New year, new big-time events, new rules, new look for old courses and new dates for some mainstays.

Such is the outlook as Colorado golf enters 2019 with more than the usual amount of major happenings to look forward to in the Centennial State.

Let’s hit some of the highlights:

— U.S. Mid-Amateur: For just the second time ever and the first since 1983 — when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the proceedings and Jay Sigel added the U.S. Mid-Amateur title to the U.S. Amateur victory he had posted 32 days earlier — Colorado will host the national championship for amateurs 25 and older.

This time, Colorado Golf Club (left) in Parker will be the primary championship site for the 264-player event, which will run Sept. 14-19. Aurora-based CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA, will serve as the second host facility for the stroke-play portion of the event Sept. 14-15. CommonGround did likewise for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted.

It will be the latest feather in the cap of Colorado Golf Club in terms of hosting big-time tournaments. It’s previously been the site of the 2010 Senior PGA Championship and the 2013 Solheim Cup. Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw designed Colorado Golf Club, which opened in 2007.

Besides the national title being on the line, the winner of the U.S. Mid-Am will receive a berth in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York — and likely the 2020 Masters.

With the national championship coming to Colorado, the state will host two qualifying tournaments instead of the usual one for the event: Aug. 13 at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood.

Admission to the U.S. Mid-Amateur will be free.

— TPC Colorado Championship: The other national/international tournament coming to Colorado in 2019 will be the inaugural TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, set for July 11-14 at Berthoud-based TPC Colorado, which opened to the public in 2018.

The tournament, the first of at least five Web.com Tour events scheduled for TPC Colorado, will be mark the first visit to Colorado by the PGA Tour’s feeder circuit since 1997, when the second of two Nike Colorado Classics was held at Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, prevailed in the 1996 event at the Dunes.

The 2019 TPC Colorado Championship will feature a $600,000 purse and a 156-person field. Monday qualifying tournaments are set for Riverdale Dunes and Highlands Meadows Golf Course in Windsor on July 8.

— Return of City Park Golf Course: Sometime this year, after being closed for two years for a course redesign and construction project, a new-look City Park Golf Course (left) in Denver is scheduled to reopen. The return is no small matter given that City Park GC dates back to 1912 and has a strong regular clientele.

Todd  Schoeder and his Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio teamed with design advisor — and three-time U.S. Open champion — Hale Irwin in the course redesign for the site, which will integrate stormwater detention areas to help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding.

When the redesign project is complete, the site will feature the new 18-hole par-71 golf course, a full-size driving range, a dedicated four-hole course for The First Tee of Denver, a new clubhouse and maintenance facility, stormwater detention, and a reforestation program with a net gain of 500 trees.

— Comeback for Cornerstone: It was several years ago at a CGA senior championship that a member at Cornerstone, the Greg Norman-designed course in the high country near Montrose, said that there were plans to reopen the club, which stopped operating in 2012. And while it took a few years, it appears as if that member was correct.

The highly acclaimed private course is undergoing a renovation — at the hands of Matt Dusenberry and Dusenberry Golf Course Design — with plans to reopen in the summer of this year.

Cornerstone originally operated from 2008 through ’12.

— Colorado’s Second Topgolf: Since August 2015, there’s been one Topgolf location in Colorado — the one in Centennial. But three-plus months ago, ground was broken at a second site — at I-25 and 60th Ave., in Thornton. The 65,000-square-foot, three-level facility is scheduled to open to the public in late 2019. It will have 102 climate-controlled hitting bays — where players hit microchipped golf balls at targets with varying point values — in addition to a restaurant and three bars. There will be 250 HD televisions, a rooftop terrace with fire pits and 3,000 square feet of space devoted to private events. The Centennial Topgolf employs about 500 people, the same number that is expected in Thornton.

— Playing by the (New) Rules: The new Rules of Golf, part of a rules modernization project long in the works, took effect with the new year. But for those who don’t play golf outside of Colorado, there’s still some time to get up to date on the changes given that the first tournaments of the year are months away and that scores from Colorado courses can’t be posted for handicap purposes until March 15.

