Uniforldity in the Rules

USGA JOURNAL: Spring, 1948 19 UniforlDity in the Rules

RECENT decisions by the Professional tive Committee is highly desirous of promot- Golfers' Association of America to play ing uniformity in the play of the game and its tournaments under the established Rules observance of the Rules, and we therefore appreciate any effort toward that end. of Golf are a splendid thing for golf. They mark a highly important step to,vard one However, our Executive Committee believes that it would not be to the best inter- unified game in the United States. ests of golf to adopt your particular sugges- Early this year the PGA offered the tions. USGA a number of suggestions regarding Perhaps our divergence from your views the play of the game and the USGA Open is accounted for by a difference in general approach to the game. Golf to us is essen- Championship. Later, but before receiv- tially a recreation and a sporting test of skill ing the USGA's reply, the PGA announced for the nearly 3,000,000 amateur players in that its competitions would henceforth be the United States. On the other hand, your played under USGA Rules except for the Association sponsors a program of intensive competition among professionals for money number of clubs a player might carry; prizes. more recently, the PGA adopted a policy In general, your suggestions would tend to of full uniformity. "soften" the game, in our opinion, and to make The PGA's action was especially gratify- for artificially 10\v scoring. We, too, are interested in promoting interest in golf. How- ing because it had been made voluntarily. ever, we do not believe that this is the way The PGA's original suggestions were to do it. Our observation has been that a game is not necessarily improved by "soften- signed by .Mr. Ed Dudley, its President. ing" it. To the contrary, \ve believe that The USGA reply ,vas made by Mr. Field- the challenge which golf affords as essen- ing Wallace, its President. Normally, when tially a test of skill is one of its greatest Messrs. Wallace and Dudley have any mu- charms and one of the reasons why it has thrived. It appeals deeply to that quality in tual golf affairs, they handle them by con- people which inspires them to exert their versation in the clubhouse and on the golf best efforts in the face of difficulty. course of the Augusta National Golf Club, 110st if not all of your suggestions doubt- Augusta, Ga., of which Mr. Wallace is less come from the small group of profes- Secretary and l'dr. Dudley the Professional. sionals who are your tournament circuit players. They are the greatest players in the They are good friends and occasional golf game. It seems to liS that, since they possess companions-symbolic of the fine relations the ultimate in skill, they are the ones who which have always existed between ama- should least feel a need for a "softer" code teurs and professionals in golf. of Rules. I f they do feel such a need, then you will doubtless recognize that their inter- The USGA's reply covered in detail ests are quite special in that they are con- some basic vie,vs of the Association. Cer- stantly competing for money prizes. In that tain points are sometimes little understood case, vve cannot agree that their special interests necessarily represent the best interests by golfers generally. The USGA believes of the game as a whole. it to be in the interests of the game for its attitude to be known by golfers generally. 14-Club Rule Therefore, the USGA's ans,ver to the You have suggested that the Rules of Golf be amended to permit the use of 15 or 16 PGA is published belmv-but we emphasize clubs. rather than the present limit of 14. that the PGA has independently settled Our Executive Committee is unanimous 1110st of the questions raised. Thus, the in the belief that 14 clubs are enough to play USGA letter should be read not in the the game pleasurably or to provide a demon- sense that it is still directed to the PGA stration of skill. but only in the sense of information for You have said that the vast majority of those with whom you have discussed the all gal fers. subject are very strongly in favor of 16 Following is ?IIr. '~lallace's letter to :1\1r. clubs. You imply that failure to amend the Dudley: 14-club limitation v,'ould constitute failure to give coghizance to the wishes and inter- WE have given consideration to the sugges- ests. of" what you call "the golfers of the tions in your letter of January 8. Our Execu- NatIOn. 20 USGA JOURNAL: Spring, 1948

