Five Families To Rules Geeks: Stop Calling, We've Got This

It took emergency meetings at The Masters, all sorts of embarrassment and even more meetings, but apparently the Five Families have agreed to no longer take rules infraction calls. Whether this means a replay center will be created or merely a lot of golf watching will take place between a rotating set of officials, the USGA, PGA Tour, PGA of America and R&A say stop calling them!

Martin Kaufmann, writing for Golfweek.com with the details:

The governing bodies – in conjunction with the PGA Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and PGA of America – agreed to assign at least one rules official to monitor all tournament telecasts and resolve any rules issues.

“The message is, have confidence in those conducting the event that if you’ve seen it, they’ve seen it, and there’s no need for anyone to call in what they think they have seen,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of the Rules of Golf and amateur status.

From what I'm hearing on Morning Drive appearance by the USGA's Thomas Pagel and the R&A's David Rickman, the video reviews will largely be off of the telecast and will vary week to week depending on the tour's in question.

They also stated replay inquiries can occur within the tournament for any round, meaning they might come back the next day and review something with a player. However, this would seem to mean the video replay official missed something, prompting a review. That's not going to be pretty since most will assume a review a day or two after a round was prompted by social media or a viewer tip.

Not accepting fan video is the right move, but what if a Golf Channel crew shooting for highlights shows captures an HD view and angle that exonerates a player?

Also unclear: is The Masters on board?

Beth Ann Nichols considers what this means for Lexi Thompson and the redemption for her with this change, plus her reaction when informed yesterday.

The full press release:

Video Review Protocols Introduced for
Broadcasted Golf Events

USGA and The R&A to adopt Local Rule to eliminate scorecard penalty

FAR HILLS, N.J. USA and ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (December 11, 2017) -  A working group led by the USGA and The R&A has unanimously agreed to adopt a new set of protocols for video review when applying the Rules of Golf.

The group, consisting of the PGA TOUR, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and The PGA of America, as well as the governing bodies, will implement the following measures from January 1, 2018:

• Assign one or more officials to monitor the video broadcast of a competition to help identify and resolve Rules issues as they arise
• Discontinue any steps to facilitate or consider viewer call-ins as part of the Rules decision process

In addition, the USGA and The R&A have approved the adoption of a Local Rule, available from January 1, to eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the score card when the player was unaware of the penalty. All of the organizations represented on the working group will introduce the Local Rule for 2018, and this score card penalty will be permanently removed when the modernized Rules of Golf take effect on January 1, 2019.

The USGA and The R&A established the video review working group in April to initiate a collaborative discussion on the role video footage can play when applying the Rules, including the challenges and benefits of its use and also the issues that arise from viewer call-ins. 

“The level of collaboration with our partners has been both vital and gratifying as we look to the future,” said Thomas Pagel, USGA senior director of the Rules of Golf and Amateur Status. “As technology has continued to evolve, it has allowed us to evolve how we operate, as well.” [To watch an interview on usga.org with Pagel on Video Review, plus a copy of the protocols and full Local Rule, click here]

David Rickman, Executive Director – Governance at The R&A, said, “This has clearly become an important issue in the sport that we felt we should address at this stage ahead of the implementation of the updated Rules of Golf in 2019.

“We have concluded that whilst players should continue to be penalized for all breaches of the Rules during a competition, including any that come to light after the score card is returned, an additional penalty for the score card error is not required.”

The new protocols also recognize the importance of limiting video review to material obtained from the committee’s broadcast partner. Other video, such as from an individual’s smartphone or camera, will not be used under these protocols.

The new protocols and Local Rule are the latest measures announced by the USGA and The R&A to address concerns related to video evidence. In April, Decision 34-3/10 was issued to limit the use of video through the introduction of a “reasonable judgement” standard and a “naked eye” standard.

Update on Monday, December 11, 2017 at 01:00 PM by Geoff

**Our conversation on Morning Drive centered around the scorecard and statute of limitations on a review, which is still an issue.

Comments

[BDF]

It is obvious that the current players do nothing to 'protect the field', lest they be labeled a jerk in the locker room. If they would at least know the rules they are supposed to be playing by, this would be unnecessary. Whether or not they are penalized or DQ'd by video evidence, the pictures will still be out there. The dumbing down of golf continues.

[BrianS]

- Overall, seems a positive development, but.. If you are on site watching a group that is not on TV and you see a violation, can you report it to a rules official ?

[Paul]

Good points by first two posts.


Wow, for once, seems like the five fans (like that one) are finally getting it right.

[D. maculata]

Great post, BDF. We're asked to have confidence when the players won't do it? Never a more powerful statement recently than from Juli Inkster in the December Golf Digest: "I'm talking about actual fudging."

