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Boo Hoo - it's too windy !!
Peter Craven Handicap : 13 Location : Posts :	Posted : Sat 19th Jul 2008 18:49 Just been on The Open site and saw a Q&A with the R&A guy about when play should be suspended - complaints about the ball moving on the greens. I can't believe they would even consider it. Nothing gets on my nerves more than the pros moaning about it being too windy, too difficult etc. Just get on with it. I'm sure its nice following the sun around the world all year round, and playing tournaments in benign conditions. This is the world's greatest golf tournament for goodness sake. Suck it up and prove you are the best by dealing with the conditions and going out and winning the tournament. Personally, I have much more respect for a guy who wins a tournament with a winning score of +5 instead of -20. RANT OVER.




Lee Butler Handicap : 13.8 Location : Posts :	Reply : Sat 19th Jul 2008 19:20 Come on, I know they lead a very comfortable professional career, but you wouldn't hit a putt if the ball was moving would you?? If you did, and you missed the hole, you'd blame the wind for moving the ball right? Plus, these guys are playing for the honour of becoming a major winning player (and for the huge wad of cash of course!!). If the one time they hit the ball on the move on the putting green and missed they hole, then subsenquently lost the championship by 1 shot, they'd have a right to complain, no?


Tim Hawkins Handicap : 20.8 Location : Posts :	Reply : Sun 20th Jul 2008 00:38 It's a proper test of golf, that's all. A bit like watching a golfshake comp admitedlly, shots spraying around all over the shop. Interesting that Normans old head can cope better than most with the conditions and a lot of the young Turks (mostly on the US tour) are struggling. I find it strange that a lot of them haven't started playing the conditions and are still trying to muscle their way around. Hope the conditions are just as bad tomorrow...


David Williamson Handicap : 20.2 Location : Posts :	Reply : Sun 20th Jul 2008 05:37 I believe the pro's and organisers were concerned that if the wind got worse and a ball moved when addressed on the greens, that lots of players might get hit with penalty strokes. If that happened to a dozen players or multiple times to someone in contention of winning the event, it certainly wouldnt have been a fair contest in that respect.


Jon T Handicap : 10.9 Location : Posts :	Reply : Mon 21st Jul 2008 11:31 Righto, explain theis one to me if anyone can. The rules regarding playing from a bunker or inside a water hazard is that you can't ground your club. If you step into a bunker, take your stance, then the ball moves, it's a penalty. On the greens, if you adress the ball, put the putter behind it but don't ground the club, then the ball moves, it isn't a penalty. Where is the sense in this? If the R&A just changed the rules and made it simple that if the ball moves because of the wind or gravity, not by the player actually touching the ball with the club to cause it to move, then things would be a hell of alot simpler.


Jon Williams Handicap : 25.9 Location : Posts :	Reply : Mon 21st Jul 2008 22:01 At first sight I agreed with what you wrote Jon. However having reflected on it a little I can see a problem. On the green you have marked your ball and it is usually fairly easy to replace it on the same spot and on an identical lie. In a bunker you have not marked it and it is still in play. If it moved due to wind or gravity it would need to be replaced in an unmarked spot probably on a steep lie where it would be difficult to get it to rest or replicate the lie. If you made a rule that the ball did not have to be replaced you would have a certain amount of gamesmanship going on as players waited to see if their lie would improve and a certain amount of heavy footedness (is that a word) in approaching the ball. So on further thought I think there is a distinction between the two situations and hence the different rules.


Jon T Handicap : 10.9 Location : Posts :	Reply : Tue 22nd Jul 2008 10:39 Of course there is a distinction between the two situations: one is played from a hazard, while the other isn't. The issue for me is this grounding the putter rubbish in the rules. If you ground the putter and the ball moves then it's your fault, hover it and it's not. In a bunker where you never ground the club, if a ball moves how can they deem it is the player's fault? Same issue [ball moved after address], same situation [neither clubs were grounded], different outcome [one is a penalty, the other isn't]. Whether replacing the ball in a bunker is difficult or not, the rules contradict each other. One rule would speed up play too, and avoid all the silly penalties handed out to people who actually haven't done anythign wrong. If a driver got a speeding ticked sayiny he was travelling at 50 in a 30 zone, when he was actually travelling at 20, he'd be a bit pissed.
	Last edit : Tue 22nd Jul 2008 10:41




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