Whether it be putting with the flagstick left in or dropping from knee height, the CGA did a good job during recent months with a video series highlighting the key changes. To watch, CLICK HERE. 

— The Old Switcheroo: For the second time in six years, the dates of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club have been swapped, so that now the women are back around Memorial Day — as they were in 2012 and earlier — and the seniors return to around Labor Day.

Specifically, the Women’s Open is set for May 29-31 and the Senior Open for Aug. 28-30. (The CoBank Colorado Open remains in its same basic slot, with this year’s event planned for July 25-28.)

As Kevin Laura, CEO of the CoBank Colorado Open Championships, said in an email early last month, “We wanted to strengthen the field of our Women’s Open championship by going against the U.S. Women’s Open so that we can pull players from the LPGA and Symetra tours (the latter is expected to have an off week that week).

“Our purse ($150,000) and especially first place ($50,000) should entice players to compete who have not otherwise been able to do so while we were against an LPGA and Symetra event.”

As for the Colorado Senior Open, it’s very possible the date switch will cost the event a possibility at its top draw from a fan and media standpoint. Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway has played in the tournament four times (2010, ’14, ’16 and ’18) — in addition to the Colorado Open four times. But given that the new dates for the Senior Open are now roughly a week before the start of the NFL regular season, and that Elway is the Denver Broncos general manager, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll compete at Green Valley Ranch in 2019.

— CGA Majors: The CGA will return to some familiar courses for its two men’s “major championships” in 2019. The 119th Match Play is set for June 17-21 at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, which hosted the event in 2012 as well as 1997, ’88 and ’79. And Aug. 8-11 the CGA Amateur returns to the recently renovated course at Lakewood Country Club, the site for the championship four times just since 1999 — and numerous times prior — with 2014 being its last time as the host.

On the women’s side, the two majors will be played at venues which are hosting their respective events for the first time. The CGA Women’s Stroke Play is scheduled for June 17-19 at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora, where the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links was contested. And the 104th CGA Women’s Match Play is set for July 9-11 at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton, which was the site of the men’s CGA Match Play the past two years.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, who has matched Carol Flenniken’s record for CGA/CWGA women’s championship titles with 25, would grab the record outright with her next victory in one of the CGA events.

— USGA Qualifiers: A total of 18 qualifying tournaments for USGA national championships are scheduled in Colorado in 2019. Here’s the rundown on the men’s side:

* U.S. Open Locals: May 7 at Collindale in Fort Collins; May 9 at CommonGround in Aurora; and May 13 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Senior Open: May 28 at Valley in Centennial.

* U.S. Junior Amateur: June 24 at Ptarmigan in Fort Collins.

* U.S. Amateur: July 1 at Columbine in Columbine Valley; and July 8 at Fort Collins Country Club.

* U.S. Senior Amateur: Aug. 5 at TPC Colorado in Berthoud.

* U.S. Mid-Amateur: Aug. 13 at Omni Interlocken in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness in Englewood.

* U.S. Amateur Four-Ball: Oct. 1 at Saddle Rock in Aurora.

And here’s the lineup for women’s USGA qualifiers:

* U.S. Senior Women’s Open: April 29 at Glenmoor in Englewood.

* U.S. Women’s Open: May 6 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Girls’ Junior: June 24 at Colorado National in Erie.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur: July 3 at CommonGround in Aurora.

* U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur: July 24 at Meadow Hills in Aurora.

* U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: Aug. 1 at the newly renovated Thorncreek in Thornton.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball: Sept. 30 at The Ranch in Westminster.

— Junior Tournaments: While the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado schedule is still being set in stone, the biggest junior tournament in Colorado for 2019 is finalized as the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior is scheduled for June 3-6 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster. It will be the fifth year for the event, with Walnut Creek serving as host for the third straight season.

The girls state high school tournaments this spring are set for May 20-21 at Harmony Club in Timnath (5A), Pelican Lakes in Windsor (4A) and Eagle Ranch in Eagle (3A).

— Colorado PGA Championships: The Colorado PGA will hold its biggest tournament, the three-day Section Championship, Sept. 9-11 at Meridian Golf Club in Englewood.

