By Christopher Powers
It looks like the four-day, he-said-they-said battle between Justin Thomas and the USGA has reached a swift conclusion, and it could prove to be the easiest win of Thomas’ career.

On Saturday afternoon, just after Thomas had carded a three-under 67 in the third round of the Honda Classic, the nine-time tour winner sent out a tweet that simply read “#growthegame @USGA.” Also in the tweet was a photo of a press release sent out by the PGA Tour Communications team, which explained that a two-stroke penalty had been assessed to Adam Schenk, who committed an infraction in his second round the evening prior. Schenk and his caddie had violated Rule 10.2b (4) at the par-3 17th hole, where his caddie stood behind Schenk as he lined up a difficult bunker shot. Schenk’s bogey 4 was changed to a triple-bogey 6, and his two-under 69 to a one-over 71.

Thomas was hardly the only tour pro to jab the new Rules of Golf, as many pointed out the confusion that has surrounded many of them, notably the rule that prohibited caddies from lining their player up and the new knee-height drop rule. Two days earlier, Rickie Fowler had mocked the drop rule in an, um, interesting manner. However you feel about the new rules, it wasn’t a good look for anyone involved that two of the sport’s marquee names were publicly criticising them.

The USGA took notice, and in a somewhat out-of-left-field move replied to Thomas’ tweet. “Justin, we need to talk,” read the USGA statement. “You’ve cancelled every meeting we’ve planned with you, but we are reaching out again. We were at the first 5 events, and tournaments last year, and your tour has had a seat at the table for 7 years. We’d love nothing more than to give you a seat. Call us.”

Thomas was confused by the statement, later calling it “a little shocking,” and “inaccurate.” His claims were solidified on Tuesday morning, when the USGA PR Twitter handle tweeted out, “After further and more direct conversations with Justin Thomas, we realize he did not avoid a discussion with the USGA nor cancel any meetings. We value his and all players’ opinions and are committed to a productive dialogue as the golf world adjusts to the modernised rules.”

After further and more direct conversations with @JustinThomas34, we realize he did not avoid a discussion with the USGA nor cancel any meetings. We value his and all players’ opinions and are committed to a productive dialogue as the golf world adjusts to the modernized rules.

— USGA PR (@USGA_PR) March 5, 2019

This seems to imply that Thomas was correct in saying the USGA’s statement was inaccurate. As we later found out, a call had been set up between Thomas and a member of the USGA’s staff earlier this year, but it never took place. The USGA’s senior managing director of championships John Bodenhamer also told Golf Digest this weekend that “We all tried to connect, it didn’t happen, and we are happy that it now will.”

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“The [USGA] has said they want to have a better relationship [with players], but that tweet sure doesn’t help things,” the 2003 U.S. Open champion said. “There’s a better way to handle that situation. I have a very difficult time believing that if they really wanted to find Justin they couldn’t do it.”

What a mess.

Nary a week has gone by in golf without some sort of snafu, most of them pertaining to the new Rules of Golf, which, despite USGA chief Mike Davis’ declaring them a “huge success,” have felt like anything but in the first two months of the year.

Davis and the USGA are an easy piñata given their series of missteps most notably at U.S. Opens in recent years, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Incessant whining by players to a level that’s akin to an NBA star crying foul every time he misses a shot doesn’t help.

None of this has been a good look for golf, a sport that prides itself on good looks. So now what? Is it time for professional golf to finally have its own set of rules?

Andrew Landry was among the latest to join a growing list of players advocating for such, tweeting, in part, “PGA TOUR is a players tour..we should fight to have our own rules and only follow the USGA and R&A once a year at our US Open and the Open….New rules are garbage.”

Easy target, that piñata. Also, easy to say but not so easy to do.

Furyk was on the tour’s player board when a ban on anchoring was put into the rules a few years ago.

“The idea of us making our own rules came up and [then Commissioner] Tim Finchem didn’t think it was in our best interests,” he said. “The negatives far outweighed the positives. It seems to me the negatives would still outweigh the positives. The issues are different, but I’m not sure that would be good for golf.”

Among those downsides, from the tour’s perspective, would be breaking from one of the game’s traditions that everyone can play the same courses under the same rules. Then there’s the liability, implementation and cost. And what happens when the U.S. Open comes around? Which rules then?

Sam Greenwood
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was clear in his statement that the PGA Tour supports the new rules introduced this year.

In short, the PGA Tour isn’t in the rule-making business. It’s in the entertainment biz. That mindset hasn’t changed under current commissioner Jay Monahan, a sentiment reinforced by his memo to players on Monday.