Although the USGA represents the mem- A similar request was made by a com- bers of some 1,100 clubs, we have not re- mittee representing the PGA during the Open ceived any suggestions for increasing the num- Championship last year. The USGA repre- ber of clubs except from some of the pro- sentatives at that time stated that the feature fessionals on the tournament circuit spon- of the Rules which permits some latitude in sored by the PGA. the character of markings was adopted at If the Rules were amended to permit 16 the request of manufacturers in order to clubs, many amateurs would feel a compul- give them an opportunity for some indi- sion to add two clubs to their. sets-an viduality of design. Your representatives increase of 14 per cent. The cost of a set then expressed the opinion that the manufac- would increase proportionately. If for no turers would accept a standard design, to other reason, we feel this would be a dis- which we replied that our Executive Com- service to the vast body of amateur golfers. mittee would probably approve such a design Decision to limit the number of clubs to if the manufacturers were agreeable. 14 was made by our Executive Committee It was therefore determined that we would in November, 1936 after an extensive survey approach the manufacturers to obtain their of sentiment throughout the United States opinion, which we did, and we advised Mr. and after conference with the Royal and George Schneiter, Chairman of your Tourna- Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland. ment Committee, of the results. The final The effective date of our Rule was deferred vote of the manufacturers was that seven to January I, 1938 in order to give players were opposed to or preferred not to make and manufacturers ample opportunity to such a change and that three were willing. make necessary adjustments. The Rule was Since the action of our Executive Committee well received and \ve have not heard of was contingent upon a favorablt: reply, this serious objection in the intervening decade concluded the matter. except for the suggestions in very recent years by your Association. We note your feeling that a standard design would make it easier to inspect clubs and In announcing the 14-club limitation 10 eliminate confusion. A standard design doubt- January, 1937, our Executive Committee IS- less would be simpler to interpret than the sued the following statement: present specifications, but the checking of "The Executive Committee has noted with scoring of iron clubs is at best not an easy concern a growing increase in the number of iob for the layman since it deals with very clubs. Its inquiries supported its conclusion fine measurements. We therefore feel that that limiting the number of clubs would we should depend on the manufacturers to tend to restore to the game individual shot- make clubs in conformity with our present making skill lost through the introduction specifications, and a change to a standard of an excessive number of clubs in finely design would be of no assistance in this graduated and matched sets. The Commit- respect. Most of the confusion in the last tee felt that a multiplicity of clubs tended year was caused by either deliberate or care- toward mechanization of a game one of less manufacture of clubs in violation of our whose virtues lies in the opportunity it af- specifications. Such a situation would not fords for full individual skill. In earlier days have been helped by the adoption of a stan- players sometimes changed their swings to dard design and, since we rely on the manu- execute varied shots. The tendencv in re- facturers for their cooperation, we think it cent years has been to change only -the club. far better to provide them with a set of It was felt that, as a former President of the specifications which is to their liking rather Association said, players should not buy their than force the adoption of a standard design shots in the professional's shop but should which they do not want. develop skill by their own effort. "The Executive Committee believes that We are receiving the cooperation of all limitation of the number of clubs will ac- the manufacturers. If the professionals \vill complish other desirable objectives, namely: give similar support, we believe that the matter of club face markings will not be a 1. "Relief to caddies from unfair burdens; problem. 2. "Reduction of delays in play, as the players will spend less time in deciding Prize Money for Open Championship what club to use; You have suggested that the prize money 3. "Give players who cannot afford an un- for professionals in the Open Cbampionship limited supply of clubs an opportunity to be increased by an amount equal to the compete with others on a more equal entry fees received from the competitors. basis." We regret to say that we feel it inadvis- Markings on Iron Clubs able to do so. We have many other activities which would be adverselv affected if we You have suggested that we adopt one were to increase the Open prfze money. Fur- standard design with which the faces of iron ther, we feel that the prize money now of- clubs may be marked (rather than the speci- fertJ is adequate under existing circum- fications we now have). stances. USGA JOURNAL: Spring, 1948 21