The CPGA Women’s Championship is set for Glenmoor in Englewood June 19-20. The Assistants Championship is planned for Walnut Creek in Westminster July 29-30, and the Senior Championship Aug. 12-13 at Inverness in Englewood.

And, after an off year, the CGA amateurs and the Colorado PGA professionals will square off for the Colorado Cup Matches on Oct. 16 at the West Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

— Winter Events: Meanwhile, one of the first major Colorado golf events of the year will take place in about a month as the Denver Golf Expo returns to the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.) Feb. 8-10. Typically, the three-day show attracts close to 10,000 people. Last year, the Expo celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The CGA Women’s Golf Summit, traditionally known as the Annual Meeting, will take place on March 9 at Pinehurst in south Denver.
 

Following up from earlier this week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf-related stories of 2018 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the top dozen stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, included is a list of honorable-mention selections.

12. Stewart Signs With No. 1-Ranked College Team in Nation: It’s not often that a Colorado golfer signs a national letter of intent with the No. 1-ranked college program in the nation. But such was the case in November when Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins put his John Hancock on the dotted line with Oklahoma State. Stewart, who graduated from Fossil Ridge High School this month, will be headed to Stillwater for the fall semester next year. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Boys Player of the Year is one of at least nine Colorado residents or JGAC members from the Class of 2019 who are headed to NCAA Division I golf programs. READ MORE

11. Another National Honor for Colorado PGA: Dating back to the late 1950s, members of the Colorado PGA or the Section itself have won 19 national awards from the PGA of America. Ten of those 19 have come since 2007, including this year’s Herb Graffis Award for player development, which the CPGA received for the second time since 2011. READ MORE

10. New CGA President Janene Guzowski Continues Trend in Colorado: The last several months of this year have proven to be a major boon for women in leadership roles in Colorado golf. Janene Guzowski is the new president of the CGA, Janet Moore is the new president of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, and Molly Greenblatt has become the new chairperson of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. And that’s in addition to Suzy Whaley being elected the first national president of the PGA of America. READ MORE

9. Colorado, Hiwan Shine as Girls Junior Americas Cup Hosts: The Girls Junior Americas Cup — a team competition featuring players from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico — is hosted just once every 18 years by Colorado, and 2018 was the Centennial State’s turn. Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, where the Colorado Open was held from 1964 to ’91, was a fitting mountainous setting for the event. While Mexico swept the team and individual titles, Colorado posted its best finish since 2013 by placing fifth out of 18 teams. Staff and volunteers from the CGA and the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado played major roles in running this major junior event. READ MORE

8. Colorado Sweeps Team, Individual Titles at Boys Junior America’s Cup: At the same time the Girls Junior Amerias Cup was taking place at Hiwan, a Colorado team (left) was making history at the boys Junior America’s Cup in Montana. For the first time in the 44 years in which Colorado has competed in the event, its squad claimed the team title. In fact, a Colorado team had never finished better than third before this year in the competition that includes players from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. To add to the feat, Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins won the individual title out of the 72-player field. Joining Stewart on the winning team were Cal McCoy of Highlands Ranch, Davis Bryant of Aurora and Walker Franklin of Broomfield. Former longtime CGA staffer Dustin Jensen captained the Colorado squad. READ MORE

7. 2 Coloradans Qualify for PGA Tour, 2 More for LPGA Tour: Seldom have players who grew up in Colorado enjoyed so much success in qualifying for the top men’s and women’s golf tours in the world as they did in the final half of 2018. Wyndham Clark and Jim Knous earned promotions to the PGA Tour with their performances on the Web.com Tour regular season and Finals, respectively. And Jennifer Kupcho and Becca Huffer landed spots on the LPGA Tour in 2019 by both finishing in the top 10 in the eight-round LPGA Q-Series, with Kupcho placing second and Huffer 10th. All four Coloradans will be rookies on those top circuits in 2019. In fact, the PGA Tour’s wraparound season began in October, and Knous recorded a top-10 finish in his first event as a member of that Tour. Joining Kupcho and Huffer in earning an LPGA card last month was former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi.

