Farmers Insurance Open - Rules Question

General Discussion
#1

At the recent 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines I witnessed a couple of things that I question.

  1. On the 3rd day (Friday) on Hole 16, Keegan Bradley hit a nice shot about 6-7 ft from the pin. As he marks his ball he spits off to the side. He spits like he had a chew in his cheek. He preceded to continue spitting as he looked at his putt. I thought that was contrary to etiquette.
  2. I did not know this guy but as he and his caddy were on the green looking over his putt the caddy walked over and used a club to estimate the slope by laying it across the hole. I didn’t think that was allowed.
  3. A young guy hit his approach shot on to the green and then marked and picked up his ball and put in in his LEFT pocket. When turn to putt he pulled a ball from his RIGHT pocket. Again I thought you played the ball used on the approach.

So what are the rules??

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#2
  1. This isn’t a Rules of Golf issue. Its possible the PGA Tour has some kind of standards, but probably not.
  2. Have you checked the Rules here? 4.3a(1) says you cannot measure elevation changes, but it doesn’t sound like he measured anything. 10.2b(3) says you cannot set down an object to “help with aiming or to help in taking a stance for the stroke to be made”, but this doesn’t seem to fit either. I can’t find a rule to disallow laying a club down to help estimate the slope.
  3. You’re right, you’re required to use the same ball, with very limited exceptions. You’d have to see the entire sequence to be sure the player didn’t do that. In almost every situation, a player will mark and lift his ball from the green, and give the ball to his caddie to be cleaned before he replaces it. This player might use a system, “dirty” balls in the left pocket, clean balls received from the caddie go in the right pocket.
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#3

Thanks for the reply. I was surprised by Keegan’s constant spitting while on the green. It was obviously a nervous habit. I was always told it was bad form.

But I had never seen anyone ever lay club on the ground to use as a putting aid.
I appreciate your response.

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#4

Personally, I don’t think its much of an aid. But what do I know, I’m certainly not playing at a high level.

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#5

I should add to this, Clarification 4.3a(1)/1 talks about some things you are NOT allowed to do to gauge or measure the slope, including using a bottle or glass of liquid, using a weighted plumb line, or using a bubble level. Using a club as a plumb line is specifically acceptable, and I’d extend that to say that laying it down to give a more visible indication of the green slope would also be acceptable.

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#6

Good to know, I guess I will take my 3 ft level out of my bag!!

Thanks Dave.

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#7

As with many playes who have learned Aimpoint Express, I actually DO keep a 12" digital level in my car trunk, for periodic re-fresh of the feels of different slopes. Interesting, Model Local Rule G-11, which is used by the PGA Tour to limit the use of Green-Reading materials, is written to disallow the use of a level to make notes during practice rounds

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#8

Agreed, that’s really interesting, and so typical of the Tour. My question relating to that: does it prohibit the use of levels on the practice green at the facility? (Which I understand is one of the methods used in Aimpoint to keep one’s feet calibrated to various slopes.)

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#9

No mention is made of the practice green. This is part of the discussion of Handwritten Notes:

“Handwritten notes may contain information gained only through personal experiences of the player or the player’s caddie from the course or by watching a televised broadcast, but are limited to information gained:
While observing a ball that was rolled or played (whether by the player, caddie or someone else) or
Through the player’s or caddie’s feel or general observations of the putting green.”

Just as the players can use Trackman and alignment rods on the practice tee, I’m sure they can use anything they want on the practice green.

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#10

Well at 72 the eyes aren’t as sharp as they use to be but I still am a ‘look and feel’ putter. The other point is I am now more of the ‘enjoy the journey’ kind of player acknowledging that my physical skills are waning. If I really wanted to get back to playing well I would play more, practice more and really work on my game. But to do that I would have to stop doing other things I enjoy like a 10 day off roading trip to Moab or another trip to Montana and South Dakota. For me, golf is just something I like to do with my buddies. Scoring in the mid 80s is fine at this point in my life. Although I still cuss at myself for thinning a chip or missing that 6 foot putt.

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#11

I don’t believe there’s any prohibition on the practice green. I worked an LPGA event last fall, and numerous players were using levels on the practice greens.

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#12

This is why many caddies will arrive at a tournament site days before the competition week to measure and confirm on the slope on the greens. This will give them knowledge of the general direction of the slope on each green. And a professional caddy will keep his notes on all the golf courses which hosted the major and used for annual tournament.

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#13

Even those notes aren’t allowed to be based on anything other than the caddie’s experience and observations. If the caddie is making notes based on disallowed methods (such as a digital level to measure slope) he risks causing his player to be penalized or disqualified if the player uses those notes in competition. But that Model Local Rule is going to apply to only an extremely small percentage of players.

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#14

Lou Stagner, somewhere in his voluminous Twitter feed, has a photo of a green reading chart, that lists the inches of break for a given Stimp and %slope.

Neat chart, but I think such an aid might also be considered illegal, even though it’s just math. Though, what if you created it yourself, using Excel?

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#15

I can’t find a specific Rule that would disallow it, but it might fall under the more general prohibition of 4.3a against:
“Using equipment (other than a club or a ball) that artificially eliminates or reduces the need for a skill or judgment that is essential to the challenge of the game”
On the other hand, if you understand enough of the Aimpoint concepts to use such a chart, you probably know how to measure the break without a chart.

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#16

Agreed. Determining the %slope is still something I’m really fuzzy on.

Thank you again for contributing and sharing your advanced knowledge of the Rules of Golf with us. It’s greatly appreciated.

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#17

I learned by taking an Aimpoint Express clinic, and then practicing a bit with my own digital level. Its pretty amazing how accurate you can become.

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#18

Correct me, please, why do I remember handheld devisees with GPS and Slope reading were used for pre-round note taking ?
Was the rule ever modified?
It is, permissible to hand roll some golf balls on the green before the tournament, right? Notes taken form that experience should be allowed?

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#19

The Model Local Rule (G-11) went into effect at the beginning of 2022. You might want to look up the Rule in its entirety, but rolling balls on the green is acceptable basis for note-taking.

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#20

Okay thanks. Have not really pay attention to the changes since about a decade ago.

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