Stacy Lewis Pushing For Firmer, Faster LPGA Courses

In another I'll file under "how far pros have come" in the last five years, it was fun to see Stacy Lewis yearning for firmer, faster conditions and not just declaring today's players superior to their predecessors.

I could do without her love of rough, but two out of three is still amazing.

And it's her reasoning that may be the best part. Randall Mell reports for GolfChannel.com from Mission Hills as the ANA Inspiration is about to begin:

Three of the year’s first tournaments were won with 72-hole record scores. The average winning score this year is 20 under par. The LPGA’s last major, the Evian Championship, was won by In Gee Chun at 21 under, the lowest score by a man or woman in major championship history.

“I definitely think play has gotten better, but I’ve also noticed over the last year and a half that our golf courses have gotten a lot softer,” Lewis said. “Softer golf courses mean you don’t have to think as much. You can be more aggressive and you can go at pins. There’s not as much penalty for a bad shot.

New Golf Rules: A Closer Look At Changes Related To Bunkers

I'll leave some of the proposed Rules of Golf changes to the wonks to dissect after they are unveiled, but from an architecture and course setup perspective, I'm fascinated by the change of approach to bunkers.

Here is what is outlined in the proposal:

•    Relaxed restrictions on touching the sand with your hand or club when your ball is in a bunker: You are now prohibited only from touching the sand (1) with your hand or club to test the condition of the bunker or (2) with your club in the area right behind or in front of the ball, in making a practice swing or in making the backswing for your stroke.

We all know this is a response to multiple video replay issues where the club could be seen touching the sand and the player was prosecuted for an inadvertent mistake. No one will miss those days.

•    New unplayable ball relief option: For two penalty strokes, you may take relief outside the bunker by dropping a ball back on a line from the hole through where your ball was at rest in the bunker.

I haven't a clue what this unplayable option does to improve the game other than speed things up on a golf course with quicksand bunkers, so let's ignore that one.

•    Removal of special restrictions on moving loose impediments: There is no longer a penalty if you touch or move loose impediments in a bunker.

"Play it as it lies" is a principle of importance since it was a bedrock of the original rules. Rules, Decisions and other changes in the game have dented the meaning of playing it as it lies in a sport that originally resonated because it was nature-based. So will this new language make bunkers more or less hazardous and more or less maintained.

I'm hoping more hazardous and less maintained.

We all hate rocks in bunkers and what they do to a pretty new wedge. And perhaps with a loose impediment rule the governing bodies are actually applying reverse psychology here by saying to courses you don't need to spend so much time on making bunkers perfect, rock-free sanctuaries for recovery.

Yet I can't help but think that given the freedom to fidget with the playing surface, modern players will continue to see bunkers as a sacred place where all golfers are entitled to a recovery and pristine lie at all times. Or, play it as I want it to lie.

Yuck!

We shall see...

Cypress Point Hosting...A College Golf Tournament Again

Golfweek's Brentley Romine explains the format and how it came to be that Stanford is hosting a college golf tournament at the ultra-exclusive Cypress Point.

Considering that most of elite clubs do not open their doors to tournaments and some actually sell memberships to universities, it's great to see Cypress Point opening its doors to college golf for the second time. Coupled with the higher-profile East Lake Cup, it's a nice week for college golf.

Social media posts from the teams has been pretty much non-existent, but this recent image shows the bunkers looking as great as they did in MacKenzie's day, with nice fringy fescue edges.

#throwback to a previous 10/30 and getting to play at the CPC. Here's a shot looking down #11.... #golf #instagolf #cpc #cypresspoint #17miledrive #pebblebeach #monterey #california #whyilovethisgame #golfdigest #landscape #beautifulgolfcourses #thegolfstagram #golfcoursephotos #golfcoursephotography #golfcoursearchitecture #nofilter

A photo posted by JB (@jbecker23_) on Oct 30, 2016 at 2:12pm PDT

Update on Monday, October 31, 2016 at 11:15 PM by Geoff

**Spoke too soon. Here's a fun shot from UCLA Coach Derek Freeman:

What an amazing day. @tylercollier95 almost with an ace on the 16th. @uclamensgolf @uclaathletics

A photo posted by @coachdfreeman on Oct 31, 2016 at 9:55pm PDT

Update on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 06:48 PM by Geoff

**A nice photo gallery from Matt Cohn can be viewed here.

No Win: Setting Up A Ryder Cup Course

Cara Robinson and I summed up the Justin Rose/course setup comments on Morning Drive today if you want the quick version.

