Let
me start by wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year!
With a mild winter so far, hopefully spring will be here
before we know it.
I
will be heading down to Orlando the last week of January
to attend the PGA Demo day and Merchandise show in Orlando
and preview of all the new products for 2012. I’m
excited to see what new product is being released and to
see if there are any must-haves for our Pro Shop this season.
I already know that Titleist’s has a brand new NXT
to debut which is scheduled to be released at the end of
this month along with a new adjustable line of woods from
Callaway. There will be new Vokey wedges and Scotty Cameron
putters from Titleist and Taylor Made will continue with
its R11 line in 2012 with the release of the R11-S. These
are only a few of the new products this year. I’ll
have more information for everyone next month. Demo days
have already been scheduled for this spring along with the
Pro Shop Demo’s, which will be available mid-March.
Our
tournament schedule for 2012 is pretty similar to last year
with a few minor changes to the fall member-guest and the
Presidents cup. Stay tuned for details. The “Derby”
will once again be held in the spring on May 20th and our
Men’s Club Championship will continue to be a Match
Play event. I hope you are all looking forward to a terrific
2012 season like I am. Doug, Holly and I will be back in
March. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your winter and
I will see you in the spring!
Jason Cramer, PGA
Rules of Golf
- Key Rule Changes for 2012
Every four years, the
USGA and the R&A, the two bodies that govern the game
of golf around the world, make revisions to the Rules of
Golf.
For 2012, the set of
changes is more significant than usual and corrects some
issues considered for a long time to need attention. The
key changes attempt to better align breaches
of certain Rules with their penalties. As Glen Nager, the
new President of the USGA who chaired the Rules Committee
that worked on the changes, says, “While it is considered
important that the Rules be faithful to their historical
principles, they must be clear, comprehensive and relevant
to today’s game, and the
penalties must be appropriate.” The changes become
effective on January 1, 2012 and are part of the overall
Rules of Golf that will be in effect until the next revision
at the beginning of 2016.
Here is a summary of
the key changes.
Rule
6-3a – Time of Starting. The Rules
will be more forgiving to players who arrive late, but within
five minutes, of their starting time. Currently, if a player
arrives late he is disqualified unless the Committee has
added a condition of competition that allows for a five
minute grace period, which would reduce the DQ to a two-stroke
penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play. The
2012 revision modifies the Rule to match the current condition
of competition. Going forward, only players who arrive more
than five minutes after their starting time will be disqualified.
This is an important modification for tournament players,
although less so for NJSGA tournament players because we
always allowed the five-minute grace period as a condition
of competition.
Rule
12-1 – Searching for Ball; Seeing
Ball. Rule 12-1, which deals with searching for your ball,
has been modified to simplify the Rules and create uniform
application throughout the course. Currently, when your
ball is in a hazard and believed to be covered by loose
impediments, there is no penalty if your ball is accidentally
moved while searching. However, if this same situation occurs
outside of a hazard, you are penalized one stroke and must
replace the ball. Starting in 2012, if you move your ball
during a search anywhere on the course when it is believed
to be covered by loose impediments, you will incur a penalty
stroke and must replace the ball.
Rule
13-4 – Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions. It
is no longer a prohibited action for a player to smooth
sand or soil in a hazard before playing a shot from that
hazard – as long as the act is for the sole purpose
of caring for the course and not improving one’s lie,
the area of his intended stance or swing, or his line of
play. For example, if a player enters a bunker to retrieve
a rake, he may rake over his footprints before he plays
his shot from the bunker as long as he is not gaining an
advantage from doing so.
Rule
18-2b – Ball Moving After Address. This
Rule now exonerates the player from penalty if his ball
moves after it has been addressed, as long as it is known
or virtually certain that he did not cause the ball to move.
For example, if a gust of wind moves the ball after a player
has addressed it on a putting green, there is no longer
a one-stroke penalty and the ball does not have to be replaced;
rather, it is played from its new position. This Rule has
long troubled players and received much notoriety over the
years, including the Padraig Harrington incident at the
2008 Masters and Webb Simpson this year when he lost the
Zurich Classic after his ball inadvertently moved on the
15th green. This Rule may have cost Simpson the PGA TOUR
money title this year, and finally received the modification
it deserved.
Players still need
to be careful about grounding their clubs in the rough.
If you ground your club to address the ball, and the pressure
on the grass causes the ball to move, that movement is considered
to be caused by the player, and the one-stroke penalty still
applies.
The recent changes
also tweaked language in several other Rules, but mostly
for clarification and application purposes. The changes
summarized above are the most significant and will be the
most impactful to players.
