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Seeking6

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1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

Haha. Past history always catches up. Same thing happened to Rory on 18 but not much there. With that said....I'd never touch a golf ball. Ever. While in play. 

As a golf coach and someone who knows the rules really well, they both took the correct steps on their drop, but there's a big difference between the 2 situations. Rory's ball was actually plugged (came out today that someone accidentally stepped on it), and Reed's ball wasn't. Zero chance it was plugged on the 2nd bounce in grass that tall.

He picked his ball up right away, started poking at the ground, and then called the rules official over. Could have been that he didn't notice it didn't plug until after he picked it up and was feeling the ground to see. Was it illegal? Nobody but Reed knows that, but the optics were terrible.

I don't even have an issue with him picking it up. If it turns out it wasn't plugged, he could have put it back without penalty. The picking it up really easily and poking at the ground is what got me.

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4 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

As a golf coach and someone who knows the rules really well, they both took the correct steps on their drop, but there's a big difference between the 2 situations. Rory's ball was actually plugged (came out today that someone accidentally stepped on it), and Reed's ball wasn't. Zero chance it was plugged on the 2nd bounce in grass that tall.

He picked his ball up right away, started poking at the ground, and then called the rules official over. Could have been that he didn't notice it didn't plug until after he picked it up and was feeling the ground to see. Was it illegal? Nobody but Reed knows that, but the optics were terrible.

I don't even have an issue with him picking it up. If it turns out it wasn't plugged, he could have put it back without penalty. The picking it up really easily and poking at the ground is what got me.

All day long. I remember playing at Sectional Finals in high school. Kellogg course in Peoria iirc....but it was October and we played in snow/sleet/rain. We played clean and place. I still asked the guys I was playing with the first 7-8 holes if it was ok. Some stuff never happens on a golf course. One of them is touching your ball. 

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15 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

All day long. I remember playing at Sectional Finals in high school. Kellogg course in Peoria iirc....but it was October and we played in snow/sleet/rain. We played clean and place. I still asked the guys I was playing with the first 7-8 holes if it was ok. Some stuff never happens on a golf course. One of them is touching your ball. 

Definitely keep your hands off your balls!

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3 hours ago, 5fouls said:

No.  They are not talking about Covid-related precautions.  Rather, a tool to determine yardage from teh flagstick.

PGA of America to allow distance-measuring devices at its three majors for first time (espn.com)

Finally. The caddies are good enough and have enough information that they're usually pretty accurate. Making them take time to get a distance instead of using technology that's been around for years hasn't made sense to me. Glad to see that some majors will start using them.

We use them for high school golf, and it makes things so easy. Takes about 5 seconds to get a distance.

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36 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

Finally. The caddies are good enough and have enough information that they're usually pretty accurate. Making them take time to get a distance instead of using technology that's been around for years hasn't made sense to me. Glad to see that some majors will start using them.

We use them for high school golf, and it makes things so easy. Takes about 5 seconds to get a distance.

So is the PGA going to go the way of NASCAR taking away the intangibals that made it entertaining? What's next Roombas running all over the course mapping the lay of the grass, the thicknees and texture of the grass, the moisture content and so many others? Let the caddies and players ability to understand the course be a part of the game!

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4 hours ago, 5fouls said:

No.  They are not talking about Covid-related precautions.  Rather, a tool to determine yardage from teh flagstick.

PGA of America to allow distance-measuring devices at its three majors for first time (espn.com)

Embarrassing. If this is the plan to speed up play this isn't the route. Still going to need front/carry/layup numbers which will be dissected by caddy and player....and of course at certain tracks exactly the place where to miss. 

If the goal here is to speed up play it begins and ends with enforcing penalties. 

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4 minutes ago, Drroogh said:

So is the PGA going to go the way of NASCAR taking away the intangibals that made it entertaining? What's next Roombas running all over the course mapping the lay of the grass, the thicknees and texture of the grass, the moisture content and so many others? Let the caddies and players ability to understand the course be a part of the game!

I get the idea of why people might not be behind this, but I think there's enough information available to caddies that they pretty much all get the same distance anyways. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think this will make much of a difference in game play. 

NASCAR must have made changes to make it less interesting before I was born haha.

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10 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Embarrassing. If this is the plan to speed up play this isn't the route. Still going to need front/carry/layup numbers which will be dissected by caddy and player....and of course at certain tracks exactly the place where to miss. 

If the goal here is to speed up play it begins and ends with enforcing penalties. 