6. Gearing Up for Rules Changes: With the modernized Rules of Golf set to take effect on Jan. 1, the USGA and its affiliated Allied Golf Associations have been very busy trying to bring members up to speed on the changes. For the CGA, that effort has included weekly “Ready for the 2019 Rules” videos and four-hour Ready for the Rules seminars held at various locations around the state late in 2018 and also planned for the first several months of 2019. READ MORE

5. Year 1 of New-Look CGA: Our No. 1 story of 2017 in Colorado golf was the unification a year ago of the CGA and CWGA after both associations had celebrated their 100th anniversaries as separate — but complementary — organizations serving golf in Colorado. With 2018 being their first full calendar year together, things have gone, by just about any measure, extremely well. All of which is very good news, considering how many golfers the new-look CGA serves as members. There’s still work to be done, but it’s certainly been a stellar first year together.

4. CSU Golfers Claim USGA National Title: Golfers with strong Colorado ties don’t often get to say they’re reigning USGA national champions, but Colorado State University golfers Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor (left) earned that honor by winning the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball title in early May in Tarzana, Calif. The two never trailed in the first four matches they played at El Caballero Country Club. In the title match, they were 2 down with four holes left, but a big-time rally down the stretch netted them a 1-up victory over teenagers Yachun Chang of Chinese Taipei and Lei Ye of China — and the national championship. The victory was believed to be the first USGA national amateur championship by a person or team with strong Colorado ties since Jill McGill won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. READ MORE

3. Vickers Passes Away: There are almost 12 dozen people in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, but even in that select group, there are some that took it to the next level. A good rule of thumb as to who those people are is if they’ve also been inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. There are less than a dozen people who are members of both Halls of Fame. One of them passed away in September — 93-year-old Jack Vickers. Vickers made his mark in a variety of sports, but likely will be most remembered as the founder of Castle Pines Golf Club and The International that hosted PGA Tour events for 21 years. No less than Jack Nicklaus, who designed Castle Pines, paid tribute to Vickers the day he died. Vickers’ International ran from 1986 through 2006. It featured a unique modified Stableford scoring system, which promoted aggressive play as a birdie and a bogey were worth more than two pars. The tournament produced quite a few big-name champions, including Greg Norman, Davis Love III (twice), Phil Mickelson (twice), Vijay Singh and Ernie Els. READ MORE

2. Kupcho Phenomenon Continues: Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster may very well accomplish great things in the coming decades, but even long into the future, 2018 will be a year she’ll remember fondly. Here’s a brief rundown of what she accomplished: The Wake Forest golfer won an NCAA Division I individual title a year (left) after placing second. She became the first Colorado resident to win the prestigious individual championship on the women’s side. She helped three U.S. national teams capture international team titles in 2018 — at the Curtis Cup, the Arnold Palmer Cup and the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. In the latter event, Kupcho finished second individually out of a field of 170. She also placed second at the eight-round final stage of LPGA Q-school. After concluding her college career in May, she’ll immediately begin her LPGA career. Kupcho finished an LPGA career-best 16th this year in the LPGA Marathon Classic. Overall in 2018, she won three individual college titles. Kupcho also claimed the prestigious Mark H. McCormack Medal, becoming the first American to win the women’s McCormack honor as the top female player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings as of the conclusion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. And she was named the world female Amateur of the Year by digital new magazine Global Golf Post. READ MORE

1. U.S. Senior Open a Hit at The Broadmoor: It had been almost four years since Colorado had hosted a big-time tour-level event — the kind that attracts 100,000-plus fans. But the drought ended this year when the U.S. Senior Open (pictured at top) was conducted at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. And the results didn’t disappoint. The announced attendance for the week was 134,500, the most for the Senior Open since the 157,126 in Omaha, Neb., in 2013. David Toms, who won the 1999 Sprint International at Castle Pines but hadn’t captured a title on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions in seven years, captured the victory at the Senior Open by one stroke. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe placed fifth, marking his second straight top-5 performance in the U.S. Senior Open. Shortly after the conclusion of the championship, the USGA announced that the U.S. Senior Open will return to The Broadmoor in 2025.

