Deadlines! Tour TV Opt Out, Proposed Rules Of Golf Changes

Just a reminder to the folks down in Ponte Vedra, you have until September 1 to get out of your current network deal and imagine a new television future! Oh, right, you know this.

Of more interest to the majority of golfers is this week's deadline, also September 1, to submit suggestions for the upcoming Rules of Golf re-thinking.

I'm still not a fan of dropping the ball one inch from the ground or tapping spike marks, and we'll see if the governing bodies heard from many on those topics.

The SI/Golf.com gang had a good (and perhaps motivational exchange) on this and many other topics in golf:

Ritter: We're getting there, USGA! I like the proposed changes, but we still need to do more to address the one true scourge of golf: slow play. How about a shot clock on Tour—just for a trial period to see how it goes?

Sens: Hate to sound like Ritter's pet parrot, but I'll agree with him again here. I just played a weekend round that took five hours and 50 minutes. Inexcusable. And clearly the result of too many people emulating Tour pros in all the wrong ways. Put the pros on a tighter shot clock and enforce it. Playing quicker just becomes a necessary skill to be successful, like a QB who gets his passes off before the rush hits. In the meantime, that pesky stroke-and-distance matter could still use some addressing.

Shipnuck: Yeah, ditching O.B. and making all of it red stakes would be a great start. While we're at it, how about a free drop from sand-filled divot holes in the fairway, too?

Bamberger: The rule changes are so minor they will make no impact on the game as we play it and only a slight impact on the elite game. Getting out some red paint would have been a real change and I think an improvement.