The Pellucid Perspective - June 2017 - 9

RULES OF GOLF

'Ruling' on the future of golf
Changes welcome, but may be misguided
By Stuart Lindsay
"They don't pay me to play by the rules,
They pay me to win" - Pete Vuckovich

Rules, Thompson would have been able to fix the imperfection
in front of her ball. That has been used as a mitigating factor for
those who think the 4 stroke penalty imposed was too harsh. In
his probably should be a more famous sports quote, but it light of the fact that the difference between first and second was
was made in a corner tavern when a golfer had enough liq- about $154,400, even a one stroke penalty would have been siguid courage to ask this Cy Young award winning pitcher if nificant. That does not change the fact that if she moved the ball
he felt bad about having to use Vaseline instead of his God-given to avoid the imperfection in front of her ball, under the current
skills to get hitters out. Any of you who remember his portrayal Rules, she "cheated."
of Yankee slugger Clu Haywood in "Major League" realize that
In light of how much money is involved, it's actually amazPete is a somewhat menacing presence, but most of you don't ing that there aren't more situations that involve rules infractions.
know that his General Manager, Harry Dalton of the Brewers, Even though Phil Mickelson commented that rules infractions
tried to convince Pete to join him in Mensa, a group of really occur more than we may know, the PGA Tour is less than transsmart people.
parent about any disciplinary actions taken against players who
The quote was actually part of a much more humorous dis- have been observed breaking the Rules beyond what is caught by
cussion. One of the ways he avoided detection was to have the official observations or, up to now, TV fan involvement. In short,
Vaseline in first baseman Cecil Cooper's glove. This apparently if fellow competitors are reporting violations, fans remain generstumped the TV cameras and the umpires on the scene. In real- ally unaware of how many players might be throwing spitballs
ity, baseball pretty much winks at spitball pitches. The only price and if they are being punished.
Don Sutton paid for his doctoring skills
In the end, the most important fact
was being the one of the few 300 game
is that instances of rules violations are
Combined with the USGA's
winners denied Hall of Fame status in
comparatively rare. Cynics can argue
his first year of eligibility. Even the TV
that the threat of getting caught by
recently announced Rules
cameras couldn't totally avoid the obviyour fellow competitors is the major
simplification and intention to thing that keeps "cheating" in check,
ous presence of a nail file often stashed
in his back pocket. Long time umpire
change the handicap process, but the threat of a penalty that can cost
Bruce Froemming confirmed that the
6 figures is probably a bigger incentive
most serious golfers should
usual procedure for discovering a forto play within the Rules. Contrary to
eign substance or other "alteration" on realize that this is a watershed some other sports that wink at some
a ball was to throw it back to one of the
forms of cheating, golf is actually one
period that will most likely
ballboys and get on with the game.
sport that penalizes rule-breaking in a
Even though the NFL instant replay
real way - and on the professional tours,
have a major impact on the
reviews have probably improved the
an expensive one. However, even in golf,
foundation of the game.
overall quality of officiating and game
some people either think they won't get
outcomes, there are a limited number
caught or being reported by a fellow
of reviewable plays and penalty calls are not subject to review. competitor only results in a discussion and closer observation by
Not surprisingly, NFL coaches spend time evaluating the offici- officials in the future. Again, the PGA Tour may be protecting
ating tendencies of different crews in order to adjust their play- its image, but when players imply there's more rule breaking goers' techniques based on how much contact or holding a specific ing on than we realize and we don't hear about any disciplinary
crew might be willing to overlook. It should also be noted that actions, whether there's some winking going on becomes a real
instant replay is now extensively used to establish levels of fines question.
for safety-related penalties.
You only have to look at Major League Baseball and the NFL's
Now the Lexi Thompson debacle has created yet another fire- initial blind eye approach to the use of PEDs for an example of
storm over the way the Rules of Golf are applied. Combined with how sweeping a problem under the rug doesn't work. Then there
the USGA's recently announced Rules simplification and inten- is the dilemma of whether Roger Clemens was only responding
tion to change the handicap process, most serious golfers should to the fact that he had to pitch to Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire
realize that this is a watershed period that will most likely have a and Barry Bonds. At least Don Sutton is in the Hall of Fame.
major impact on the foundation of the game.
To provide some perspective, it might be instructive to refer
Adding to the current confusion, under the proposed new to the recent survey done for Golf Magazine by Jon Last's Sports

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