Honorable Mention

— Lauren Howe, who grew up in Colorado, was a finalist in the U.S. Girls’ Junior as a 15-year-old and went on to win an event on the LPGA Tour, was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

— Patrick Reidy became the fifth 50-something player in the last six years to win the Colorado PGA Professional Championship.

— Players from Texas swept the two CGA women’s major titles in 2018, giving Texans three consecutive such championships. Emily Gilbreth, a lifetime Houstonian before moving to Denver, won the 2017 CGA Women’s Match Play; Kristin Glesne of San Antonio the 2018 CGA Women’s Stroke Play; and Kennedy Swann the 2018 CGA Women’s Match Play.

— Former BYU golfer Justin Keiley won his second straight Rocky Mountain Open, defeating former Montrose resident Brandon Bingaman in a playoff after the latter shot a course-record 11-under-par 60 in the final round at Tiara Rado in Grand Junction.

— Three Colorado courses — Castle Pines, Ballyneal and Cherry Hills — are ranked among the 150 Greatest International Courses, according to Golf Digest.

— Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs finished sixth — tying the best showing ever by a Coloradan — in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta. At the 2019 National Finals, three Coloradans will compete — Caitlyn Chin of Greenwood Village, Chunya Boonta of Centennial and Grady Ortiz of Colorado.

— The University of Denver women’s golf team saw its remarkable string of league tournament championships end at 14, though the Pioneers’ Sophie Newlove claimed the individual title at Summit League Championship.

— CU’s Robyn Choi qualified in Colorado for the U.S. Women’s Open for a second straight year. Choi later earned her LPGA Tour card at the final stage of Q-school.

— Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, who won the CGA Amateur in August, claimed the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational championship for the second straight year for his second individual college title in eight days.

— Doug Rohrbaugh, who was paired with Scott McCarron and Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Senior PGA Championship, became the first golfer to sweep the Colorado PGA Player of Year and Senior Player of Year honors in the same season. Like Rohrbaugh, Colorado PGA professional Chris Johnson qualified for two PGA Tour Champions majors in 2018 — the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior PGA Championship.

— Nicholas Pevny of Aspen captured a national title, prevailing in the boys 12-13 age division of the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships in Florida.

— Former Parker resident Elizabeth Wang finished 34th — fourth among amateurs — at the U.S. Women’s Open. Wang also made it to the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and to the round of 32 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Wang, now playing for Harvard, defeated Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster in 19 holes in the round of 64 at the U.S. Women’s Am.

— Fort Collins resident Dillon Stewart became to first Coloradan to win the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior boys title. Later, he captured a second AJGA championship, this time in Montana, and won 5A state high school individual and team titles.

— New Colorado resident Dan Erickson shot a 9-under-par 61 — a course record by two strokes at Fort Collins Country Club — en route to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, where he made match play but bowed out in the round of 64 at Pebble Beach.

— Hadley Ashton of Erie finished fifth in the girls 9-10 division at the prestigious IMG Academy Junior World Championships.

— Thirty-two years after winning her first CGA/CWGA title, Kristine Franklin earned her second, this time overcoming five-time champion Kim Eaton in the Women’s Senior Stroke Play.

— Greg Condon of the southern Colorado town of Monte Vista shared stroke-play medalist honors in the U.S. Senior Amateur, while Scott Sullivan of Grand Junction advanced to the match play round of 16.

(Note: This story was updated on Jan. 2)

A year after the USGA and R&A proposed changes that would modernize, simplify and streamline the Rules of Golf — and after a subsequent six-month comment period — a final set of Rules were announced on Monday that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

Three current or former CGA staffers serve on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee which played a key role in the Rules modernization process — CGA executive director Ed Mate and former CGA staff members Thomas Pagel and Pete Lis. Pagel is the USGA’s senior director of rules and amateur status, and Lis is the manager of rules and competition for the LPGA.

It turns out that the six-month period of public feedback — which resulted in about 30,000 comments — did have an effect, leading to a few changes to what was proposed on March 1, 2017.

“I think it was handled masterfully,” Mate said of the whole process. “The USGA was in a damned if we do and damned if we don’t situation. But they gave a legitimate chance for people to comment, and they listened and responded (with some alterations). It wasn’t just wink, wink.”