However, the subject is worth delving into on multiple fronts:

A) how setup effects matches

B) the entertainment side

C) how hole locations are used to thwart distance

We knew from 2012 post-mortems that Team USA lamented a 17th hole pin placement that favored Europe. So this time around the task force Task Force "Task Force" 2016 Ryder Cup winning-TASK FORCE set parameters (low rough, fast greens) and left the rest to the PGA of America's Kerry Haigh.

While Hazeltine is strategically no Old Course, it was shocking Sunday to see almost no interesting hole locations. Nearly were all centered and whatever angles of importance there are at Hazeltine were rendered useless.

Rees Jones' par-3 17th features a strange, clumsily-constructed green complex with almost no character, only a few intriguing hole locations and zero interest if it were not set by a lake. Yet, somehow Sunday, the hole location induced zero risk-reward element in flirting with the water.

Justin Rose summed all of this up in his post-round comments:

Setup-wise, this course can be as tough as you want it to be, there's no doubt about it. I think today, I think if we were all to be honest about it, I thought the setup was incredibly weak. I thought it was very much a Pro-Am feel in terms of the pin placements. They were all middle of the green.

I don't quite understand that to be honest with you, world-class players, 12 world-class players here and 12 world-class players here in 30 minutes time, and we want to showcase our skills. We want to be tested. For example, the water holes out there, all the pins were as far away from the water as possible.

I mean, the pin on 17 is an absolute, you know, a joke. It's a 9-iron into the middle of the green and you stiff it. So with a match on the line, you kind of feel like you want to have something -- you want a player to step up a little bit more than they have to.

Even 18, if you hit a good drive down there, you've got a wedge into the green, and if you hit a wedge to the middle of the green, you're within 12-foot of the pin. So I just felt coming down the stretch, it was a little soft.

Some saw this as sour grapes, but Rose seemed to be speaking as a veteran of match play who understands what kind of dynamics might be introduced when the course is a third element.

Rory McIlroy is quoted by GolfDigest.com's Brian Wacker as lamenting the hole locations when combined with this week's low rough, but McIlroy also ultimately chalks up the situation to home field advantage.

“Bad tee shots weren’t getting punished as much as maybe they should have been."

Rickie Fowler, who beat Rose Sunday, defended the setup when asked.

Q. In the European presser a few minutes ago, Justin Rose said that he -- he was very critical of the setup. He said it was weak and considered it to be similar to a Pro-Am. Your thoughts on that? Did you sense that from him? What were your thoughts on the setup?

PHIL MICKELSON: (Laughing).

RICKIE FOWLER: The setup was, I don't think it was easy by any means. Him and I didn't play as well as we would have liked to. We didn't make many birdies on both sides. I felt like it was an even match between the two of us. Obviously, as you could see, no one was ever more than 1-up.

It was easier for some; this guy next to me (turning to Phil) he made a few birdies. He's been playing well all week. I wouldn't say that the setup was easy, by any means.

I thought that the PGA did well all week, Kerry Haigh and the staff. Depending on whether it be a foursomes or a fourball match and then into singles, they did a good job preparing the golf course, getting it in the right condition and with where the hole locations were.

Obviously when it comes down to singles, it's fair. Everyone's playing the same ones. So I thought it was a good setup today and it worked out just fine for us.

And there is the Ryder Cup course setup conundrum. Whether it's the Golf Gods, karma or just simple overanalysis, getting cute with setup can be unproductive. Try to do too much--the USA has tried the high-rough, narrow fairway approach too--it backfires.

Erring on the side of too little means taking the setup role and some strategy out of the equation, which seems like a better way to go than trying to be clever.

On the entertainment front, players were allowed to make a ton of birdies, exciting for fans and interesting to watch on TV. This is, after all, an exhibition. We were entertained.  And unlike in a penal setup, players were winning holes through their play and rarely by the mistakes of their opponent. Easier and more shallow it may be, but also more rewarding to watch.

