To the extent of my sports knowledge golf is the only "sport" (I use the term lightly) in which fans can call in and report a rules violation from the comfort of your own couch. Well, it's coming to an end at the first of the year. Effective January 1, 2018 the USGA the PGA and all the other major governing bodies will no longer accept calls or emails from fans who think they saw a rules violation on television.

   Many of these violations are so micro in nature that you'd HAVE to see it on an 88 inch diagonal LED with 4K ultra high def.

That's why all the fans in attendance, the officials that were standing right there and the player's opponents didn't see it when it happened.

   A prime example from earlier this year was when a fan e-mailed a violation on Lexi Thompson for NOT REPLACING HER BALL-MARK PROPERLY!! Because of the all-seeing eye of one anonymous couch potato in Fon Du Lac, Thompson was given a 4 stroke penalty and lost the tournament.

   I'm glad to see this weird quirk of golf go, if for no other reason than it's so silly you can't even imagine it happening in other sports.

    "Hey, this is Bill in Wichita Falls. I'm watching the World Series and that 3rd pitch back in the second inning looked just a bit outside the strike zone."

     Well, now that that's done I hope the next thing they do is implement the "inside the leather" rule for pros. That's the rule that most weekend duffers use where if the putt is shorter than about three feet it's considered good. Those guys never, but never, miss those putts, it would speed the play up considerably and would make my own game look more professional by comparison.

The first video is courtesy of Inside Edition.

The next video from the Colorado Golf Association has an explanation of the rule violation.

 

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