For instance:

— Instead of allowing ball drops from any height — as was proposed a year ago — what will be implemented is dropping from knee height.

“A number of comments we received from all levels of the game wanted to see a certain amount of randomness maintained so that when you drop a ball, you’re not sure what kind of lie you’re going to get,” Pagel said. “But how do you ensure that randomness? Do you take it back to shoulder height? It was really about finding a balance of maintaining that randomness while also allowing the player to identify a relief area, drop there as quick as possible and play on.”

— And instead of taking relief in a given situation based on 20- or 80-inch measurements — which was proposed — the rule will be one club length for free relief and two for a drop with a penalty.

“I think of all the changes, that one is the real concrete example of we listened,” Pagel said. “This feedback period, we were sincere in asking for people’s views. Because the fixed measures, philosophically, make total sense, but from a practical standpoint with people saying ‘I’m scratching my head a little bit. I’m not sure how I’m going to measure this,’ we had to step back and say, ‘OK let’s change.’ “¦ It’s a lot easier if I just use my club length. And so we just went back to the drawing board.”

In addition, there are other tweaks since the proposed rules announcement from last year:

— There will be no penalty for accidentally double hitting a ball on a given stroke — a la T.C. Chen at the 1985 U.S. Open. Instead, the player will simply count the stroke made to hit the ball, and the ball will be played as it lies.

— Also, there’s a new local rule that will be available — but not for professional or elite-level amateur play — in which a golfer can drop a ball in the vicinity of where it went out of bounds or was lost, incurring a two-stroke penalty instead of the current stroke-and-distance. That local rule is designed to speed up recreational play.

“This addresses the issue you hear at the club level about the practical nature of going back and playing under stroke and distance that just doesn’t work. It has a negative impact on pace of play, and so how can we introduce something to resolve that? That’s what this local rule is about,” Pagel said. “You simply estimate where it’s out of bounds or where your ball is likely to be lost, you can go all the way out to the fairway and drop anywhere behind. “¦ But the primary objective here is to keep the player moving forward, and we think that’s the real benefit of this.”

There’s also a new unplayable ball relief option in which a player may take relief outside a bunker by dropping a ball back on the line from the hole through where the ball was at rest in the sand — with a penalty of two strokes.

The biggest topic broached in the public comment period reportedly was golfers asking for relief when their ball is in a divot. But no changes were made in that area.

“One of the primary objectives for the overall initiative is to make the rules easier to understand and apply, but to also make sure we maintained the traditions and principles behind the game,” Pagel said. “And the principles are to play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it. So to write a rule that allows a player to sort of deviate from that was not something we were wanting to do.”

Among the previously announced proposed rule changes that will go into effect on Jan. 1 — part of what the USGA calls the biggest Rules overhaul since at least 1984:

— Searches for a lost ball will be limited to three minutes rather than the current five.

— A caddie will no longer be allowed to line up a player.

— There will be no penalty if a ball you hit strikes you, your caddie, or your equipment.

— There will be no penalty for a ball — struck on the putting green — hitting the unattended flag in the hole.

— Spike marks and almost all other damage on a green can be repaired. But note: existing pace-of-play rules will remain in place.

— A club can be grounded and loose impediments removed in a penalty area.

— Loose impediments can be moved in a bunker;.

— There will be no penalty for accidentally moving your ball while searching for it or for accidentally moving your ball or ball marker when it’s on the putting green.”¨

All told, starting next year there will be 24 rules instead of 34 thanks to this rules modernization process, which began in 2012.

“It was a fascinating process in which I had a chance to provide some input and that I had an opportunity to preview,” said Mate, who noted that he tried to always keep in mind that he served on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee as a representive of state and regional golf associations. “The modernization is still golf. None of the changes that were made fundamentally change the game. Some thoughtful, intuitive things have been added.

