Pulling a Mickelson

[Steve West]

I think what happened at one of the big AM tournaments (discussed in a podcast I listened to a while back) was similar, but not the same as this. There was a Par 4 or 5 where players found it advantageous to pitch OB directly off the tee and proceed to the drop zone for an easy up and down - or something like that. I can't remember the details in regard to what made the attempt at a drive in the fairway so dangerous, but the rules guy said nobody was breaking any rule, just taking advantage of poor hole design.

So not really comparable, but hey...

Note that the rules now allow the TD to let players skip the charade of tossing into the OB area.

For example, if the TD invokes this rule and you can't clear the lake which is just off the tee, you don't need to get your disc wet to go to the drop zone. Or, if the TD invokes this rule and you can't clear the cedar-filled no-exit valley, you don't need to waste a disc.

But ONLY when the TD declares it for that particular DZ, because there are some drop zones that are so far forward of the tee the player might not get there in two real throws.

The TD should probably have invoked this rule if this tournament was held in 2018.

805.03 Lost Disc
Last updated: Sunday, December 31, 2017 - 18:17
E. If a drop zone has been provided for lost discs, the Director may allow players to proceed directly to the drop zone at the cost of two penalty throws.

806.02 Out-of-Bounds
Last updated: Saturday, March 3, 2018 - 09:43
G. If a drop zone has been provided for an out-of-bounds area, the Director may allow players to proceed directly to that drop zone at the cost of two penalty throws.

Emphasis added.

 

[Consult20]

In all fairness to Mickelson, he was wearing a polo shirt.

 

[Jay Dub]

He did say that in interviews, but I think that is nonsense. Is he advocating that golf change the oft [sarcasm] violated "moving ball rule" to a four stroke penalty? That any player intentionally breaking rule to benefit his score should be DQ'ed? What is his protest?

Anyway, the real question was, are there rules in our game that could be broken to benefit score?

I believe he was protesting the condition of the course that day or the pin location. USGA even admitted that #s 13 & 15 were bad pin locations on Saturday.

 

[_MTL_]

I think what happened at one of the big AM tournaments (discussed in a podcast I listened to a while back) was similar, but not the same as this. There was a Par 4 or 5 where players found it advantageous to pitch OB directly off the tee and proceed to the drop zone for an easy up and down - or something like that. I can't remember the details in regard to what made the attempt at a drive in the fairway so dangerous, but the rules guy said nobody was breaking any rule, just taking advantage of poor hole design.

So not really comparable, but hey...

That was my segment on PDGA radio.

https://www.pdga.com/radio/pdga-radio-april-17-2018

 

[DavidSauls]

From almost everybody I have listened to, it looks and sounds like his "using the rule to his advantage" is something Phil came up with after the fact to justify his antics. It would take an unreasonable amount of foresight to plan to do something like that ahead of time. He would never be able to plan to be on that spot of the green in order to expose the rule.

Probably, but I've known coaches and players in other sports to keep obscure rules in the back of their head, just in case the opportunity ever presented itself to use them.

 

[PoorPutter]

Phil's playing competitor and the standard bearer both heard him say "I don't know what that is. I don't know what score that is or what happens now" and also "Whatever I get, I get. Just let me know what it is.".

Thus proving his story is BS about knowing the rule and using it to his advantage.

Also, he arguably broke 2 rules beyond hitting a moving ball.....one about "the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play" and one "which gives the USGA authority to DQ a player for a serious breach of etiquette".

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...en-bizarre-display-13th-hole-shinnecock-hills

 

[PMantle]

Phil's playing competitor and the standard bearer both heard him say "I don't know what that is. I don't know what score that is or what happens now" and also "Whatever I get, I get. Just let me know what it is.".

Thus proving his story is BS about knowing the rule and using it to his advantage.

Also, he arguably broke 2 rules beyond hitting a moving ball.....one about "the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play" and one "which gives the USGA authority to DQ a player for a serious breach of etiquette".

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...en-bizarre-display-13th-hole-shinnecock-hills

What he did has nothing to do with etiquette.

That article is a disgrace to both golf and critical thinking.

 

[biscoe]

I think what happened at one of the big AM tournaments (discussed in a podcast I listened to a while back) was similar, but not the same as this. There was a Par 4 or 5 where players found it advantageous to pitch OB directly off the tee and proceed to the drop zone for an easy up and down - or something like that. I can't remember the details in regard to what made the attempt at a drive in the fairway so dangerous, but the rules guy said nobody was breaking any rule, just taking advantage of poor hole design.

So not really comparable, but hey...

Doesn't sound like the same situation described to me. What was related to me was an extremely sloped green and a player kicking over his own disc rolling away.

 

[PoorPutter]

What he did has nothing to do with etiquette.

Wel, I said it was arguable. hahahaha

How are you defining "etiquette"?

 

[PMantle]

Wel, I said it was arguable. hahahaha

How are you defining "etiquette"?

Etiquette, in golf, deals with how one treats the course and those playing along with you.