Finally, and this is in no way to detract from the 63s that Sergio and Phil would have posted in their 19-birdie battle Sunday, but we got to see with a round of golf featuring a bunch of "pro-am" pins on immaculate greens, today's players can render a course harmless. It was a reminder of just how much tucked hole locations are used not to offset distance gains.

So the Ryder Cup proved entertaining because we got to see what today's players could do on a once-massively difficult course without facing pin placements designed to prevent birdies.

Phil Thought East Lake Should Have Been Set Up Like Hazeltine

Can't say I liked the lost ball style rough at East Lake, but I can't see the logic in Phil Mickelson's post-Tour Championship thinking.

Bob Harig reports that Mickelson wanted the rough to be cut low to help the Ryder Cuppers prepare for Hazeltine National where, presumably Davis Love will go with the same low-cut-rough philosophy he advocated in 2012 when he captained.

"I'm going to point something out,'' Mickelson said, unprompted. "This is a great example of the disconnect that we have on the U.S. side because the [PGA] Tour doesn't own the Ryder Cup, or doesn't work in conjunction with the PGA of America.''

And he threw in this, which, while possibly true, also is a different situation given that the European Tour runs both its Ryder Cups in Europe and its own tournaments,

"The European Tour would never have the setup be so different the week before the Ryder Cup,'' Mickelson said. "If we were in Europe and they were going to set up the course a certain way, the week before they would set it up a certain way. We're not going to have rough like that."

And that's why the players have three practice rounds (at least) to adjust. Though I certainly understand Phil's view that the hack-out rough can be deflating and maybe even send a player away with less confidence. But the PGA Tour has to conduct its finale as it sees fit regardless of the Ryder Cup.

We don't know the rough height cut at Hazeltine, but super Chris Tritabaugh surely just left that out by accident!

For those wondering, these are our heights of cut for the week. #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/gPHSEpDdtq

— Chris Tritabaugh (@ct_turf) September 25, 2016

2016 PGA Round Two This And That: Lively Friday At Baltusrol

There was a bit of something for everyone Friday at Baltusrol: great golf from Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb (the 30th 63 in a major, writes Brian Wacker), a rules issue with Jordan Spieth that generated much discussion, an epic course setup gaffe, and no shortage of volatile play from other top names.

Adam Schupak on the leaders Walker and Streb.

Best of all, we have what appears to be the makings of a grand finish with most of the game's best in the battle, assuming the Sunday weather will cooperate.

Henrik Stenson is on fire, as he has been at other times in his career, Brian Wacker notes.

After a 65 in the worst conditions Friday, Patrick Reed has positioned himself nicely in a major, for a change, reports Joel Beall.

Alan Shipnuck goes a step further and says this is a potential breakthrough weekend for Reed.

Ryan Herrington talks exclusively with Colt Knost about the wrong hole location and shares the PGA of America's explanation.

“I called an official over and said, ‘What’s going on here?’” Knost detailed after his round. “And he said, ‘We messed up.’"

According to a release from the PGA of America, the Rules Committee realized the error after the players hit their second shots. Shortly after, officials handed out revised hole-location sheets to the group, and to all subsequent groups.

Knost took to Twitter after the round.

Dave Kindred on Jordan Spieth having a chance to salvage the season, especially with this being his last start of significance unless you consider the playoffs important.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek.com with all of the particulars on Spieth's ruling and possible violation that was determined not to be a violation.

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau says there was no rules issue. Nothing to see here, so move along. I think that was a little strong given what appeared to be a violation, but Babineau's explanation also does make sense given where we are with rulings.

Once his ball was back on the path free of the casual water, Spieth took his stance, addressed the ball as if he were to play it, and got the thumbs up to play on from Gregory – ahem, the expert rules official.

That’s all Spieth needed, though surely Mitch from Montauk and Sal from Summit soon were lighting up the phone lines once they saw one of Spieth’s spiffy Under Armour golf shoes hovering over a puddle.

Spieth assessed his situation, facing 190 yards with some trees in front to negotiate, then elected to play in a slightly different direction than he originally planned – something he totally was within the rules to do. In fact, playing in a different direction is allowed under Rules of Golf Decision 20-2c/0.8.

The 7th hole turned things around for Jason Day, writes Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com.

Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News on Phil Mickelson’s triple bogey start plus other notes from a weird day that saw pre tournament favorite Dustin Johnson heading home early.

“I think in the history of the PGA Championship, that’s the worst start of any player’s round,” Mickelson said. “I don’t even know what to say. It was just a pure mental block.”

Alex Myers with the evidence of Phil's rough start, which was salvaged by several birdies and a made cut for the Baltusrol defending champion.

Rory McIlroy missed the cut and now, because he backed out of the Olympics has a lot of time off to rethink his putting issues, reports James Corrigan.

Once again it was McIlroy’s putter to blame, although, bizarrely, it was the same implement which appeared to have dug him out of the hole on the 17th. There were three missed five footers and for the second day running – and, yes, for the umpteenth time this season -  it was the shortest club in the bag which was letting down all the others.

Brently Romine with the Ryder Cup ramifications of the current leaderboard.

Round one ratings on TNT were down 30% from last year.

Note to those missing the cut: Zika virus has come to Florida. Hope those guys skipping the Olympics over the virus are not spending much time in Florida for a while!

Dottie: USGA, Stop Messing With U.S. Open Courses

Of course we all know the reason the USGA has to meddle, massage, tinker and push its U.S. Open venues to the brink. But it's enjoyable to see so many people becoming aware of why it's happening: they've lost control of distance and it's the last resort.

Dottie Pepper at ESPN.com lays out the various steps the organization has taken in recent years to emasculate venues, and she's seen enough.

If the new mantra is being "innovative," why not be truly innovative and stop messing with these courses? Move the tees back to the tips, let mother nature dictate the condition of play (we don't play golf in a dome after all) and let a four-day slugfest produce a winner.

People aren't glued to the World Series, NBA Finals or Super Bowl to watch the referees or hear the messaging about changes to the field of play and its sustainability. What's not sustainable is 150 plus superintendents keeping Oakmont in form for U.S. Open week.

What is the harm in checking our egos and messaging at the front door and simply letting the best players in the world showcase their talent to identify the champion?

Absolutely nothing.

And Then Henrik Said To Jordan: "Dumber than 18 at Chambers Bay as a par 4?"

It's not often the PGA Tour's finest are faced with a setup they deem to be excessive, but that's what happened at soggy and dreary East Lake Saturday.

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com recounts the conversation and criticism from leaders Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson of the 535-yard 5th hole.

“I was talking to Henrik [Stenson] walking to the sixth tee," said Spieth who leads Stenson by one through 54 holes. "I said, ‘That was not the right setup and that was a very dumb hole today.’”

“He goes, ‘Dumber than 18 at Chambers Bay as a par 4?’ And I said, ‘Yes. I believe so.’ I mean there was no chance.”

Old (Course) News: Pushing Green Speeds To The Brink

My Golf World column on the ramifications of Saturday's inability to present a playable Old Course in windy conditions will be out later, but in the meantime a few thoughts on the latest major championship course setup fiasco in the distance era.(Jim McCabe of Golfweek.com recounts what happened here and has many player quotes on what they experienced, filed before the R&A commented in the press center.)

We know we are headed for a Monday finish at St. Andrews only because the green speeds are too fast for the contours when the wind is up. Three straight majors with a play stoppage have established that a Stimpmeter speed of 10+ is too much here. Heck, the nearby Castle Course with its exposed position on a hill and featuring modern greens with massive contours was open.

As Paul Azinger and Dottie Pepper noted on air and on Twitter (and as documented by John Strege at GolfDigest.com), they've played in comparable or worse winds here FOR CENTURIES because greens were not this fast. Azinger nominated 9 on the Stimp as a reasonable enough speed and here's guessing that would work. Pepper reminded us that this is the third straight major that the Old Course has been misunderstood by those setting it up. She also pointed out the overall statement this makes about runaway modern green speeds.

Sadly, we've seen this movie before: governing bodies willing to take things up to the edge in a peculiar and perhaps subconsciously self-destructive effort to hold the line on difficulty via trickery. In this case, trying to maintain certain green speeds on a course overwhelmed by modern distances, grooves and made easier by the impeccable conditioning by the maintenance team. Now we face a Monday finish and questions about the integrity of the championship because of risk-taking over a measely a foot of speed on the Stimpmeter (and to a lesser extent meeting the modern expectations of players who'd howl at the prospect of playing greens mown every other day).

