Have the USGA and R&A Made Things Worse with Decision 18/4?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 25, 2013

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The USGA & R&A have officially decided to address the issue of viewers calling in penalties after having witnessed the penalty occur through the use of an HD television replay, at least in relation to an illegal movement of the golf ball.

This is an issue that has been driving ardent golf fans crazy for years and has wreaked havoc on some of golf’s biggest events.

Last week, in a joint statement released by the USGA and R&A as part of their biennial review of the rules of the game, it was declared that “Decision 18/4 provides that, where enhanced technological evidence (e.g. HDTV, digital recording or online visual media, etc.) shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time.”

This essentially means that if a slow motion HD television replay shows a player’s ball move by a quarter of a centimeter and the rules officials decide that the player could not have reasonably seen his or her golf ball move with their naked eye, that player will not incur a penalty for the rules infraction.

This is a modification to Rule 18-2 (“Ball at Rest Moved: By Player, Partner, Caddie or Equipment”) of the Rules of Golf and is essentially another step forward from Rule 33-7 which was implemented in April 2011 and waived disqualification for a player who signed an incorrect scorecard following a round in which that player committed a rules infraction that was later identified through video evidence.

While it is always good to see the USGA and R&A working to address new forms of technology that may be having a detrimental impact on the game of golf, Decision 18/4 actually seems to create an even larger grey area than before, and will also more than likely place many players and rules officials in difficult situations during the com...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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