 

[uncle pennybags]

Etiquette, in golf, deals with how one treats the course and those playing along with you.

So if I were to gently caress the basket while looking lovingly into my cardmates eyes before putting, would that be considered good etiquette?

 

[PMantle]

So if I were to gently caress the basket while looking lovingly into my cardmates eyes before putting, would that be considered good etiquette?

 

[Lewis]

"Pulling a Mickleson" is going to follow him the rest of his career.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I think Mickelson will start to run after his putt rolling past the hole in some high profile event later this year without swatting it just to poke fun a little more, likely when he's already not in contention.

 

[trifocal]

Etiquette, in golf, deals with how one treats the course and those playing along with you.

When I was 10, my dad took me along as his caddie for a dew busting round of stick golf on a foggy Saturday morning at a course in the U.P. There was nobody at the place. Pro Shop was locked up and the greenskeepers hadn't arrived. He told me to go grab a pull cart and meet him at the first tee. I was concerned about not having paid and he just said "we'll check in after the first nine."

Pops hits a 3 wood off the first tee into the fog and the ball just vanishes. I was too young to say wtf, but WTF?___ Where'd it go, dad?-- It's out there in the middle somewhere, buddy--.

250 ten year old steps later... there's a dew trail and then the ball. The first green/flag are barely visible and the first tee and pro shop behind us are invisible. So there, in the middle of a very very low cloud on a vacant course in Michigan, my dad began teaching me the game of golf. Where to stand, how to tend a pin, where not to stand, how to rake a green... Every shot presented a different lesson. After nine holes, he checked in with the pro and we were hooked up with a couple other men and that added to the complexity of etiquette and the Game.
----
Golf/DG is church for me. It's not about the score so much as a kind of respect for a game that presents endless opportunities for failure, redemption, luck and rare moments of perfection. I like playing out and I like turning for home. I like that the hole I'm playing right now is a little bit different than the same hole the group in front of me played 10 minutes ago. A golf course is a living thing that plays with us. Sometimes friendly, sometimes perverse.
----
On Saturday, the course Phil played in the afternoon was not the same course that the early tee timers played and it wasn't very playful with him. That's golf. The rub of the green.

My favorite US Open 2018 anecdote isn't The Full Phil, it's Tommy Fleetwood's 63 on Sunday. He was disappointed. He really wanted a 62 and he knew he could have had it, had he only played a little better. Disappointed with a 63 on Sunday at the US Open. That's the game we love... when even a remarkable round is bittersweet because it could have been better.

 

[beereakfast]

Wasn't really a technicality. Pulling your disc a meter from the OB line, closer to the basket is a rules technicality that benefits the player. Phil broke a rule...intentionally.

I call it a technicality because that is how they ruled it. If he had simply stopped the ball, it would have been an automatic dq. The fact that it was allowed to fly boggles my mind. It was intentional, and it was wrong, to my judgement.
The funny thing is, the playing conditions were exactly like they were 14 (?) years ago in the same tournament on the same course. But that time they came out at lunch and watered the greens to slow them down. An utterly unheard of move. This time they didn't. I am only a fan of stick golf. To see a tour pro lose it like that was mind blowing. They are just people, but this kinda thing just doesn't happen.... Without a lifelong stigma, ala, pulling a Mickelson!

 

[beereakfast]

This has to be based upon emotion, as there is a specific rule that contemplates this. He did not simply stop or deflect the ball. He very carefully lined up and took a stroke. This is not even close to something calling for a DQ.

Actually, there is a rule. It involves taking an advantage that wasn't allowed all the other players. Weather he actually benefitted or not is irrelevant speculation. It didn't look to me like he lined up much of a shot. It was all emotion.

The real question is, was his caddy carrying an empty beer can!

 

[jmdaire27]

I did witness some weird "drop in" fiasco at a tourney a couple years ago. Cardmate was a couple feet from the basket, went to drop it in the basket, but hit the front of the basket on his way up, as he was letting go. Gravity took over, but he managed to fumble-kick the Disc a couple times back to his hands and into the basket. It never touched the ground, far as I could tell.

I didn't call anything, as I didn't think it broke any rules. Another cardmate was suspect, though. We dropped it(...) and moved on with the round. Was just an odd scenario.

 

[Casey 1988]

He did say that in interviews, but I think that is nonsense. Is he advocating that golf change the oft [sarcasm] violated "moving ball rule" to a four stroke penalty? That any player intentionally breaking rule to benefit his score should be DQ'ed? What is his protest?

Anyway, the real question was, are there rules in our game that could be broken to benefit score?

Yes, the falling forward inside the circle if the card never sees it, knows rest of card is not even looking. The main male card had this problem at a NT tournament already or a PT event not sure which but it was there and eventually Eagle or Simon had to spot it out for the rest of the card to watch. Was the course with the actual water island hole.

 

[PMantle]

It didn't look to me like he lined up much of a shot. It was all emotion.

I don't see how you can say this.