The second most powerful statement in the same issue, had to be Norman explaining his "nakedness" so we'll understand. My conclusion is Greg needs professional help or join a nudist colony. Either one will do but whatever he does, I'd advise steering clear of politics when believing women think you're hot.

[JS]

Sometimes common sense prevails.

Now if we could just get the players to understand that they will be better off by not pushing the edge in rules issues.

[metro18]

So what about a deliberate cheat?
Only the penalty applies and not the incorrect scorecard 2 shots.
There are some out there who may well take advantage of that one.
Nothing to lose now.

[Robopz]

100% get where they're coming from on this... BUT.... (and there's always a but isn't there?)

IMO adding the rules official in the booth is way overdue... they'll catch 95% or more of these things...

And the removal of the 2-stroke of the penalty for SC violation in a "unknowing" situation is fine...

But this NO call ins... and/or NO review of evidence from other sources except broadcast partners is an invitation to unintended consequences... Fans and other media with cameras and Twitter and other sources of discovering violations does NOT go away because of this change. There WILL be things discovered that weren't noticed by the review official or caught on the broadcast...

When some guy/gal wins a major when everyone knows he/she violated a rule that wasn't penalized... all hell is gonna break lose. and it WILL happen sooner or later... you can bet on it.

[BrianS]

It will be interesting how much they dive into the TV coverage. Do they just look at the "main" coverage, how about adjunct video "streams" or whatever - featured group, PGA Tour live, and so forth. The networks roll tape during the events, much is not shown on TV other than highlight packages "Earlier Today" and that sort of thing. They do give themselves some wiggle room in terms of correcting things during the event, but you do have the oddity of the fact that after the final round is over, no more reviews, essentially giving less time to review Sunday issues. On the other hand, by Sunday, the leaders are identified, they are mostly covered.

But the optics of the "viewer call in" were just so bad, especially the for some reason common narrative "some guy on his couch", that it had to be stopped. All sports have missed calls or things that in retrospect turn out to be not correct, Golf will just have to deal with it.

[Bud]

How to reduce the embarrassing rules violations? Just stop looking for them....

[Robopz]

Brian S....

Re the on course situation, the new guidelines still include "credible source" options to discover penalties...
"When facts need to be decided in applying the Rules of Golf, players, referees and the Committee in charge of the competition will continue to consider information from any credible source, including:
Witnesses on the course, such as other players, caddies, referees, marshals and spectators, and
• Video of the competition that is produced by the broadcast partner.

metro18... The rules still allow for DQ of the intentional cheat, that is if you know he intentionally cheated (which is the same it's always been)

[Pepper Dan]

Geoff, you need to to get a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style to learn how to make singular plural.
(Hint- no apostrophe needed.)
Seriously!

[Zokol]

Definitely a good move by the USGA and R&A certainly, but I fail to see how it will change the most important factor in these rules breaches, the issue that some of these professionals are not able to follow the game’s most fundamental rule of playing the ball where it lies in the first place.

Now the golf ball please…

[Robopz]

The new "no call in rule" goes a little deeper than the bullet points that are being discussed so far... in the "protocols" under which committees are supposed to implement this new rule . In the protocols given to committees (found in the links Geoff provided above) there are some safeguards that I'm glad to see:

1. Information still CAN be brought forward from other "credible" sources as per the following:
• Witnesses on the course, such as other players, caddies, referees, marshals and spectators, and
• Video of the competition that is produced by the broadcast partner."

2. Video evidence is NOT necessarily limited to just broadcast partners... the new guidelines leave "wiggle room" to consider video from another credible source... in the last 2 paragraphs of the above linked protocols there is this...

"In addition, video that is brought to the Committee from a source other than the broadcast partner will not be accepted as “evidence” unless the Committee is convinced of its reliability.

In particular, this means that video from an individual’s camera, smartphone or similar device will not be used. "

[metro18]

Roboz.
The deliberate cheat is a tough one to call and those who do are pretty damn good at it.
No repercussions now - so the door is well and truly open.

[Thinking Out Loud]

BDF +1

As for the Beth Ann Nichols piece... I normally enjoy her thoughtful perspective but this overarching, slurping defense of Lexi Thompson has to stop. Lexi cheated and got caught. End of story. Lexi is a cheater and now has the blessings of the “governing bodies” to continue to cheat.

[FC]

No call-ins or player collusion. Play away, please.

[Griffin]

So if the official assigned to the broadcast gets a call/text from his buddy the former rules official he will not consider that at all?

[Don]

The notion that regular viewers call in sounds absurd to me. It’s all other rules officials. Nobody else has these peoples numbers.

