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USGA at it again

clonedude

clonedude

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
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This time in the Women's U.S. Open today.

Two stroke penalty (which it was clearly a penalty at least) when Nordquist grounds her club in the bunker when her and Brittany Lang were on the final hole of a playoff.

Problem was, they told Nordquist AFTER she hit her 3rd shot on a par 5 final hole of the playoff, but told Lang BEFORE she hit her 3rd shot. Just stupid on their part IMO.
 
Agreed. Should've waited until both hit their 3rd or before Nordquidt hit her 3rd
 
In all seriousness, it's not enough that the leading groups have the most pressure on them, but having all the HD cameras on them recording every single move they make just adds to it. Technically what Nordqvist did was against the rules, yes. However, if someone that tees off first thing in the morning does this, they don't get this penalty called on them because most of the cameras aren't rolling. They either need to tell them before they tee off on the next hole or if they can't get to them quickly enough (with all the technology they should be able to), tell them at the same shot sequence. I just think this was handled very poorly.
 
The older I get the more I realize that golf rules are just stupid, nor do I even come close to knowing the rules.
 
Gomer80 said:
In all seriousness, it's not enough that the leading groups have the most pressure on them, but having all the HD cameras on them recording every single move they make just adds to it. Technically what Nordqvist did was against the rules, yes. However, if someone that tees off first thing in the morning does this, they don't get this penalty called on them because most of the cameras aren't rolling. They either need to tell them before they tee off on the next hole or if they can't get to them quickly enough (with all the technology they should be able to), tell them at the same shot sequence. I just think this was handled very poorly.
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The sport of Golf does need to somehow resolve this issue. If you have been determined to have committed a penalty, the golfers need to know about it fairly quickly because it completely changes how they will play the game. At least today, Anna definitely did commit a penalty. With DJ, the USGA, without ANY evidence whatsoever overruled what DJ said he did.... and how the official on the hole ruled it... as I said WITHOUT any evidence. That was a complete joke.

Today was handled somewhat better, but you have to tell both golfers at the same time in their play, not when one has hit their 3rd shot already, but the other has not.
 
Players are required to keep their own score, right? Why wouldn't they disqualify them for falsifying their score?
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
Players are required to keep their own score, right? Why wouldn't they disqualify them for falsifying their score?
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The scorecard isn't "official" until the player signs it in the clubhouse after the round. If they would happen to sign a scorecard with an incorrect score on it, then yes, they get disqualified. That's why they inform them of an infraction before they finish.
 
clonedude said:
The scorecard isn't "official" until the player signs it in the clubhouse after the round. If they would happen to sign a scorecard with an incorrect score on it, then yes, they get disqualified. That's why they inform them of an infraction before they finish.
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Only if the score is lower than their actual.

This isn't that big of a deal to me in and of itself. The problem is the sheer lack of competency within the organzation to do two things: 1) grow the game and 2) govern the large events.

First of all, there needs to be two sets of rules in the game. One for your basic amatuers and one for pro events/big time events. There's no reason a 10 handicap playing in a small time public course open tournament can't use a long putter. aNother example is that something needs to be done with the ball in the pro game because it's going to be much easier to govern that rather than every spec of every club.

Golf needs to be doing things to grow the game. That means making 9 hole rounds readily available, actually enforcing pace of play for the weekend warriors and while it's not the USGAs responsibility, making the game a touch more affordable (golf doesn't have to be more expensive than a lot of other hobbies the way it is but it's looked at as expensive).

The problem I have is that the USGA is preaching to grow the game, however they don't do anything to actually do it.
 
clonedude said:
The sport of Golf does need to somehow resolve this issue. If you have been determined to have committed a penalty, the golfers need to know about it fairly quickly because it completely changes how they will play the game. At least today, Anna definitely did commit a penalty. With DJ, the USGA, without ANY evidence whatsoever overruled what DJ said he did.... and how the official on the hole ruled it... as I said WITHOUT any evidence. That was a complete joke.

Today was handled somewhat better, but you have to tell both golfers at the same time in their play, not when one has hit their 3rd shot already, but the other has not.
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I don't necessarily agree with you. I think you should tell them as soon as you know no matter what shot they are hitting. I also don't think there should be any review of any decision an official was involved in and there should be no action taken because joe schmuck on his couch wants to feel important and call in.
 
When I was watching live I thought "Man, she is REALLY close to grounding her club". Then they had the HD zoomed in replay and it was pretty obvious a few grains of sand moved. It was 100% a sure thing they needed to apply a two stroke penalty. At the time there were only two damn players on the course and they could have called a 10 minute delay and fully resolved it and then informed the players and resumed play with both players knowing the score. But, no, they handled it like golf officials always do, by fumble ******* around with millions of people watching and going WTF. At least they informed the gals before the round was actually over but it wasn't even a hard call, it was a no brainier, so I give them only partial credit for not be total ****s.
 
Tre4ISU said:
I don't necessarily agree with you. I think you should tell them as soon as you know no matter what shot they are hitting. I also don't think there should be any review of any decision an official was involved in and there should be no action taken because joe schmuck on his couch wants to feel important and call in.
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Disagree completely. Anna hit her 3rd shot thinking she was tied, when she was actually down 2. If she knew she was down 2, she would have definitely went right at the pin.

Conversely, if Lang wouldn't have known about Anna's 2 stroke penalty when she hit her 3rd shot, she may very well have thought to herself "I need to put this 3rd shot inside of Anna and knock it in there tight".... which then can easily bring the water into play. Instead, she is able to play it safe and secure the U.S. Women's Open.
 
Tre4ISU said:
Golf needs to be doing things to grow the game. That means making 9 hole rounds readily available
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Not only 9-hole rounds, but 9-hole rounds that can be played in a reasonable amount of time by amateurs/beginners with entry-level equipment.

Tre4ISU said:
making the game a touch more affordable (golf doesn't have to be more expensive than a lot of other hobbies the way it is but it's looked at as expensive)
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That means shorter courses that can be walked so that one doesn't have to rent a cart. Unfortunately, that's not where things seem to be headed.

Around here anyway, pretty much all of those shorter courses have shut down, or changed to longer course layouts to accommodate the pro-wannbes who insist on hitting from the pro tees with Big Bertha and subsequently usually end up playing the majority of the rest of the hole from the rough/adjacent fairway...
 
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Using a long putter is not against USGA rules. The new rule just states that you can't anchor the putter against your body.
 
jbhtexas said:
Not only 9-hole rounds, but 9-hole rounds that can be played in a reasonable amount of time by amateurs/beginners with entry-level equipment.

That means shorter courses that can be walked so that one doesn't have to rent a cart. Unfortunately, that's not where things seem to be headed.
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Homewood in Ames is perfect for this. You can play it with just irons (if you so choose), and walk it in about 90 minutes.
 
BoxsterCy said:
When I was watching live I thought "Man, she is REALLY close to grounding her club". Then they had the HD zoomed in replay and it was pretty obvious a few grains of sand moved. It was 100% a sure thing they needed to apply a two stroke penalty. At the time there were only two damn players on the course and they could have called a 10 minute delay and fully resolved it and then informed the players and resumed play with both players knowing the score. But, no, they handled it like golf officials always do, by fumble ******* around with millions of people watching and going WTF. At least they informed the gals before the round was actually over but it wasn't even a hard call, it was a no brainier, so I give them only partial credit for not be total ****s.
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Agreed. That organization is a cluster **** . And then to call Brittany the wrong name 3 times during the presentation. How embarrassing.
 
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