Back in April of this year, Brian Davis- fairly new to the tour, loses his chance to win the Verizon Heritage and $400,000 because he ticked a reed during his backswing while in a hazard.
He didn’t intend to touch the reed to improve his chances. And I’m pretty sure that didn’t give him any advantage. Brian, sorry to see you concede your first possible victory in such a crappy way. At least you can say you came in second to Jim Furyk.
There should be a referee out there with instant replay that could make a better call than some rule taken to the highest level of anal retentiveness. Seriously, he barely nicked a dead reed…A DEAD REED! Everybody knows that contacting a dead reed in your backswing makes you play better. The best part is that if he hit it on the downswing there’s no penalty. I understand moving a low hanging branch or stepping on a bush to improve your shot is a penalty but, come on!
So what if I’m in really tall grass, like heather, and in my backswing I contact a loose dead piece of heather? It impedes on my shot…it’s friggin’ tall grass! Normal fairway grass gives me agita* sometimes. Does that mean I get taxed 2 strokes? Great, now I have to inspect my surroundings for any loose blade of grass that could interfere with my takeaway.
Now that I think about it, I need to go back and readjust all of my scores. Better yet, I’ll just start my rounds with + 8. That should cover the penalties I would incur so I don’t have to explain that during my backswing somehow the O.B. marker and the rock in front of my ball got relocated roughly five feet behind me. Are we really supposed to follow the rules to that degree?
Hey, there’s a way to really mess with your foursome. Keep a copy of the rule book turned to Rule 13.4 stating that it is a two stroke penalty moving a loose impediment in takeaway. I’ll bet you set your buddies back a few strokes every round. I should also mention that the extra strokes added to their score will somehow correlate to the amount of strokes they administer on your face in the parking lot.
Hit’em Long…yell FORE!!
*Agita: (AH-GEE-TA) Heartburn, acid indigestion, The word is Italian-American slang derived from the Italian “agitare” meaning “to agitate.”
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