One would hope the latest fiasco expedites and crystallizes two ongoing debates: the push for fast greens and the notion of regulating distance (as we do now), just not enough to impact elite players in a way that allows places like the Old Course to not be compromised.

For some context on green speed, check out Jerry Tarde's column from October 2013 on the evolution of documented speeds in America (suggested by reader Joe Ogilvie) and note Sir Michael Bonallack's resistance to knowing Stimpmeter speeds.

That's in contrast to his predecessor, R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson, who knows exactly what the green speeds were today at St. Andrews.

Q. What is the stimpmetre reading for the Old Course for The Open Championship?

PETER DAWSON: Well, we've been targeting between 10 and 10-foot-6, and we were achieving that every day, but we have kept the 11th green about six inches slower than those readings, and we've been consistently able to achieve that each morning.

To nitpick: Dawson recently justified the rebuilding of the hollowed 11th hole ground as able to handle play in high winds and because he didn't want to treat it differently in a championship. But in light of that revelation and more proof that the 10 to 10-foot-6 Stimpmeter range may be too much for these greens, I asked if he might reconsider the peak number.

Q. You said the 11th green a few weeks before the tournament is now puttable in high winds with the changes you've made. You've also said today that the green speed is on that green treated differently. Might you be willing to reconsider what you feel is the championship green speed that you discussed earlier? Is that something that would seem reasonable in light of what's happened?

PETER DAWSON: Well, I think for the vast majority of days here, if we went down to a green speed of something say -- pick a number, nine feet, and we played The Open Championship here, I think most people would think the greens were far too slow, to be honest with you. So it's a balance. 10 to 10-foot-6 is an appropriate green speed at St. Andrews in the vast majority of days. We've had a very difficult day today. The slope on the green at 11 is not directly connected with that. That's connected with slope as opposed to wind speed, and I still think what we did there was perfectly appropriate.

To recap: historic Eden green is changed to handle high wind days and so that it can be treated the same as the other days.

Reality: the changed green could not handle the high wind day if was compromised for and was treated differently anyway.

But more vital than this revelation of architectural ineptitude is the obvious absurdity of tainting a championship in the name of not taking real action on the distance scourge that keeps rearing its head in deflating ways.

Even the Chief Inspector wishes the play that took place for a half hour Saturday at St Andrews could be wiped from the record books, an acknowledgement that this championship may have been compromised by the committee's actions:

PETER DAWSON: Well, I wish we could. Rules of golf do allow you to wipe out a full round, but sadly not part of a round, and it's something that maybe the rules committee would like to look at for the future, but the rules of golf do not cater for that at this time.

First things first. Let's revisit the Overall Distance Standard driving the push for faster greens.

Update on Sunday, July 19, 2015 at 01:40 AM by Geoff

**Scott Hend launched the most pointed attack on the R&A ("absolute disgrace"). Mark Hayes reports that hes's not buying the small wind increase cited by the Chief Inspector.

"They want to come out with a diatribe that the wind picked up 10-15 per cent once they blew the horn, but that’s absolutely ridiculous. We were out there and told them it was no good. I make double-bogey on the one hole that I play and I miss the cut by two shots.

Hend said the players in his group had told the walking rules official that it was unfair.

"We kept saying to our rules guy that this is not fair and we shouldn’t be playing.

We get to the ninth tee and he finally said to us, `Hold up fellas, there’s going to be a back-up on the 10th tee’, so we stood and waited. He got a message from his boss in charge of the rules who said something like, `Why is your group not playing nine, make ‘em hit’.

“It was an absolute shambles and didn’t seem like anyone knew what was going on – it was very unprofessional. By which time, I’d already made a double. My ball landed on the front of the (par-three eighth) green and ran all the way to the back of the green."

Flashback Reads: Another Play Stoppage At A St Andrews Major

As we wait out a wind delay at the Old Course, where golf can no longer be played on a traditional gusty day due to modern green speeds, it's worth going back to read about the last two major championship delays here.

(Paul Newberry's AP story posted at GolfDigest.com is updating as news warrants, while Ian Poulter's updates are more entertaining).

