Interesting view from Mark King…

“Here’s a prediction: the USGA within 10 years will be a nonentity, they will be a non-factor in golf because they are choosing to be on the outside and no one is signing up for what they represent. The industry is going to move away from them and pass them.

Mark King Speaks Out

I think it would be great if the PGA tour broke away, and the European tour as well.

IMO, there has been way too little innovation in the game of golf, compared to other sports. By this I mean rule changes than enable faster, more exciting, better to watch on TV and so forth.

Once free of the USGA and the R&A, the TV people and pro game would get together and look for changes that would make the game more appealing on TV and for participants. That would drive the game forward, like it has with Football, Cricket, Rugby…...

I really hope this happens.

I actually agree with the ban…
Golf is a game where clubs, held in the hands, are used to hit a ball that is on the ground, or just above it.

If a player has two hands, he/she has two connections to the club. Golfers have been putting and hitting like this for hundreds of years.

If a player his injured, or a disability and does not have two hands to use, then that player may have one hand and the their body to hold the club… two connections to the club.

If a player has two hands on the club, and anchors the butt of the club on their body, or chin, that gives a THIRD connection to the club. Anchor the arm (above the elbow) to the body for support if needed, but keep just TWO connections to the club… the hands.

Mekat,

actually I agree with you about the putter issue, for the reasons you outline.

My reasons for my opinions are not really based on the putter issue, but because I think in general terms that the game is not being moved forward by the present authorities and that others can do better.

The putter issue is really a technical issue, an adjustment to the rules after many years. That is what is frustrating. Firstly the time it took to make the rule change: years and years. Secondly, the fact is, making this change won’t do hardly a thing to make the game more successful. The game is somewhat in decline, I think I am right on that, yet what big ideas do we get from the R&A / USGA? a putter rule change! It just seems such a small idea in the overall scheme of things.

My suspicion is that the manufacturers, pros and the TV people are just fed up with the USGA and the R&A for lots of reasons (eg the USGA set up the US open so the players struggle and that makes for poor TV). If they use the putter issue as the reason to break away, then they can take the rule book to pieces and come up with something better for TV. They could then do anything: change the size of the hole, change the rules for hazards, stop these technical issues like Tiger’s penalty the other week when he was plugged, but it was in sand, or the one a couple of years ago when someone moved a bit of grass in a hazard but was penalised because it was “not attached”.

The putter issue, IMO, is just the final straw that might provoke the break away.