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.

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