his livelihood from the game. To give you but a few examples: 1. Last year the USGA allotted to its Green Section a budget equivalent to 125 per cent of all income from USGA mem- bership dues. To reduce the Green Section's budget would retard its work for the good of all golf courses. 2. 'Our Walker Cup and Curtis Cup Matches with the British are very expensive and pro- duce no income whatever for the USGA when held abroad. Last year the Walker Cup Match expenditures were nearly $16,000, which accounted in large measure for the Fielding Wallace (left) and Ed Dudley, USGA's net loss of nearly $9,400 in our USGA and PGA Presidents, respectively. over-all activities. But the international matches serve a real purpose both here and The Open Championship prize money has abroad and in generally furthering interna- twice been increased in the last two years- tional sportsmanship and understanding. We by $2,000 in 1946 and by $2,000 again in 1947. should not like to 'have them affected ad- The total scheduled prizes in 1947 amounted versely. to $10,000. In addition, in both 1946 and 3. Our Amateur Public Links Champion- 1947 we awarded special prizes of $1,000 ship has always entailed a financial loss to for equal division among the competitors in the USGA. We feel it is a boon to golf, playoffs which became necessary after ties and we should not like to impair it. for the Championship. All USGA revenue eventually goes back Thus, in 1947 all prizes for professionals into the game. Since the professionals stand amounted to $11,000, ~s compared with $6,000 to gain most from those things which aid in the last pre-war Championship in 1941. the development of golf, it would seem to The USGA's income has not increased cor- us short-sighted for your Association to ad- respondingly and its expenses have grown vocate the diversion of funds from broadly much greater. useful purposes in order to increase the In connection with entry fees, the fee for prizes for the 30 lowest professionals in the the Open Championship has remained at $5 Open Championship. for a great many years. Further, 42 per cent The financial success of the Open Cham- of the entrants in the last two years have pionship, like all other events of which we been amateur golfers-the two-year total of are aware, depends in large measure upon 2,532 entrants consisted of 1,467 professionals the generosity of several hundred amateur and 1,065 amateurs. That proportion has golfers who give freely of their time and been constant in both of the post-war Open energy to conduct it, without compensation Championships held thus far. whatever. Our Executive Committee, like I am sure you know that we should like the members of the host club, not only con- to make the Open Championship as inter- tribute their efforts but pay all of their own esting as possible for the competitors, con- expenses in connection with all of their sistent with our other commitments, and that USGA work. If everyone connected with we should like to be as helpful as reasonably a competition were to be paid for his ef- possible to the professional golfers. The forts and his personal expenses, it is doubtful USGA's attitude has been expressed in nu- whether any competition would be a financial merous ways throughout the years. The success, and that in turn would probably mean Open Championship, for instance, inaugurated a reduction in money prizes. in 1895, was the first regular competition Finally, you may be correct in your state- with money prizes for professionals. Then, ment that the Open Championship has dimi- too, in the early years of your Association's nished in importance because its prize money Ryder Cup Match series with British pro- is no longer of an unusual amount. We, how- fessionals, the USGA made cash contribu- ever, do not consider that the amount of prize tions toward the PGA's expenses. I think money is the sole important test of the worth you must know that it has always been the of a competition. The Open Championship USGA's intention to be as useful as possible is intended to be essentially a sporting event to the game of golf. and a Championship test. It is not a com- Our desire to serve the best interests of the mercial event for advertising purposes. game as a whole is precisely one main reason why we feel unable to increase the Open Suggestions for Changes in the Championship prize money. I f we were to do so, we should have to make a correspond- Rules of Golf ing decrease in allotments for other activities, Your several suggestions for changes in all of which ultimately benefit the game and the Rules of Golf were considered by the therefore benefit the professional who makes Executive Committee when the forthcoming 22 USGA JOURXAL: Spring, 1948