“It’s been awesome being part of this. When Thomas Pagel called me to serve (starting in the fall of 2015), I would have been thrilled to death if that call came in any year, as someone who’s studied the Rules as long as I have. But to be in the room when those things were discussed, and when the most significant rewrite of the Rules (in a long time) was being done, is incredible. We’re not talking about changing decisions; this was a fundamental rewrite. Everything was being challenged. I much prefer coversations of ‘why’, which is what this was. I’ll always cherish being a part of it.”

For more information from the USGA on the Rules changes, CLICK HERE. And for the USGA Rules page, CLICK HERE.
 

On the 10th hole Sergio found himself up a tree, literally. The spectators never saw the ball land on the ground and when he arrived a search began. Thinking his ball may be up in the tree Sergio climbed up into the tree to try and find his ball, which he successfully did. It was tucked nicely at the bottom of a “U” that was formed by two tree branches. At this point Sergio had two options, he could play the ball as it lies from within the tree, or declare his ball unplayable choosing from any of the three options under Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable) incurring a one-stroke penalty.

These options are:

a. Proceed under the stroke and distance provision of Rule 27-1 by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5), or

b. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped, or

c. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole. (Note: Had Sergio declared his ball unplayable and chosen this option, he would have estimated a spot on the ground directly below where his ball lay and used this as his reference point for dropping within two club-lengths.)

Much to the pleasure of the crowd, Sergio decided to play his ball as it lies from within the tree. He turned his back to the target and struck the ball one-handed with the club head reversed, miraculously getting it back into the fairway.

Most of us do have the skill set to hit our golf ball into a tree, but hitting it back out within the Rules is another story. We would be better off knowing the three options under Rule 28 and leaving the heroic tree climbing to the tour pros and firefighters!
 

The Rules of Golf define the game. Without the Rules, golf simply ceases to exist. To punctuate this point what would happen if there was no rule defining the teeing ground? Wouldn’t it follow that a golfer could simply “tee off” on the lip of the hole and score 18 every time? Like them or not, the Rules of Golf provide the linguistic foundation on which we play the game. As for anchoring, the rules provide very little guidance. The rules simply state, “The ball must be fairly struck at with the head of the club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned.” That’s it. This lack of specificity provided the opening through which anchored technology developed. What started as a crutch for a small number of emotionally bankrupt head cases has now become the preferred method of putting for a growing number of the game’s best players including three of the last five major winners. This trend is certainly deserving of attention, however, here are just a few of the challenges that this question presents:

1) How would a rule that prohibits “anchoring” be written? Assuming the USGA and R&A agree that golf was not intended to be played with the club tucked against the body, how would the rules be written to prevent it? I recently played with a player who “anchored” his left arm against his body while putting with a longer putter but no part of the club touched his torso. Would this be allowed? What about one of the game’s greatest putters of all time, Billy Casper, who “anchored” his left hand on his left thigh? Writing this rule would not be easy.

2) What happens if the PGA Tour doesn’t support the change? One of the most important tenets of the Rules of Golf is that there is only one Rule book. Whether you play on the PGA Tour, or in a Tuesday Night Twilight League, the same rules govern play. Do you think Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh (just to name a few) will quietly accept a change that would pose a serious threat to their livelihood or do you think they might encourage their tour to take the unprecedented step of creating a separate set of rules to govern their tournaments?

3) What happens if the weekend warriors who love golf and who use an anchored technique don’t support the change? Do you think they will give up the club (or as some concerned golf proponents argue, the game itself) or do you think they will simply continue to use these clubs and add it to the list of rules they choose to ignore?

Personally, I do not feel that the anchored putter poses a major threat to the game as we know it. Experience tells me that the greatest strength of the anchored technique is also its greatest weakness–it neutralizes the hands. In my view the best putters in the world will always be those with a deft touch, and that comes only with soft hands and instinctive feel. That doesn’t come when you “drop anchor!”
 

As you know, sand is everywhere on most golf courses. There are sand filled divots, waste areas, ant hills and of course, bunkers. Sand is also commonly found around the fringe of the putting green when play from an adjacent bunker spills it onto the fringe (just ask Rory). In the Rules of Golf, sand is identified in the definition of Loose Impediments as follows: “Sand and loose soil are loose impediments on the putting green, but not elsewhere.”

