Let's go back to Perry and the clump of grass he did or did not deliberately pat down, thereby improving his lie. During the recent Players Championship, I showed a recording of the incident to a prominent PGA Tour player. He took one look, snorted, and announced: "Half the players on tour do that."
Again, such revelations come as no surprise. Every tour on the planet is rife with rumour when it comes to those who cheat for a living. And why, you may ask, is nothing ever done about it? The reason is simple: professional golf, to a large extent, is sold to commercial sponsors on the basis that it is whiter than white. Unlike footballers and rugby players, all golfers, ahem, play strictly by the rules. Or so, predictably, the tours would have you believe. Their economic health depends on public perpetuation of that myth, so they look the other way when naughty things happen.
The Perry situation didn't receive an ounce of attention when it happened at the FBR Open back in early February. For it to resurface now would be laughable if it didn't involve a good man's reputation being called into question due to insufficient reasoning.
Perhaps, but suppose a bigger issue is at stake here: the wink-wink, look-the-other-way blurring of certain rules that has become all too common in professional golf. (You know, the same sport where the guys don't need to be drug tested because they police themselves.)
After seeing the Perry video several players said something to the effect of, "that goes on all the time on the tour." (And we've all watched guys fix ball marks in their line without blinking, much less pointing out to their playing partner as a courtesy that they were performing major surgery on their line).
I point these out in the context of the Perry episode because I vividly recall as a young, impressionable lad, studying how tour players walked, dressed and behaved. For a few weeks after taking in tour golf at Riviera or Sherwood, I'd typically play better after absorbing the tempo, gentle grip and overall relaxed-but-focused demeanor exuded by such elite players.
Particularly fascinating was a player's care around the greens or when making a recovery shot from the rough or trees. Both situations provided unique opportunities to get close and hear the conversation with the caddy and to observe their actions.
Consistently I was always fascinated by the manner in which they treated their ball. It was as if a meteor had landed off the fairway and they didn't want to get too close until they had to bat the thing back into play. I remember watching many players gently approach the ball--maybe stare at the lie or delicately lift away a leaf--but always treat a live ball as something to be careful around. Practice swings--if they even took one--were often a bit away from the ball and the player was typically cautious not to be seen as testing the surface in anyway by pressing their clubhead down behind the ball. Furthermore, when that final moment arrived many would just barely lay the club behind their ball.
And again, I'd take this image of gentle club placement for a few weeks and that absorption of studied, careful and gentle demeanor would lead to better golf. Then I'd eventually revert back to old bad habits.
So it's with that image in my mind that I watch Kenny Perry pull his club and walk up to his ball, jabbing away like he's armed with a poker, trying to jumpstart some stubborn logs. And as you can see in this longer version of the playoff posted, the mashing does not occur at the address position, as many defenders have noted. It happens in the moment that he initially arrives, long before the honor has been established or the shot is actually addressed.
I hope the takeaway from this is not to demonize Perry. The event is long gone and we'll never know just how close that clump of grass was to the ball.
However, let's hope this encourages tour players to take the rules and club grounding a bit more seriously. In other words, to take the rules of golf more seriously.
This intent thing is a funny one though, and hardly an exact science. Gray areas abound. I mean, how far can using "intent" as an excuse take a player? Yet again, even in a game that sells itself to sponsors largely on the basis of its supposed honesty, integrity and lack of cheating, it depends. But what is certainly true is that golf, it seems to me, wants it all ways.
In writing about the Kenny Perry dust-up over his FBR Open playoff actions, Lawrence Doneganquotes the European Tour's top rules referee, John Paramor:
"The fact is the player is allowed to put his club behind the ball, otherwise he would never be allowed to address his ball in any circumstance. As soon as any player puts his club on the grass behind the ball, then the grass will be flattened," he says. "The issue is, is there excessive pressing down with the club?" In other words, was there intent? "Looking at this, I don't think Kenny Perry did use excessive pressure when he put his club behind the ball. It does look bad, it does look like the lie was improved but, as long as there was no intent to do so, and I don't think there was, then it is not a penalty."
To our rules gurus out there, I'm curious, is this intent concept used commonly in the rules of golf?
After all, Roberto de Vicenzo did not intend to sign an incorrect scorecard...
"When I first heard stories about the video I thought, 'I hope Kenny is not being maligned.' And then when I saw it, I was shocked," says Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player and now a well-respected analyst with the Golf Channel. "What you can say in his defence is that there is no way he was trying to get away with something on a grand scale. The camera was right there and he knew there were millions of people watching on TV. But I was also shocked that no one who was watching at home called in, or that no one who was doing the television coverage mentioned anything about it on air."
It should be noted that the Super Bowl had begun, so the audience at that point was tiny.
Even the man beaten in the play-off, Charley Hoffman, wanted nothing to do with pointing out the obvious. "I have no problem with that," he gasped. "We all do it."
If what Hoffman claims is true, not only does golf at the highest level have a serious problem, but some education in the area of what does and does not constitute "improving one's lie" is badly needed.
