jack barse

Something interesting happened in golf a couple of weeks ago and I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more discussion of it in the golf press. The AP picked up the story, but that’s been about it. In a nutshell, a small tour based in Texas, the Tight Lies Tour, has signed a deal under which its players no longer have to adhere to the Rules of Golf.

OK, that might be a bit melodramtic. The tour, which is for professionals and low-handicap amateurs, has signed a sponsorship deal with SkyGolf; under the terms of the deal the tour will allow players to use SkyGolf’s GPS system to figure out yardages during tournament rounds.

Using artificial devices in general, and measuring devices specifically, is prohibited by Rule 14-3 of the Rules of Golf; players are not allowed to use any device which helps them gauge or measure conditions. Yet players are allowed to use yardage books to figure distance, or use markers already place on the course. And despite the prohibition during competition, the USGA allows scores made during a round played while using a measuring device to count for handicap purposes. According to the AP article noted above, the USGA would like to eliminate the rule, but hasn’t so far because of the relationship between the USGA and the R&A. “I don’t think it’s any secret that the USGA favors allowing them to be used under the rules,” USGA executive director David Fay said [to the AP].
The Tight Lies Tour said it is introducing the GPS system in order to speed up play. Golfers all want to know the exact distance and they are spending a lot of time consulting yardage books and pacing off distances during the round. The professionals are the worst; they take for-effing-ever to figure out how far they are from their target.

I like what the TL Tour is doing, frankly, especially if it does indeed quicken the pace. The really interesting aspect of this, for golf fans and players alike, is that this is the first time that a tour will play under a different set of rules than the rest of us. There’s been talk of that for years, mostly centered around revising tour equipment standards to shorten the distance the pros can hit shots, but it has never been done. Is this the first step towards the slope? (Sorry for the somewhat horrible golf pun.)

I’d like to see the USGA take a firmer stance with regard to the R&A, too. The USGA seems to be taking the position that devices are OK as long as they don’t help a player actually make a stroke, while the R&A seems to be saying that anything artificial should be limited. (”I think many people in the UK are opposed to these devices,” R&A secretary Peter Dawson said. “These items are much more prevalent in the U.S., despite the fact they are against the Rules of Golf. It’s remarkable they are allowed for handicapping purposes.”) The USGA and R&A already disagree on several points in the rules (such as stones in bunkers and, until recently, test specs for drivers), so another small divergence shouldn’t prove problematic.

The whole yardage thing is funny anyway. It’s all Deane Beman’s fault, since he was the first player known to chart course yardages. He taught Nicklaus, and what worked for Jack must be good for the rest of us, right? Even Fay said, “My personal view is that it enables guys like me to get the type of yardage assistance that (caddie) Steve Williams is providing Tiger Woods.” Not to mention that its one thing to accurately know the distance and quite another to be able to hit a shot that precisely. Greg Norman once famously bragged that a pro on his game could land a 175 yard shot within a foot or two of where he wanted. Fine. I’m a reasonably decent player who breaks 80 a good deal of the time, but my yardage window is about 5 yards, on my good days. The average 20 handicapper? My guess is that he or she has a 15 yard distance window and a 20 yard width window. So they can leave the lasers and GPS units at home.