“[The Tour] put forward a lengthy list of recommendations to improve the rules in many ways, including the removal of numerous penalties, and virtually all our suggestions were incorporated,” said Monahan, who added that the process of the new rules has been a collaborative one and that the tour has been part of it from the beginning. “We also had the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed rules prior to implementation, which resulted in modifications for the final version.

“You will continue to have an avenue to voice your questions and concerns, either through our team, the player advisory council or directly to USGA representatives as they continue to be on-site during our events to gather feedback.”

Monahan is far from alone in thinking tour players shouldn’t make their own rules, by the way.

“These guys have been writing the rules for us for a long time,” said Ernie Els. “I don’t think they did it to screw us. Whenever there’s change there’s going to be difference of opinion but guys will get over it and get on with it.

“I don’t believe in a warm and fuzzy relationship [with players]. [The USGA] should be the policeman. They should be the strong man. They shouldn’t make friends out here. We’ve got to adapt. We are professional golfers. They make the rules for a billion people.”

The Big Easy does have a point. But on the flip side of the argument is a point within his point.

Does it really matter if in your weekend round you’re dropping from knee or shoulder height?

A caddie lining up his player? Unlikely (or even useful) in your home game, but on the professional level potentially advantageous, unless your boss is playing a fried egg on a downhill lie out of a bunker.

Putting with the flagstick in? Great for pace of play at the local muni. Not so great on tour when one guy wants it in, another wants it out and caddies are doing the tangoing all around the hole.

Kevin C. Cox
“We need to set the rules and [the USGA] adjust, not the other way around,” Webb Simpson said. “We can’t have what’s happening keep happening.”

Still, some persist.

“My answer is simple,” said Webb Simpson, another former U.S. Open champ. “We’re a professional sport and we have rules officials on tour that have been out here a long time. When we’re dealing with a $10 million purse it’s a lot different than a country club championship. We need to have our own rules.”

A valid argument.

How would the tour go about making said rules?

“We would probably have 98 percent of them the same,” Simpson said.

Well then.

“But we need to set the rules and [the USGA] adjust, not the other way around,” Simpson continued. “We can’t have what’s happening keep happening.”

And if it does? What will all of this mess lead to?

“I don’t know,” said Zach Johnson. “That’s the problem.”

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By Brian Wacker
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.— United States Golf Association chief Mike Davis says the rollout of the new Rules of Golf have been “a huge success.” Rickie Fowler made a different statement while taking a drop during his opening round of the Honda Classic on Thursday.

Standing in the fourth fairway of PGA National after his ball had plugged in the turf, he squatted halfway down, reached behind his legs and pretended to take a drop in a motion that, when screen-shotted just right, could best be described as looking like someone doing No. 2 in the men’s room, the gallery getting a good laugh out of the mockery.

Eventually, Fowler relented and leaned forward, carefully dropping from knee height. The antics were funny, yes, but there was a point behind the comedic gymnastics.

“Golf is trying to appeal to a younger audience, get people into the game, want it to look cool,” Fowler said. “Well, I was sitting at home first couple weeks of the year and me and some buddies were making fun of the new drop rule. It looks terrible.”

When you have people making fun of something,” Fowler said. “That’s not good.

Looks matter.

In basketball, Gatorade once ran an entire ad campaign around a catchy little diddy called “I wanna be like Mike,” with a bunch of kids trying to emulate Michael Jordan’s dazzling and gravity-defying moves.

Like any other professional athlete, golfers are role models and spawn legions of followers who wanna be like them, too.

Arnold Palmer hitching up his pants. Tiger Woods tugging his sleeve before hitting a shot. Rickie and his flat-brim hat. White belts (cringe). The oddly insatiable desire to play the same equipment as the pros (even though it’s not designed for your skill set and whatever vastly different game you’re playing).

So what does it say of the new rules, and worse yet golf, when PGA Tour players, the ones who fans look to the most in the sport, don’t respect them? If they don’t, will anyone else?

It’s only March 1 and already a number of moments, from tacky to the absurd, have stood out.

Ben Jared
Fowler’s drop on Thursday was more than a joke.

Allowing putting with the flagstick in.

Adam Scott calling the new rules a “laughingstock,” and admitting that he told the tour he’d be a sacrificial lamb for a penalty stroke in order to speed up play (an altogether different problem, but not unrelated).

The bungled application of a rule change regarding caddies lining up players behind the ball, mishandled so badly that the PGA Tour rescinded a penalty and caused the USGA and R&A to revisit the language of the rule.

