Tuesday 26 February 2019 17:33, UK
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers has admitted there have been some "unfortunate situations" since a number of new rules were introduced to golf on January 1.
Several rule changes have attracted widespread criticism over the last two months, with the likes of Li Haotong and Rickie Fowler among the players to have fallen foul of the new regulations.
Li was handed a two-shot penalty for an incident on the final green of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, when officials deemed he had breached the new rules preventing caddies from being behind their players when they "began taking a stance".
That particular ruling was updated less than a fortnight later following a similar incident involving Denny McCarthy, who was also penalised two shots for having his caddie behind him as he prepared to play his approach to the green from the fairway in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
However, McCarthy's caddie had moved to one side long before he played his actual shot, and the penalty was rescinded during the third round when further, possible infractions involving Justin Thomas and Fowler came to light.
Veteran PGA Tour rules chief Slugger White called on golf's authorities to provide "clarity" on the description of the rule, a request that was acted on a few days later, while the new rules regarding knee-high drops were a big talking point in Mexico, when Fowler incurred a one-shot penalty for taking a drop from shoulder height.
The series of incidents and penalties have led to much dismay from a number of leading professionals, although USGA executive director Mike Davis insisted the changes had been "by and large, a huge success".
But Slumbers appeared to be in disagreement with his counterpart in the US, and he called upon the professionals to take more time to learn the new rules in a bid to avoid further controversy.
He said: "There have been some unfortunate situations, there's no doubt about that. If I was honest it hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked. I'm a realist around this. We've made the biggest change in a generation to the rules of golf. I'm not forgetting what the big picture is here, to create something which is modern and relevant to the game.
"I had huge sympathy with Rickie. He is a wonderful player, a great ambassador, to see it it happen to him was very unfortunate. But this is not the time to make knee-jerk reactions. I think sadly, it's probably true throughout the game that players don't know the rule book as well as they should. It's part of being proficient at your job and your sport that you do know the rules."
One of the other significant changes that has divided opinion is players being permitted to putt with the flagstick left in the hole, and Slumbers admitted he did not expect so many professionals to utilise this in competition.
"Putting with the flagstick in was intended primarily for the amateur game to improve pace of play, so I'm somewhat surprised how many players on the tour have left the flag in for the short putts," he added. "It was not intended as a rule to improve performances, it was intended to improve pace of play.
"We will watch how things evolve. If it was unanimous that putting with the pin in would be easier then they'd all be doing it. I'm sure when we see someone hit a six-foot putt with the flag in and it will bounce out. Then the tone may change."