1948 Rules were adopted. We had also re- would be a great time-consumer, and would ceived numerous suggestions from other create grave inconsistency among the Rules. sources. A number of changes are being We do not agree that the matter of a lost made in the Rules, but the Committee did or unplayable ball ~is exactly parallel with not adopt any of the proposals you advanced. that of a ball out of bounds. Boundaries are Your same suggestions had been fully con- a necessary evil and in a great many instances sidered more than a year ago. are unfair in location. Although in theory it Among the most compelling reasons against might seem incorrect to have a lesser penalty your proposals are: for a ball out of bounds than for a losf or 1. PROPOSALTOPERMIT CLEANINGBALL ON unplayable ball, in actual practice there are PUTTING GREEN: One of the basic principles relatively few lost and unplayable balls in of golf has always been to play the ball as comparison with out-of-bounds shots. For it lies without touching it. To permit clean- many years the Rules of Golf sanctioned re- ing the ball indiscriminately, regardless of mission of the penalty stroke for a ball out conditions, could easily lead to lifting the of bounds by local rule, and most clubs ball following a majority of strokes, and had such a local rule. When the change to that, in turn, could easily lead to unfair tac- loss of distance only was made in the Rules tics. We do, however, adopt a local rule to of Golf proper last year, it was merely mak- permit cleaning the ball on particular days ing uniform what had previously been option- when adverse playing conditions justify. It al and what had already been common prac- is never possible to provide uniform condi- tice, even in USGA competitions where there tions for an entire field, and a basic idea of were many boundaries close to the line of the game is to take the course as you find it. play. 2. PROPOSALTO PERMIT LIFTING, CLEANING We realize that there can never be unanim- AND PLACING BALL EMBEDDEDON PUTTING ity of opinion among all golfers as to certain SURFACE: Same considerations as in item 1 Rules of Golf, and we do not pretend that above, and same procedure on special days in our committees are always unanimous. But USGA competitions. we do consider these two factors very important: 3. PROPOSALTO PROHIBIT BRUSHING LINE OF PUTT WITH A CLUB: Removal of loose First, that all opinions be informed opin- impediments from the line of putt has long ions, based on full knowledge of the been permitted. We feel it is more practical facts and with the best, long-range to permit a club to be used for the purpose interest of the whole game in mind. rather than to require that it be done by Second, that there be unanimous observ- hand. We feel also that Rule 18 of the 1947 ance of the Rules once thev have been code provides sufficient protection against fixed .• improving the line of putt otherwise. Tournament golf is not quite the same sort 4. PROPOSALTO PERMIT AND REQUIRE RE- of spectacle as many professional sports. Golf PAIR OF BALL MARKS ON PUTTING SURFACE is primarily a game for amateurs to play. BEFOREPUTTING: We feel that players them- One of its distinctive features is that it is selves should not be allowed to do this or played as a sport in which everybody com- to order that it be done, as it could definitely petes on equal terms. Unlike most profes- allow improvement of the putting surface and sional spectator sports, the gallery at golf testing of the grass; but in our competiti,ons tournaments is constituted of golfers who we direct the club's greenkeeping staff to do play the game and understand it and who so. As far as players are concerned, we re- walk around the course with the competi- vised Section 6 of Etiquette of the G:.ime tors. One of the features that makes the of Golf last year to provide as follows: "A vocation of golf professionalism attractive is player should see that any turf cut or dis- the close association between the amateur and placed by him is at once replaced and pressed the professional. Many of us feel that the down, and after the play of the hole is com- PGA's adoption of a different code of play- pleted should see that any ball hole made ing rules is creating a break which can only by him in the putting green is eradicated." result in injury not only to the game itself You cannot eliminate all luck from the but to those who have made the decision to game. There are a great many irregularities take up the game as a means of earning their of lie in the fairway, such as in divot holes livelihood. and natural depressions, which might also The professional golfer is constantly set- be considered as unfair as ball marks on ting a powerful example. He has a real the putting green, and possibly even more responsibility. so because they are not made by the player In view of all these considerations, and affected. See also general consideration in in view of the long history of cordial rela- item I above. tions between the professional and the ama- S. PROPOSALTO REDUCEPENALTIESTO DIS- teur and between their respective representa- TANCEONLY FORLOST OR UNPLAYABLEBALL: tive bodies, we request your Association to To do so would be to allow any shot to be give serious consideration to abandoning its replayed for loss of distance only, and that special rules and to return to uniform ob- would change the very nature of the game, servance of the established Rules of Golf.