Kevin C. Cox

Fowler getting penalised for dropping from shoulder height last week in Mexico.

The controversy surrounding backstopping.

A player getting disqualified under the new greens-reading book rule.

“We wanna grow the game. We wanna see more people come to tournaments and play the game,” Fowler said. “To me it does not help the game. People are looking at and talking about the game in a negative way with some of the rules that have been implemented. The alignment thing was brutal.”

Fowler is far from the only player who feels this way.

Earlier in the week, Justin Thomas called the new rules “terrible.”

On Thursday, Billy Horschel, who was playing alongside Fowler, echoed similar thoughts.

“My buddies at home are making fun of these rules,” he said. “People in the greater word of golf are making fun of them. Some of [the changes] are good, some of them are bad.

“But I told the USGA you guys aren’t the main influencer in the game of golf like you were 30, 40, 50 years ago. PGA Tour players are now the biggest influencer in the game of golf. What the golfer at home sees on TV, they’re going to copy us.”

He’s right. Which means on courses all across the land there could soon be an entire legion of orange-clad, flat brim hat wearing golfers, making a mockery of the rules of the sport and in turn the game. Assuming they’re not so turned off by all of this ridiculousness to take it up in the first place.

When one of the game’s nicest and most polite players speaks out, the USGA and R&A might want to listen.

“When you have people making fun of something,” Fowler said. “That’s not good.”

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By Joel Beall
The latest iteration of the Rules of Golf, which went into effect Jan. 1, have received a mostly positive reception in the rollout, save for one new guideline—Rule 10.2b(4): Restriction on Caddie Standing Behind Player. As was originally constructed, the rule specified that from the time a player “begins to take a stance for the stroke” until the stroke is made, a caddie “must not deliberately stand on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason.” This item has drawn ridicule in consecutive weeks on the European and PGA Tours.

Haotong Li was the first high-profile victim at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. A European Tour rules official deemed Li’s caddie in violation of the rule on the final hole of the tournament, and the two-stroke penalty cost Li close to $100,000. Video replay, however, put this penalty into question, as Li did not appear to be into his stance when the penalty was assessed. It led European Tour CEO Keith Pelley to call out the R&A for the rule, remarking it was “grossly unfair.” For its part, the R&A stood by the new rule, asserting there is “no discretionary element to the rule precisely so that it is easier to understand and can be applied consistently.”

The following week, Denny McCarthy received the same penalty at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, this time while playing a shot into a green. Again, the video evidence was damning, with a host of players, led by Justin Thomas, expressing their anger with the new rule. The outcry was so deafening that the PGA Tour took an almost unprecedented step and rescinded the penalty the following day. This time, a governing body heard the message loud and clear, and the USGA promised to revisit the rule with the R&A and provide further resolution.

Which came to pass on Wednesday, as the USGA and R&A have released a follow-up on the controversial new rule.

“The purpose of Rule 10.2 is to reinforce the fundamental challenge of making a stroke and to limit the advice and other help a player may receive during a round,” the entities said in a statement. “Rule 10.2b(4) ensures that aiming at the intended target is a challenge that the player must overcome alone.”

The USGA and R&A highlighted two clarifications:

Meaning of “Begins Taking a Stance for the Stroke”: If a player backs away from a stance, the player is not considered to have begun “a stance for the stroke.” Therefore, a player can now back away from his or her stance anywhere on the course and avoid a breach of Rule 10.2b(4) if the caddie had been standing in a location behind the ball.

Examples of When a Caddie is Not “Deliberately” Standing Behind the Ball When a Player Begins Taking Stance for Stroke: As written, the Rule does not apply if a caddie is not deliberately standing behind a player. It is clarified that the term “deliberately” requires a caddie to be aware that 1) the player is beginning to take a stance for the stroke to be played and 2) he or she (the caddie) is standing on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball. Several examples are given in the clarification to provide additional guidance.

While this added information does vindicate McCarthy, Li is not so fortunate. Golf Digest sent a reply to the R&A asking if Li would still be penalized under the clarifications, to which an R&A spokesperson confirmed he would.

With the new rules still being digested, both the USGA and R&A urged for patience and further communication.

“Experience has taught us that introducing a new rule requires us to balance patience with a willingness to act quickly when necessary,” said Thomas Pagel, USGA senior managing director of governance. “With so many pivotal changes to the rules this year, we’ve committed to offering any assistance needed in making the rules easier to understand and apply, without taking away the inherent challenge of playing the game. We appreciate that everyone involved in drafting these clarifications worked together with this same goal in mind.”

