USGA in the spotlight again: HV3 penalized after rules official's mistake.

A bit. Varner tried to do all the right things but still got it wrong, and that kinda sucks for him.

it does, and that definitely sucks for him. But that's life right? I dunno, I read the rule and it's pretty clear to see that what happened was against the rule.
 
That's crazy that a scorer, without the player doing anything to influence it would be penalized.
 
it does, and that definitely sucks for him. But that's life right? I dunno, I read the rule and it's pretty clear to see that what happened was against the rule.

It was, but Varner originally left it somewhere where it could be fixed for him legally and the volunteer messed up by thinking he left it there by mistake. That's the sucky part.
 
It was, but Varner originally left it somewhere where it could be fixed for him legally and the volunteer messed up by thinking he left it there by mistake. That's the sucky part.

Maybe they should start assessing penalties to players when their balls are picked up by patrons on the course?!?!
 
The real questions here are why do people have to stick their noses where they don't belong and why can't people keep their hand off things that don't concern them?
 
How is the USGA in the spotlight? This is a PGA Tour event and the penalty was assessed by a PGA Tour official.

USGA makes the rules


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USGA makes the rules


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PGA tour changes the rules when they see fit, lift clean and place being one example. What stopped them in this case. If the rules official didn't feel HV3 should receive a penalty. Then HV3 wouldn't have gotten a penalty.

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I must be missing something since I don't get the outrage or why this is a USGA issue. He assembled a club on course with a part he was carrying with him. If he gets the shaft and head from his locker and has someone bring it to him he would have been fine right.
 
USGA makes the rules


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There’s no problem with the rule. The problem is with the implementation by the pga tour official and the scorer not knowing what was going on.


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I must be missing something since I don't get the outrage or why this is a USGA issue. He assembled a club on course with a part he was carrying with him. If he gets the shaft and head from his locker and has someone bring it to him he would have been fine right.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I read somewhere it needed to be assembled off course and brought to him. The act of assembling it on course was the violation. So, so stupid. I guess the idiot should have left it on the tee box instead of bringing it back to him... or maybe he should have slapped the **** out of them for messing with stuff that didn't concern them.
 
I thought you could assemble on course if the equipment was not being carried for you by someone. ie the tour rep has the head you pull the shaft out and build that is a penalty but if you send someone to get all the parts from somewhere like a locker and was not being carried for you then you before hand you can assemble on course?

I will say this rule is confusing though.
 
I thought you could assemble on course if the equipment was not being carried for you by someone. ie the tour rep has the head you pull the shaft out and build that is a penalty but if you send someone to get all the parts from somewhere like a locker and was not being carried for you then you before hand you can assemble on course?

I will say this rule is confusing though.
Faldo asked the guy if it had been assembled in the locker room and brought out to him whole, it would have been fine, and never got a straight answer.
 
I thought you could assemble on course if the equipment was not being carried for you by someone. ie the tour rep has the head you pull the shaft out and build that is a penalty but if you send someone to get all the parts from somewhere like a locker and was not being carried for you then you before hand you can assemble on course?

I will say this rule is confusing though.

I dunno, but if they brought it to you on the course, it was bring carried on the course for you. I think that's the reason to assemble off course.
 
Faldo asked the guy if it had been assembled in the locker room and brought out to him whole, it would have been fine, and never got a straight answer.

From what I am reading in the rules technically no it wouldn’t have been? He would have had to have a separate shaft and head combo (even if the exact same)?

This rule seems like it needs an update for intent.


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Did you read what happened? His driver was cracked before the round, so he talked to the rules official about how to correct the issue legally. He put the officials plan into place and a scorer brought him the old club.

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I did.

He had opportunity to rectify the situation before his round. During his round as well. He left it up to the whims of a passerby, that's on HV3 here, you're responsible for your equipment.
 
The rule itself makes sense, but like basically everyone has said, he didn't break the rule, he was doing what was needed to be done. This is one of the reasons people are turned away by golf, they see something like this.
 
This is one of the reasons people are turned away by golf, they see something like this.

......I highly doubt that. Some guy that plays on the weekends sees this isn't going to go "oh man that was BS......im not going to play golf again cause of it".....when he adjusted his driver 4 times during his round that morning
 
Silly rule, and I think a part should be added about “intent”. Feel bad for the volunteer too that probably was just trying to help out.
 
I love how the USGA overhauled the rulebook to make the game of golf easier to understand and play, and to respect the integrity of the player and their intent. #GrowTheGame
 
The rule itself makes sense, but like basically everyone has said, he didn't break the rule, he was doing what was needed to be done. This is one of the reasons people are turned away by golf, they see something like this.
......I highly doubt that. Some guy that plays on the weekends sees this isn't going to go "oh man that was BS......im not going to play golf again cause of it".....when he adjusted his driver 4 times during his round that morning

I agree with 2B.. Anyone who cares enough about the game to read about Harold Varner III isn't going to give up the game based on this.

It does make the process look stupid, and that it is at the fault of an official/scorer/volunteer should not cost the player any strokes.... But once again, the rules do not stipulate that, and they are required to follow them.
 
I agree with 2B.. Anyone who cares enough about the game to read about Harold Varner III isn't going to give up the game based on this.

It does make the process look stupid, and that it is at the fault of an official/scorer/volunteer should not cost the player any strokes.... But once again, the rules do not stipulate that, and they are required to follow them.

Wasn't really referring to people who already care or love the game, probably just bad wording on my part and that's my bad, guess trying to say with penalties like this it's hard to grow the game? Does that make more sense?
 
Wasn't really referring to people who already care or love the game, probably just bad wording on my part and that's my bad, guess trying to say with penalties like this it's hard to grow the game? Does that make more sense?

I absolutely see what you're saying, I just see this ruling as something that isn't visible to the non-avid golfer.

Sure, they had a quick chat with the governing body about it (and Faldo was obviously bothered) but it's not like it was a Sunday afternoon where most are participating.
 
I absolutely see what you're saying, I just see this ruling as something that isn't visible to the non-avid golfer.

Sure, they had a quick chat with the governing body about it (and Faldo was obviously bothered) but it's not like it was a Sunday afternoon where most are participating.
I don't think it was this rule specifically that is bothering most people (well, at least not me). It's the interpretation of any rule such that a player can do everything "right" (Varner did his best to abide by the rules) and yet still get assessed a penalty for the actions of someone else. This just makes it seem the rules are "random", hard to follow, and those that aren't already golfing would ask themselves how could I ever play that silly game with all those stupid rules...

As someone else already mentioned, there should be some intent behind some of these more obscure rules.
 
Seems like a dumb rule. (To me.) What is the big deal if everyone in the tourney adjusts their driver? It's still a level playing field. I doubt it will be a pace-of-play issue, since most guys won't tweak their clubs all that much after the first hole, or even at all.
 
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