unfair for all of the players.
Payne Stewart.
Amen…!
BINGO! at Olympic.. my first thought
Unacceptable at that level. I understand the frustration with the course. With the winds they had – it was too fast. I like seeing the PGA have to work and be humbled, but I would not want to play that course with those conditions. I don’t mind the greens being that fast – but put some buffer that offers a challenge before you get to the 2-3′ tall rough. Just my thoughts.
Phil hit a ball in motion. Two strokes. Regrettable comments, while unwise for many reasons, do not incur a penalty. Disqualification would have to wait until the USGA makes politically uncorrect comments a breach of the rules. That will probably happen, since the USGA is staffed with morons.
Some months ago I contacted USGA onllne for an almost identical issue involving the Unplayable Lie rule…Could I intentionally drop out of a sand trap and just take the indicated 2-stroke penalty on top of the 1-stroke penalty for the basic U.L.? The answer was that I would be disqualified, or loose the hole in match play, because it would be a willful, intentional infraction. There is a underlying, harsh rule about intentional infractions. Mickelson stated repeatedly that he willfully broke the rule because he thought it would save in strokes despite the 2-stroke penalty.
Well said Bill.Every major is a privelege and a pleasure to watch except the US Open-that is year after year a debacle of unbelievably stupid course preparation-and that is NOT due to the course superintendents who are obliged to do what they are instructed to-by the USGA,
Thanks, John. Don’t you think that the party who should be sounding off here is the PGA? Phil didn’t commit more than a two-stroke offense, but his conduct as a member of the PGA surely should result in some kind of official sanction. Neither the USGA nor the PGA seem to be able to control or discipline these pampered children.