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By Alex Myers
As golf fans are well aware, Dustin Johnson has had two of the more famous rules run-ins in recent golf history. There was the accidental grounding of his club in a waste bunker that cost him the 2010 PGA Championship and the accidental micro-moving of his golf ball that nearly cost him the 2016 U.S. Open. So with a major revision of golf’s rules taking effect at the start of this year, it made sense that the former World No. 1 was asked if he’s stayed abreast of the changes. And — perhaps, not surprisingly — it doesn’t sound like he has.

Here’s an exchange Johnson had at his Wednesday press conference ahead of this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, where DJ is the defending champ:

Q. I know you joked about it there at the start but have you paid any attention to the rules changes or how much effort have you put into looking at what the changes will be?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I actually just looked at it for like a minute upstairs before I came down. They’ve got a big poster in the locker room. Yeah.

Here’s the poster to which Johnson is referring:

Posted on the wall in the locker room at @GolfatKapalua for @Sentry_TOC participants. Handy review of new #RulesofGolf. Love the grade school review of “areas of the golf course” and how water hazards now known as penalty areas. I think guys can figure this out on their own. pic.twitter.com/eXDJjPT6uD

— Dave Shedloski (@DaveShedloski) January 1, 2019

The follow-up question asked Johnson about his brother and caddie, Austin:

Q. Austin? Has he had instruction —

DUSTIN JOHNSON: I had one of the TOUR officials do a printout that I’m going to give to him to study later on today.

Q. How is that going to go?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Probably not very well. (Laughter.)

But I’m going to have to look at it a little bit.

To be fair to the Johnson brothers, they had a wedding to deal with this off-season. Still, you’d expect one of the game’s best players to do more than “look at it a little bit” when it comes to the new rules. Especially, when that player has such an eventful history when it comes to the game’s rules.

RELATED: 14 ways your golf game can benefit from the new rules

In any event, Johnson begins his title defense at Kapalua’s Plantation Course at 12:40 local time on Thursday. And in Bryson DeChambeau he’s at least got the perfect playing partner if he has any questions.

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You’re don’t have to worry if you accidentally cause your ball to move on the green
After the whole Dustin Johnson affair at the 2016 U.S. Open, the USGA and R&A created a local rule that eliminates any penalty if a ball moves on the green while the player has done nothing more than take normal actions to prepare for a stroke. The substance of that local rule has now been codified under Rule 13.1d. If you accidentally hit your ball with your backswing, move your ball while marking it, even mistakenly kick your ball, there is no penalty so long as you return the ball to its original spot. The same is true if you move your ball marker; replace the mark where it was and you’re good to go.

David Cannon

No more tip-toeing around when searching for your ball
Finding an errant shot after hitting it can be a chore, especially when it’s gone into the rough. This previously came with the added burden that if you weren’t careful and stepped on or moved the ball during your search, you were subject to a penalty. (Meanwhile, other players and spectators could search with no potential for penalty, creating a weird incentive for a player not to look for his or her ball.) Under new Rule 7.4, that’s no longer a worry as players who accidentally cause their ball to move during the search will receive no penalty. Simply replace the ball where it was originally lying or, if that exact spot is unknown, at an estimated original spot.

Rules regarding playing with a broken club are much simpler
Confusion often reigned over how to handle a situation in which you damaged a club during a round. Do it in the normal course of play, and you could continue to use the club or replace it without penalty. If you caused the damage in anger, however, you could not replace it or use it again. And if you did use it while damaged, even if you didn’t know it was damaged until after you hit a shot with it, the penalty was severe: disqualification. Such an incident happened last summer at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship when LPGA veteran Lee-Anne Pace got upset after hitting a poor chip and slammed her wedge into a nearby stake in frustration. Unknowingly, she damaged the hosel of the club, and played a shot with the club again later in the round. Only then did she notice it was damaged. After talking to a rules official Pace walked off the course with four holes left knowing she was out of the tournament come the end of the round. Now no matter how the club was damaged, it can continue to be used during a round. Where this likely will have the biggest impact is with the putter. If you frustrating bang your flat stick after a missed putt and incidentally alter the face or hosel, you can continue to use the club and not have to start putting with a 3-iron or wedge the rest of your round.

Andrew Redington

Mistakenly double hitting a chip won’t cost you
It comes three decades too late for T.C. Chen, the golfer most famously associated with accidentally hitting his ball a second time with his follow-through when he did it while in contention in the final round of the 1985 U.S. Open. But rules makers finally came to the same conclusion others had long ago: A double hit is almost always accidental, and the outcome is so random as to hardly be beneficial. No need to embarrass yourself more by having to add an extra stroke to your score.