Play was suspended at the 2013 Ricoh Women’s British Open when winds gusted to 38 miles per hour where "balls were moving on the greens, with the 10th green particularly affected." You can check out the post here that includes reporting from Alistair Tait on the green speeds then:

The LGU had already prepared for the strong winds by not cutting the greens as close as the previous day. “The 11th green wasn’t cut,” she said. “The greens were 9.4 on the stimpmeter as opposed to 10 the day before. They were really quite sticky.”

At the 2010 Open when play was suspended just as Tiger was to tee off, players vented that there was a Tiger-bias in the decision. From Lawrence Donegan's Guardian report:

The world No1 had not completed the first hole before he and his playing  partners were shepherded back to the clubhouse. Play restarted just over an hour later despite, according to several players, little apparent improvement in the conditions. Andrew Coltart, who was on the 6th when he and his playing partners were hauled off, said the delay had been "pointless".

With winds gusting up to 40mph, making it almost impossible to putt  on the more exposed of the Old Course's greens, the decision was taken to suspend play, provoking strong dissent among the players. Some argued the move had come too late, others suggested it was unnecessary and one, Martin Kaymer, hinted there may have been other motives. "Zach Johnson and myself had asked officials to stop play earlier," the German said. "On the 12th and 13th greens the ball was moving for us. Maybe they were protecting the better ones who were playing later.”

Jason Dufner, then just an emerging talent, had to take to an internet message board after he complained about what turned out to be a dodgy situation.

Most of the other observations then suggest why we are in for a cautious approach today: the conditions were not discernably different from the time of the delay to the restart. A couple of posts here and here with my comments and links to other stories.

And finally, we have R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson's recent remarks to Scotland on Sunday's John Huggan where he said the rebuilt 11th green could withstand windy championship days like this one.

“This is the only change we have made in order to get more pin positions. Some might say we could just have slowed the green – you for example – but I am of the philosophy that if the players are enjoying the course we will have a good Open and if they are not, we  don’t. This green would have to run at six or seven on the Stimpmeter to make it work as it was before. I think that might have attracted some hostile reaction from players and media.

“What we have now is a green that will still be puttable in a high wind, which it wasn’t before."

Green Speeds And Pace Of Play, Gullane Edition

Out watching Scottish Open opening day play, an odd thing happened: players routinely putted out 3-4 footers. The overall pace seemed brisk, but relaxed.

Case in point: the group of Fowler, Donaldson and Poulter were at the 17th green. Both Donaldson and Fowler hit mediocre first putts, leaving 3-4 footers for par. Both briefly marked their ball, repositioned for alignment, then putted out.

This is hardly unique in the annals of golf, particularly on links. Except that such putting-out rarely happens any more due to professional event green speeds consistently in the Stimpmeter 12-foot range.

The green speeds at Gullane for round one? According to the European Tour course setup "table": 10 feet, 3 inches.

The "time par" for day one threesomes at Gullane was 4:20. That's about what it took the faster twosomes to get around Chambers Bay this year.

According to the European Tour's charts of player pace for round one, groups played in the 4:28 to 4:48 pace, with the final two threesomes of the day taking a very respectable 4:48. And that's with a few long walks between greens and tees, along with enough breeze to make things interesting (and some rough too).

The moral of the story? Green speeds impact pace of play, not to mention what they do for maintenance cost and architectural integrity.

Setup Run Amok Files: NCAA Women's Finals At Concession

As the NCAA Women's Golf Championship prepares to whittle its field from stroke play to the match play finalists (and gets Golf Channel coverage Monday-Wednesday), Ryan Lavner assesses a course setup that appears to have gotten out of hand. (17 of the 24 teams posted their worst 18-hole score of the year.)

Yes, most of the top teams will advance to match play, but in recent years the NCAA's have suffered from questionable setups (Prairie Dunes bathed in rough for the men last year) and the women facing what sounds like an excessive test at Concession has many worried about what we'll see on TV.

Women’s college golf hasn’t been on national television in years, and everyone hopes to make a good impression when the cameras start rolling for real Monday afternoon. That’s problematic now, Washington coach Mary Lou Mulflur says, because “people will see teams 40 over par in the mix, and it doesn’t make us look very good.”

“This setup is the most difficult I’ve been on,” Alabama coach Mic Potter said. “And I don’t think that’s a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t hurt the perception of our sport.”