While you can’t physically go over to another player’s bag and start rummaging through it to figure how what club that person just used, there’s nothing illegal about watching the club get replaced.
In honour of this last dance in Texas, it seems appropriate to explore one of the more intriguing – and awkward – rules situations that can occur in matchplay.
Setting aside the utter frustration and annoyance you might feel over a slow player, if you’re wondering if the Rules of Golf has anything to say about how long it should take to play a shot – it does.
The rule changes announced by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) and the USGA – today that will come into effect on January 1, 2023 – are not as dramatic as in 2019, the last time the rules changed under the four-year cycle. But there are some decent moderations you should know about.
If simplicity and clarity were the buzzwords associated with the sweeping changes the R&A and USGA brought when modernising the Rules of Golf in 2019, then inclusion and sustainability highlight the updates coming in 2023.
The good news for Thomas Pieters? Much of the golf world’s attention is on the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow. The bad news? The internet still exists.
Jordan Spieth’s intentions were pure. But his knowledge of the rulebook was lacking in one very specific department, and it cost him a two-shot penalty at the Hero World Challenge.