13 Comments

1. 

   Chris

   Apr 20, 2013 at 9:44 am

   I keep hearing tradition and then I note that the long/belly putter has been used since the game was invented. Seems pretty traditional to me.

   What would be nice is if people took time to educate themselves rather than regurgitating 10 second sound lips they heard on TV.

   Same as our voting public, we have “low information” people trolling our golf sites….

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2. 

   Steve St. Clair

   Apr 15, 2013 at 6:49 pm

   Hey, G, why don’t you move on to some other game that you can respect. Leave golf to those of us with lower standards than you that still enjoy the game, respect the game, and the players. Seems like you might suffer from broomstick envy…

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3. 

   Tim

   Apr 15, 2013 at 10:34 am

   The Masters did not disappoint again! Wonderful, exciting to the end.

   As to what the pubilc (non-playing) thinks of golf, I think they found more than enough to prove the game instills character and perseverance in the players, both professional and amateur. Perhaps things that not all the “public” truly understands.

   I felt for Jason Day, but he will be there again. I felt for Brad, but his time will come. I felt for Tiger, but he will gain confidence knowing he overcame the penalty to again be “in the mix” as he calls it.

   No other tournament has the drama to the end that the Masters does!

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   • 

     G

     Apr 15, 2013 at 11:25 am

     Oh I think the general public understands plenty. If they’re not playing golf, then they’re playing tennis, into the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and if not, then, soccer, Track & Field, etc etc.
     I think the public knows there is something not quite right with golf at the moment for the game to attract such rules arguments even among the veterans of the game, including the legends like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. I think they are fully aware that when the government body in the USGA comes out not necessary a rule change, but a firm decision on the rules which had been rather weakly defined, to finally become the law for future generations to level off the game.

     The public understands. They see it everywhere else. A lot of the public still thinks it’s a silly game that they can pick up in their retirement and expect to play like the legends or like Woods just by buying the same exact equipment advertised on TV, and that those of us who have been playing it for their entire lives have no right to mock the newcomers because, in the end, the newcomers don’t care what the rules are, they just want to play.
     Is that what the games is all about? The rules are meant to be broken and ignored and argued, for the sake of the “enjoyment” of the game? Is that what Adam Scott has been given, a license to just enjoy the game like everybody else with equipment that looks like it doesn’t belong in golf?

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4. 

   llamont

   Apr 15, 2013 at 3:26 am

   Well done, Adam! I’m glad to see genuinely classy person and a ferocious competitor (at the same darned time) win their first major in a tournament that was so “eventful”. Cheers!!!

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5. 

   Derek

   Apr 15, 2013 at 12:39 am

   I’m going to have to agree with Ronaldo and Pat.

   Although I’m not in favour of the anchored putters (belly and chest alike) because of it’s complete runaway of “tradition” so to speak; also you could argue that under NORMAL circumstances it might help a below average putter become average… by no means does it make good putters great and average putters good.

   Moving on, to their point, the best putters in the game are all using conventional putters with conventional grips: a la Tiger and Snedeker; arguably the two best putters in the game today.

   Also, if you’ve forgotton that ALL of the rules are in “the book” as you call it, then you have lost touch with the game, not everyone else. The rules of golf are pretty clear cut, hence why Tiger suffered a 2 stroke penalty for dropping the ball further from the described proximity and being saved from DQ thanks to the new rule which might save a golfer if a decision is made after he has signed what would be a good score-card if it wasn’t altered by the committee after the game.

   And lastly, although I simpathize with Guan, Chamblee explained it quite well when he said that all players are slow, but experienced players know how to circumvent the rule, Ie. walking slowly and allowing their caddy to reach the ball first and make 80% of the decision before the player gets there… etc. Obviously Guan doesn’t know this because he’s 14 playing in a PGA Tour event (let alone the Master’s) for the first time…

   Ps. Golf gods exist because he made the cut anyways. Cheers.

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6. 

   phase3golf

   Apr 15, 2013 at 12:34 am

   Well done Adam, “monkey” of the back so to speak and C’mon Aussie!!!

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7. 

   Patrick Millard

   Apr 15, 2013 at 12:12 am

   Well said roland
   If scotty could put he would have won this by 4 or 5 strokes.
   Cheers

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8. 

   Ryan

   Apr 15, 2013 at 12:12 am

   One of the best Masters I’ve ever seen. I really enjoyed it.

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9. 

   Ronald Montesano

   Apr 15, 2013 at 12:05 am

   G,
   Did you see Scott miss the eagle putt on 15, the birdie putt on 16 and the birdie putt on 17? You can’t tell me that it has salvaged his putting game. He won with his tee to green game, not with his scrambling and his 6-10 feet putts.

   It’s terrific that you “dedicated players” will continue to educate the laypeople (sic).

   I found this to be a wondrous week in golf. The game survived two controversies (Guan and Woods) and gave us a magical ending in spite of a day of wretched conditions.

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   • 

     G

     Apr 15, 2013 at 2:36 am

     Not arguing the ones he missed – he missed plenty, yes – but at the same time, how would he have been had he used a normal, non-anchored putter at a normal length, of say, 35 inches? He tried experimenting again earlier this year, thinking that the rules would be in place immediately, and when he found out it wasn’t, he was quick to drop that and go right back to the broomstick.

     Could he have putted so well over the past couple of years had he been forced to use a conventional 35 incher. The answer is unequivocally, no. Otherwise he would have never picked up the broomstick in the first place if he was able to make putts.

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     • 

       J

       Jul 23, 2013 at 4:20 am

       http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02564.html#2004

       Unequivocally no? Granted, this was 9 years ago but to lead the tour for a whole year in Stroke Gained Putting shows that there is some ability there somewhere. This is proof he is capable of switching successfully back to the short putter!

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10. 

    G

    Apr 14, 2013 at 11:39 pm

    This is as low and as bad as a golf tournament gets, with all its controversies, and ending with yet another controversy.

    What a terrible Masters it turned out to be. Memorable for sure, as the rules will be examined through and through by the experts and beginners alike.

    But the game looks bad to the general public who doesn’t really know golf or its weird rules. This tournament did not help the game any. We’re going to be made to look like a bunch of fools investing all this time into a game that really don’t have a strict set of rules for anything at all, including equipment, where everything is sort of heresay and allowed, for the sake of being nice to each other and yet not to a young kid who wants to get in on the game, being made a scapegoat, at a time when we’re desperately trying to attract more players to the game overall.

    I’m already hearing how pathetic golfers are, from people around me who don’t play the game, at the silliness and pettiness of the game, for exactly the above reasons outlined above.

    I do feel a bit ashamed that the game has got this low with so much bickering and un-gentlemanly conduct all around, with wishy-washy officiating that mean absolutely nothing because they no longer appear to be rules at all to the layperson watching the proceedings. I was asked – “so is it a rule in the book, or not?” And I had no real reply.

    And here comes the anchoring debate. I feel for Scott, but then again, I don’t. His career has obviously been resurrected by that wretched broomstick thing, which now must be considered the decisive proof, that the devilish tool can, in fact, help those who need that sort of help. There should be no more argument, but alas – to the laypeople, they have no idea with what conundrum us dedicated players must now contend.

    A sad week in golf.

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