05 GOLF GUIDE 2019 M A N I T O B A
“It’s a big change in process after doing things one way for about 35 years,” he says. “The rule changes have been a big adjustment for both players and referees.” Ladobruk just referenced another change to the rules. Turns out, it will no longer be rules officials, but referees, that preside over rulings at tournaments. Longtime Golf Manitoba rules official, er, referee, Don MacDonald, says that he and other Golf Manitoba officials have been kept busy attending seminars put on by Golf Canada to learn the myriad rule changes. In turn, Golf Manitoba has been active in putting on rules seminars since the start of the year. Those seminars will carry over into the spring and beyond to ensure everyone gets a good handle on the changes. “We’re working with clubs to draft changes to local rules,” MacDonald says. “There have been terminology changes that have changed definitions. Just a couple of ex - amples are ‘temporary water’ instead of ‘casual water,’ and ‘through the green’ now being ‘the general area.’ Those are just two of many changes.” Ladobruk says he expects it will take a while for people to wrap their heads
around all the changes. “I think the growing pains that we’ve seen will continue through the entire 2019 sea- son. As I said earlier, it’s a big change in process. I think the biggest challenge will be competitive players having confidence in making the right rules decision. I expect that our referees will be very busy.” That said, Golf Manitoba’s director of competitions Lisa Anderson believes her referees are prepped and ready to go. “I’m really confident that they will rise to the challenge. They’ve put in tons of time on it (learning the new rules), so the players won’t have to worry about getting proper rulings,” she says. MacDonald says that while the odd is- sue is inevitable, it’s important to look at the bigger picture as it pertains to the new rules. “We need to focus on the long-term bene- fits, not the short-term transition,” he says. “We shouldn’t get too fussed about a year of transition. Short-term, there are going to be rough spots. In the long-term, I be- lieve the new rules will simplify and speed up the game and make it more enjoyable
The first major casualty of the rule chang - es was PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler, who was penalized one shot for dropping from shoulder height instead of knee height at the WGC Mexico Championship. Fowler grumbled about the penalty, but later ac- knowledged that old habits die hard. Then, at the 2019 Players Championship in March, last year’s Players champion Webb Simpson – who was walking to his ball just off the green to play it with his putter – had the putter catch in his shirt and inadvertently hit the ball. He was subsequently penalized for caus- ing his ball to move. According to the rules, Simpson’s ball was at rest, and the incident resulted in a one stroke penalty. If that wasn’t bad enough, fellow player Adam Schenk was penalized two strokes at The Players for having his caddie stand behind him after he took his stance. The same penalty was also levied on Denny McCarthy earlier in the year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the align- ment no-no. Unfortunately – at least early on – the buzz around the rules of golf wasn’t a pos- itive one. That’s entirely understandable, says Jared Ladobruk, executive director of Golf Manitoba.
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