Friday Update - 26/10/2018

The New Rules of Golf

Since the R&A and the USGA announced back in March that there would be a new set of rules put into action from 1^stJanuary 2019, this has been a hot topic of debate throughout the golfing world. As with any issue, there are those who support the idea and those who object to the idea, and where better to air your views than social media. Initially, there was a lot of chatter about how rules would impact the game, in positive and negative ways but now it seems that we have moved past that. We are now at the stage of realisation, these changes are really happening and we need to get our heads around them. This week, all over Twitter there have been brief explanations of certain rules and some rules which seem to be viewed as more important than others. It is good to see many golfing organisations, whether they are media outlets, clubs or governing bodies trying to help the golfing public learn together so we can all enjoy the update with as little fuss as possible. Understandably, the R&A are putting some effort into helping people get to grips with the rules and this week they posted a simple, yet effective video focused on the rules of the putting green.

???? 2019 PUTTING GREENS RULE CHANGES ???? The Rules of Golf are changing on January 1, 2019. Make sure you are #RulesReady ???? pic.twitter.com/joe5JjbLCv

— The R&A (@RandA) October 24, 2018

As the date of implementation grows ever nearer, I’m sure there will be even more of an increase in guides and tutorials to helps us all out.

The Grooveless Wedge

I’m sure many of you are familiar with PGA Professional Rick Shiels, who runs a great YouTube channel around all things golf. If you’ve not heard of him before, then now is your chance to get on board. Ranging from tutorial videos to club reviews, Shiels’ videos are fun and informative and this week, the video that really seemed to get people talking was a review of a grooveless wedge. He tested it against a standard, grooved wedge to find out if this really is a good concept, and of course, I’m not going to spoil it for you but the results are interesting. Quite frankly, I’d never really thought about whether the grooves really mattered on my clubs, but clearly Shiels’ had and decided to find out. Although the thought wasn’t didn’t cross my mind, I’m now glad that I know the answer.

One Round, Two Holes-in-One

Rounding off this week’s update is an unbelievable story that made its way across the globe this week, all the way from Australia. Jim Grant, a 14-handicapper from Melbourne holed out twice from the tee to card two hole-in-ones in the same round of golf, recently. Golfshake Stats Reveal Odds of Making a Hole in One. We have seen the amount of excitement that is created when a hole-in-one drops for a professional golfer out on tour, so imagine the scenes when they discovered that his second of the day had indeed rolled home. For Grant and his golfing buddies, I doubt there will ever be a better story to tell from the golf course and that’s the way it should be. Bravo Jim!

Have you ever experienced something as amazing or even bizarre as this on a golf course? Let us hear your golfing stories in the comments!