[Rgw]

This is a horrible decision.

[Evan Pur]

Finally!

[Tighthead]

What would constitute redemption for Lexi and why does she deserve it?

At best, she marked her ball like a chop.

[Grant]

Just think. It took a flagrant violation to bring this about this common sense solution. And, she became a hero in the eyes of many. Hopefully, everyone learned, including all Tour pros.

[Oliver]

Can't wait for the first controversial major winner where evidence was overlooked or ignored

[Zokol]

@Grant,
Well said.

[mark]

My and another golf pro witnessed and improper drop during the Sunshine tour event that the golf channel was broadcasting. I know the other golf pros in the group were watching him and they did not say a word. I joked to my buddy that I should call in, but decided that another bloddy was a better move. If the pros would just learn the rules we would not have this problem.

[GG]

BDF is right on. Have lost respect for professional golf. When was the last time one of them called a rule on another?

[Schlasser]

I'm taking a wait-and-see position until I see how it actually works but I'm very happy to hear they're eliminating viewer call-ins.

[ol Harv]

“The message is, have confidence in those conducting the event that if you’ve seen it, they’ve seen it, and there’s no need for anyone to call in what they think they have seen,”

Guess I'm in the minority here but that sounds a lot like "trust us" and we've all seen where that attitude has led in all walks of life. I personally don't like it. And Don, I've been saying that for years, if any "common folk" think they can just call in during a major championship or a PGA Tour event they are very naive. All of the call-ins are from people who can go to their cell phone, search their contacts, and reach an official on site.

[Hawkeye]

Careful, Pepper Dan, I got blocked for a year after a snarky remark about that...

[Griffin]

Don, ol Harv,

That's my question. So when Rusty RulesOfficial is monitoring the broadcast and he gets a text from his buddy former rules official named, say, David Meger will he just ignore this info or will he check it out and how is that any different than where we have been.

[Tighthead]

Is it just me or without the scorecard penalty, the incentive for a player to self-police is reduced?

If I do something iffy, I might as well just play on. The worst that can happen is somebody catches me and assesses the penalty I’ve incurred.

[D. maculata]

So what does the comment from Lexi 12/11/17,12:15 pm (GC website) tell us about her?

[Tighthead]

Griffin -now they can say “our rules official caught the infraction” and the optics are better even though the practice is the same. Deadspin and the non golf media who don’t understand the player’s responsibility for his/her scorecard won’t write articles about guys calling in from their basements.

[Carl Peterson]

"Is it just me..."

No, Tighthead, it's not just you.

[Thinking Out Loud]

Bravo Carl Peterson

D. maculata - it tells us what she’s always told us. She was the victim in this situation and golf writers (Nichols, Sirak, many others) agree with her. But she was not a victim, she was a culprit. She breached the rules on purpose (cheated) and got caught. Sadly she stated playing the “woe is me” card immediately and clearly hasn’t stopped.

[Kevin part deux]

@Tighthead - agree...it formerly was like taxes. If you get audited and owe money, you not only pay the tax liability, but also penalties and interest (and worse, if the shortfall rises to a criminal level), So there is a "cost" and risk of under-reporting income. Now with no extra penalty for a retroactive penalty for a rules violation, there is a risk that some dishonorable player will look at is as a "free option" to get away with something.

[rgw]

On the remote chance that I'm watching closely enough to see something untoward, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit on my hands and not do anything. To "committees" everywhere, my message is simple: It's not my responsibility to ensure a fair playing field. It's yours.

[John]

With pro golfers aggressively asserting their right to cheat (backstopping), I can't understand why they deserve any benefit of the doubt.

This generation of players and officials has trashed golf's reputation for integrity, and the sport won't recover. Such a shame.

[D. maculata]

Agree, TOL. Pulling the victim card in her case was the only damage control scenario they had for her image. A fool's errand by anyone but Robin Hood when caught robbing the bank. Only she knows if she intentionally cheated. It looked like it to me but maybe in her mind, being sloppy and taking liberties with the RoG didn't meet the threshold of a breach if your playing partners never call you on it? Don is right. This isn't Joe 6-pack calling in. It's people they can't ignore without appearing complicit in allowing it.

[KLG]

I'm reminded of an incident DLIII wrote about in his book (been a while, so I have probably garbled some of the detail). He was playing with Tom Watson, and later could not remember if he moved his mark back on a putt. His caddie was raking, or something, and didn't know. Watson didn't notice. Watson's caddie didn't notice. So rather than wing it, knowing that he might have played the ball from a wrong position and didn't call himself on it, he either withdrew or DQ'd himself. That was playing the Game as it was meant to be.