This zoomed in version of the original is below and also on YouTube in a slightly wider version. Note David Feherty's description of the lie as Perry places his club behind the ball.
Lawrence Doneganreports that Kenny Perry has been cleared of a possible rules violation that occurred during the FBR Open playoff. Video evidence suggested that Perry had improved his lie. I've seen it. Not good. But also not hard to come away feeling like there was intent of any kind. Then again, the rules of golf don't care about intent.
Rule 13–2 of the Rules of Golf states that a player is not allowed to improve "the position or lie of his ball". Mark Russell, a senior rules official with the PGA Tour, said he had "no problem whatsoever" with Perry's actions, adding that the footage was "inconclusive".
"During the course of the telecast of the FBR Open‚ we received no calls from viewers reporting a potential rules violation involving Kenny Perry. When a question was raised this week, several members of the tournament committee reviewed the videotape of Kenny Perry, and no evidence of any rules violation was found ... We will have no further comment on the matter,'' he said.
The Super Bowl had started at that point so I'm pretty viewership was light to non-existent.
By waving his wedge behind his ball before playing a chip shot during a play-off against Charley Hoffman, Perry raised the question of whether he had improved his lie, and thereby broken the rules. After a further review on Sunday, US Tour rules officials exonerated the personable man from Kentucky, who charmed everyone with his grace in defeat at the Masters.
But will his fellow pros be so lenient, once they have all had a chance to see it? Or will this be like the Colin Montgomerie saga in Indonesia a few years ago, when he was cleared by the referee at the time of wrongdoing, only to be declared guilty a month later by a court of his peers?
From the AP story on Will MacKenzie's costly mistake Saturday at the Viking Classic.
MacKenzie's triple bogey Saturday on the par-5 18th left him tied for second with Brian Gay, two strokes behind Turnesa on the Annandale course. MacKenzie was penalized for moving impediments in the hazard while his ball was also in the hazard.
Turnesa, a PGA TOUR rookie who also topped the second-round leaderboard, shot a 6-under 66 for a 17-under 199 total. MacKenzie and Gay had 67s.
MacKenzie, who has one TOUR victory, the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2006, opened with birdies on the first two holes and made the turn at 32. His only stumble before 18 was a bogey on the fourth hole.
MacKenzie said he "spaced out" after a day of being able to lift, clean and place his ball because of wet conditions. There were a a few blades of grass near his ball, not anything that would be a problem, he said.
MacKenzie said he brushed them away with his hand, then he realized what he had done and told an official, who assessed the penalty.
Bill Penningtonfiles a nice profile on the USGA Rules Department and the unsung work they do.
Monday through Friday, 40 hours a week, it is their full-time job to answer the phone calls, e-mail messages and mailings of everyday golfers who are perplexed or confounded by some element in the 181 pages of the Rules of Golf. How perplexed or confounded?
The U.S.G.A. fields and answers about 20,000 rule queries every year.
“They come in year-round but we are busiest from late May to September,” Fahleson said. “When we leave on a Friday, it’s not unusual for the rules e-mail in-box to be empty. When we come back Monday morning, there are several hundred questions in there.”
In most other sports, be it beer-league softball or youth soccer, there is an umpire, referee or official presiding over the action to make decisions and enforce rulings. In golf, 99 percent of the time, the players are on their own trying to figure out what the appropriate ruling should be. And let’s face it, people don’t understand the rules as well as they think. And the rules can be unduly complicated.
“We do try to make the rules as simple as possible, but we’re dealing with a game played across thousands of acres, with so many outside factors like weather and wildlife,” said Bernie Loehr, U.S.G.A. manager for the Rules of Golf. “There are a lot of situations that can happen and so many possibilities to consider.”
Though based on something John Vander Borght interpreted in his blog entry, I'd still say this needs work. If you are in a front bunker and hit it in the back bunker, don't rake the front one until you've finished making a mess of the hole.
Why can't we just play it as it lies? I'm so glad Max Behr isn't here to see this disaster.
Jason Sobelexplains what happened to Cink and John Vander Borght explains the thinking behind the rule, which makes little sense. Why can't we just play it as it lies? Sheesh.
Phil Kosin offers some intriguing food for thought on the Rules of Golf, how they are used by everyday golfers and how they could be tweaked to help speed up play. Thanks to reader Chicago Kid for the head's up.
Steve Elling and Ross Devonport debate the issues, with both agreeing that Rory Sabbatini needs to give back his Target World Challenge winnings.
Speaking of which, does anyone else find it odd that in our little 24/7 world, Rory's agent has not made sure to let every golf writer know that his client has decided to turn his winnings over to the foundation? Here we are several days removed from his WD and the ensuing fallout, and not a word on his web site.
Does this mean he's sticking to his shin splits defense?
You have to figure if there is no gesture on Sabbatini's part soon, he will be the focus of media coverage at Kapalua. And that won't be pretty if he makes it into the interview room.
Bernie McGuirewith a fun story onRory McIroy knowing the local rules better than his veteran Australian playing partners...
Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