I agree with you about penalties, but I don't see how this wouldn't speed play up at least a little. There are definitely times when they'll need yardage books and to calculate things like you mentioned, but time can definitely be saved with a distance finder.

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3 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

I agree with you about penalties, but I don't see how this wouldn't speed play up at least a little. There are definitely times when they'll need yardage books and to calculate things like you mentioned, but time can definitely be saved with a distance finder.

We'll see I guess....but anyone that's played understands wind, green speed, pins on slope,etc...I think some of the folks might actually start dissecting the distances more.

I can tell you one group that isn't happy today. Caddies. Why pay the % if I can just whip out my little finder. Of course on the flip side Matt Kuchar is probably happy. Justifies lower caddy wages. Haha.

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Just now, Leathernecks said:

I get the idea of why people might not be behind this, but I think there's enough information available to caddies that they pretty much all get the same distance anyways. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think this will make much of a difference in game play. 

NASCAR must have made changes to make it less interesting before I was born haha.

I whish I could find the video, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. There was an ESPN interview of coach Knight and Coach K reminising on their past history. Towards the end the interveiwer asked " Is there anthying about todays game that you like better than what you remeber?"

Dead silence!

Finally Coach Knight spoke up and said "The silence is telling isn't it. Today's game is about Athletes playing basketball instead of Basketball players playing basketball"

As a coach, I'm sure you don't see the problem. As a spectator, let the intangibles be part of the sport, it's more entertaining!

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Just now, Drroogh said:

I whish I could find the video, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. There was an ESPN interview of coach Knight and Coach K reminising on their past history. Towards the end the interveiwer asked " Is there anthying about todays game that you like better than what you remeber?"

Dead silence!

Finally Coach Knight spoke up and said "The silence is telling isn't it. Today's game is about Athletes playing basketball instead of Basketball players playing basketball"

As a coach, I'm sure you don't see the problem. As a spectator, let the intangibles be part of the sport, it's more entertaining!

We'll have to agree to disagree. Don't think this makes a bit of difference in the game.

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5 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

We'll see I guess....but anyone that's played understands wind, green speed, pins on slope,etc...I think some of the folks might actually start dissecting the distances more.

I can tell you one group that isn't happy today. Caddies. Why pay the % if I can just whip out my little finder. Of course on the flip side Matt Kuchar is probably happy. Justifies lower caddy wages. Haha.

I know one thing, Steve Stricker isn't going to argue about caddies making less money haha.

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13 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Embarrassing. If this is the plan to speed up play this isn't the route. Still going to need front/carry/layup numbers which will be dissected by caddy and player....and of course at certain tracks exactly the place where to miss. 

If the goal here is to speed up play it begins and ends with enforcing penalties. 

I disagree. I was a caddie for a long time and did thousands of rounds. This 100% speeds up the game. Front/Carry/Layup numbers which you mentioned will all be able to be calculated from the yardage "measuring device" for the most part. Will some players still walk off yardages, of course, that's what good players do.

Caddies calculate all yardages, slopes, where to miss, green speeds, green undulation, etc in the practice rounds leading up to the tournament. They have all the distances to where the pin is dialed in before round 1 on Thursday even starts. For example: the caddie will already know the pin is 15 paces from the front of the green on hole 1 before the round even begins. Being able to laser the yardage as soon as you get to the ball will help drastically. A simple calculation will be the only thing that needs to be done once they get the yardage from the measuring device.

IMO this is nothing other than a positive for the PGA.

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11 minutes ago, RoadToZion said:

I disagree. I was a caddie for a long time and did thousands of rounds. This 100% speeds up the game. Front/Carry/Layup numbers which you mentioned will all be able to be calculated from the yardage "measuring device" for the most part. Will some players still walk off yardages, of course, that's what good players do.

Caddies calculate all yardages, slopes, where to miss, green speeds, green undulation, etc in the practice rounds leading up to the tournament. They have all the distances to where the pin is dialed in before round 1 on Thursday even starts. For example: the caddie will already know the pin is 15 paces from the front of the green on hole 1 before the round even begins. Being able to laser the yardage as soon as you get to the ball will help drastically. A simple calculation will be the only thing that needs to be done once they get the yardage from the measuring device.

IMO this is nothing other than a positive for the PGA.

Understand. Was talking with a few more people last night who have similar sentiments to you and Leather in this thread. Starting to come around on it since I originally posted. If the goal is to help speed up play and they think this will do it...all for it.

I'm still of the opinion they just start handing out penalties more. That will speed up some of the preshot routines...I mean it's painful to watch Spieth, Day, Bryson, Holmes and a few others.

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