Unfortunately, Rory McIlroy learned about this definition the hard way. They called a Rules official over and he told him that because sand is only a loose impediment on the putting green, when he removed this it he was in breach of Rule 13-2. There are a number of ways to breach this Rule, but the part that pertains to Rory’s situation is “A player must not improve or allow to be improved: his line of play …, by any of the following actions: removing or pressing down sand or loose soil …” Note that if the sand he removed had been on the green there would have been no penalty, even though his ball wasn’t.

When on the course, before taking any actions to remove sand, take into consideration a few variables such as: Is the sand in a hazard, through the green or on the putting green? Is the sand a cast that was made by an insect such as ants which would now make this accumulation a loose impediment? All of these can factor into whether or not you can remove it.

It’s good to remember that sand is a loose impediment on the putting green, so feel free to remove it and give your ball a smoother ride to the hole. Conversely, if it’s not on the green, be careful! Rory incurred a costly two-stroke penalty for removing sand from the fringe, and went on to finish second, losing by one stroke. This cost him about 115,000 euros. Talk about “precious sands!”
 

At the 75th playing of the CGA Stroke Play, which was played at CommonGround GC, a competitor lost his range finder during the play of a hole and asked a rules official to look for it. Luckily, (or unluckily as the case may be), the device was found and turned in by another player in the field. However, the the player told the official he returned the device to that he didn’t believe the display on the side of the unit was legal. The device had a screen on its side that formed a triangle and displayed numbers indicating the slope of the shot. When addressed, the player claimed he didn’t know how to use the feature and never paid attention to it. However, the local rule is specific–devices must measure distance only to be legal. If a device measures something other than distance, such as wind, gradient, slope, elevation or even direction via a compass, it is not permitted for use whether or not these functions are turned off or ignored. Unfortunately, the player learned that the penalty for using such a device is as severe as penalties get–disqualification.

There are other devices on the market that present a gray area, such as the use of cell phones as DMDs. As it now stands, phones that have a permanently built-in function contrary to the Rules, such as a compass or weather tracking app, are not permitted for use. But phones that do not have any contrary permanent functions are acceptable to be used as DMDs provided any user-downloaded apps that would be in violation have been uninstalled.

To be safe you should always check with the committee in charge of the event before using a DMD or an app on your cell phone. If you don’t, you could be disqualified on the first hole and have to find something entertaining to do for the next 5 hours in the surrounding area.

There’s an app for that, too.
 

The rules infraction we were concerned about involved Rule 13-2 in the Rules of Golf, which states that “a player must not improve or allow to be improved his line of play.” By breaking off this piece of grass, which is considered a fixed and growing object, Nathan may very well have improved his line of play. When he arrived to the scoring the situation was addressed, but he could not remember having removed the grass which is completely understandable. When he removed the grass he was thinking about the bad lie on the first hole, his yardage to the flagstick, where the hole was is located, etc., and just removed it instinctively like a leaf. But a fellow competitor and spectator clearly saw him do this, so we were confident it had occurred. However, he hadn’t broken the rule yet– we still had to determine if the blade of grass was on his line of play.

Because it had occurred on the 1st hole, we brought the entire group out to find the location where he played his shot. After evaluating where the blade of grass was compared to where his ball lied, it was determined that it was clearly on his line of play, about six inches in front of the ball, directly between it and the hole. Prior to this situation, there have been similar rulings and precedents set. For example, in 2003 at the FBR Capital Open, Duffy Waldorf tapped down a pitch mark just in front of and to the right of his lie. Like so many Rules infractions are caught today, a television spectator saw this and called it in. After Tour officials looked at the video tape they determined that Duffy had improved his line of play and he incurred a two-stroke penalty. Eight years later at the Colorado Open, although the spectator was there (not watching TV) and the Rules Officials re-enacted the situation (lacking instant replay), the verdict was the same–we determined that Nathan had improved his line of play and he incurred a two-stroke penalty on the first hole.

As Richard Tufts reminds us in The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf, we must play the ball as it lies and the course as we find it. Clearly Mr. Lashley failed to play the course as he found it, and it cost him two-strokes and a chance to earn his second consecutive Colorado Open title.