Spike marks on the green don’t have to ruin your chance at a birdie
Golfers often complained that there wasn’t much logic in the fact they could fix pitch marks on a green but not spike marks. Rules officials agreed when creating Rule 13.1c(2), which allows for repair of almost any damage on the green, including spike marks, shoe damage, indentations from a club or flagstick and animal damage. The exceptions that remain are aeration holes, natural surface imperfections and natural wear of a hole.

Drew Hallowell

Go ahead and touch the line of your putt (within reason)
The prohibition of a player (or his caddie) touching the line of play on the putting green felt like another ticky-tack rule that created confusion given there were seven different exceptions listed to the old rule. That prohibition has been lifted, although players are still not allowed to improve their line of play on the green (or anywhere on the course for that matter). Caddies can now use the flagstick and gently touch the putting surface to help you with your read.

You don’t have to be nervous about playing from a water hazard
Actually, there is no such thing as a “water hazard” any more. The new Rules redefine it as a “penalty area” that also encompasses spots where balls are lost or unable to be played. (Yeah, that’s going to take some getting used to.) With the new name comes fewer restrictions for what you can and can’t do inside these designated spots. You can now touch or move loose impediments as well as touch the ground with your hand or a club during a practice swing, so long as you’re not improving the conditions for the stroke. USGA and R&A officials saw the old rule the way most golfers did: impractical and extremely difficult to apply. Seriously, if your club grazed a tall blade of grass in the hazard that was inconsequential to the stroke, you were still subject to a penalty. But not anymore.

Same goes for when you’re playing a shot from a bunker
The new Rules also allow you to touch or move loose impediments from a bunker. “The challenge of playing from a bunker is the need to play out of the sand, not to play with leaves stones or other loose impediments left in place in the bunker,” write USGA/R&A officials in explaining the change. Remember, though, you still can’t deliberately touch the sand with your hand, club, rake or other objects to test its condition, and touching the sand with a club during a practice swing or in the backswing of a stroke is also still prohibited.

You can leave the flagstick while putting on the green without fear
We’re not as smart as Bryson DeChambeau, so we don’t know if leaving a flagstick in the hole will actually help us make more putts (officials didn’t think so when deciding to allow for it under the new Rules). But we do know creating one less burden to worry about on the greens will speed up play.

There’s a new OB option that will save time
USGA and R&A officials have established a local rule that clubs can adopt to offers an alternative to the stroke-and-distance penalty for lost balls or shots hit out-of-bounds. Golfers can now drop a ball anywhere between where the original ball was believed to come to rest (or went out-of-bounds) and just into the edge of the fairway, but no nearer the hole. If you take this option, you must add two strokes to your score, but you can play on instead of returning to the tee or the spot you hit your last shot. Essentially this mimics your score if you had played a decent provisional ball—and could actually improve it if you hit that provisional almost as poorly as the first one.

Courtesy of the USGA and R&A

DMDs are A-OK
In the previous edition of the Rules, Distance Measuring Devices have been allowed so long as a course has applied a local rule. Now, they are always allowed unless a course restricts their use via a local rule, usually for competitions.

Accidentally hitting yourself with your ball might hurt your physically, but won’t hurt your score
The old Rules had no penalty if a ball hits your opponents or their equipment, so why was there one if you accidentally deflected your own shot? Like with a double hit, the outcome when knocking a ball off your own body is random and unpredictable, so an added penalty seems excessive. If you deliberately position your equipment to intentionally use it as a backstop, and the ball hits it, you can is still a penalty.

You can now take relief for an embedded ball anywhere
One other rule where the old default position has been reversed. Rule 16.3 will allow for relief for a ball embedded anywhere in the “general area” (formerly known as “through the green”) except when embedded in sand. In taking relief, players will take a drop within one club-length of the spot where the ball was embedded. Officials say this is an appropriate exception to the principle of playing the ball as it lies because having to play a ball stuck in soft, wet ground, whether fairway or rough, should not be considered part of the normal challenge of playing a course. A course can still adopt a local rule to restrict relief to a ball embedded in parts of the course cut to fairway height or less.

David Cannon

You can get relief outside a bunker from an unplayable ball in the sand
But it will cost two penalty strokes if you choose it. Rule 19.3b allows players who have lies close to a lip or bunker wall to drop on the line of play outside the bunker rather than frustratingly take multiple tries to play the ball from the bunker.

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