Breaking the rules II

5/12/01

Last week, I wrote about the new wave of distance measuring devices that are now so much a part of golf.

Distance to the flag has become an obsession with most American golfers. Pinsheets showing hole locations are now quite common at country clubs, and some clubs even publish a daily scorecard with exact yardages for each hole for that day’s tee and hole locations. We willingly spend about 30 minutes a round asking for exact distances, or consulting the yardage book, or pacing off from the ball to nearest sprinkler head, or the next one because the mower knocked off the yardage plate from the one next to your ball. All this, yet the vast majority of golfers are incapable of consistently reproducing a shot to within plus or minus 10 percent of the intended distance. On the other hand, there’s nothing worse than hitting a great shot with the wrong club.

It is the most recent digital step -- the advent of distance measuring devices such as rangefinders or GPS systems in golf carts -- in a very natural progression of distance information gathering which the guardians of the game have not yet come to grips with. Ignoring the measuring devices is as futile as believing that something you don’t like will go away if you close your eyes tightly enough. The effect of this eye squeezing has not accomplished anything but, rather, is only delaying the inevitable. In fact, every time the rules makers open their eyes the problem has grown bigger. Once one rule is defiantly violated then it’s much easier to violate another, even if it isn’t half a silly. And if you go down that road, the authority of the USGA as the governing body of the game starts to erode. Turning a blind eye to the reality of distance measuring devices in the hope that they will go away is doing the game a disservice.

On the first tee of every one of its championships, the USGA liberally hands out a hole location sheet, which provides to within a fraction of a yard the location of the hole on every green for that day of the championship. If knowledge about the distance -- exact distance -- to the flag is not in itself a violation of the rule, then why is the means by which one gets this information such a hang up? Especially in light of the fact that the USGA has approved use of these devices while playing to obtain scores for handicap purposes.

As a traditionalist myself -- sometimes accused of being from the "Old School" -- I find it hard to accept seeing laser guns being used on my course. I don’t like any electrical or digital equipment on a golf course, except perhaps for a phone by the ninth tee where I can order a sandwich with mustard and relish for when I make the turn. But for so much recreational golf, these devices are an inevitable part of the game. Certainly, they don’t diminish the integrity or challenge of the game. Wanting to preserve the traditions of golf is fine, but we are watching good law abiding golfers openly and without a conscience violating a rule, because the rule doesn’t make sense. The governing bodies and the game itself don’t need this. The devices can still be banned for specific competitions, or by individual clubs, by invoking a local rule, but right now the rulebook is technically making a lot of honest men and women into cheats.

These distance measuring devices are convenient, readily available, growing in popularity and they probably speed up play. I would like to see the inevitable move of the USGA accepting them to take place sooner rather than later -- after everybody, including me, is using them.

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This column appeared on golfdigest.com where Frank contributes on a weekly basis. Check it out every Saturday.

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