Tour News
Inside the Jeff Overton DQ at Colonial
Rule 14-3 of the 2012-2015 USGA Rules of Golf states, in part:
“During a stipulated round the player must not use any artificial device or unusual equipment…or use any equipment in an unusual manner.”
With all due respect to the USGA, the entire situation surrounding Jeff Overton’s disqualification at Colonial is an exercise in “unusual” that the framers of the Rules likely couldn’t have anticipated.
As the Indiana alum finished No. 9 of his third round, he was 4-under par and 7 strokes out of the lead. He was also facing a three-group backup on the 10th tee. Reportedly at the behest of a starter who told him he could practice with an alignment aid, Overton went to a nearby practice green to work on his stroke.
Using a designated practice area during a round is permissible. However, when Overton pulled out what we assume to be a traditional driveway stake/alignment stick, to aid his practice, he found himself in violation of the body of golfing law.
There are a number of opinions emerging on the matter.
Join the discussion about Jeff Overton’s DQ in our forums.
Some might say that the notion that Overton could have hit 500 putts in the middle of his round (at the designated practice area, assuming the backup persisted) with the USGA’s blessing is a bit counter to the spirit of competition. Additionally, there are many who feel that dropping a stick down to check his alignment on the practice green, shouldn’t have been grounds for Ovie’s dismissal…However, the Rules are the rules, at least until the next revision.
Still, others might say that Overton’s flippant attitude following the disqualification may not have been the best route to take. The golfer tweeted: “Looks like I gotta go back and rememorize a couple hundred pages of the usga (sic) rules book!”
Really, all Overton needed to do was not rely on the advice of a starter and think twice about pulling out a practice device during a competitive round, which is one of the great taboos in competitive golf. On some level, the ruling may be ridiculous, however, when an atypical situation arises, the onus is unfortunately on the competitor to get clarification from a legitimate source.
Here’s some more insight into the determination from the USGA’s companion Decisions text:
Q.During a stipulated round, a player uses a rod to check his alignment or his swing plane. What is the ruling?
A. The player is disqualified under Rule 14-3 as the rod is unusual equipment and such use, during the stipulated round, is not permitted. Carrying the rod is not, of itself, a breach of a Rule.
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Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.
Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5
The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.
Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”
Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.
Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype
There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.
Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7
More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.
TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick
Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 3M Open
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GolfWRX is on site this week at TPC Twin Cities for the 2024 3M Open for the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.
The photos are flying in from Blaine, Minnesota. We’ve already assembled general galleries and a fresh Tony Finau WITB.
Check back throughout the week for more photos!
General Albums
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #2
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Tobias Jonsson – WITB – 3M Open
- Keith Mitchell – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tony Finau – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Maverick McNealy – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tom Hoge – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Mac Meissner – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Robert Streb – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sahith Theegala – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Santiago de la Fuente – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Billy Horschel – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Roger Sloan – WITB – 2024 3M Open
Pullout Albums
- Ping putters – #1 – 3M Open
- Ping Putters – #2 – 3M Open
- TaylorMade Spider Tour S broomstick putter – 3M Open
- Odyssey Broomstick #7 putter – 3M Open
- Bettinardi putters – 2024 3M Open
- New EyeLine training aid – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Ryder’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Odyssey putters – 2024 3M Open
- L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 3M Open
- Tyler Duncan’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Zac Blair’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Paul Barjon – PXG putter – 2024 3M Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
Three years later, Morikawa has once again changed his irons to deal with the unique Scottish turf.
Morikawa has been using TaylorMade P730 blade short irons (7-PW), P7MC mid irons (5-6) and a TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron with a cavity-back construction this year.
However, he switched into a new set of TaylorMade P7CB irons (5-PW) before finishing T4 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, to go along with his familiar “Proto” 4-iron. TaylorMade’s P7CB irons are the finalized versions of the “Proto” 4-iron that Morikawa has been using, except they remain unreleased to retail.
According to TaylorMade, Morikawa switched into a full set of the new P7CB irons to aid with turf interaction, just like he did prior to his 2021 Open victory.
Morikawa is honing in on his winning formula overseas.
Morikawa also has switched from his usual TaylorMade Qi10 5-wood to a lower-launching TaylorMade P790 3-iron equipped with a Project X HZRDUS 105 Hybrid shaft. The loft of the club has been bent down to 19 degrees.
TaylorMade says that Morikawa switched into the new driving iron In order to “have an option to hit something lower that will roll out in the fairways.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Nonameneeded
Jun 1, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Hang on. Does that mean if I practice my stroke on any green whilst waiting for my playi partner to tap in against a flag stick I’m DQed.??? I sometimes think the rules have become so complicated and unrealistic that even pros step over the line by mistake. I’m sure there is not a pro out there that would cheat on purpose. But taking a stick out of the bag and using to help alignment… Come on. Tiger dropped two yards away from an original spot. Huh?
3jack
May 29, 2013 at 6:06 pm
“…He was also facing a three-group backup on the 10th tee. …”
Somebody should have been penalized for that including the PGA for having no teeth.
Brother Dave
May 29, 2013 at 6:02 pm
A “professional” golfer should know the rules, period. Learning them is not like deciphering Hammurabi or the Da Vinci Code. The first 28 deal with what most golfers will encounter, Rules 29-32 governing alternate forms of play and administration and Rules 33-34 govern the committee and disputes. I don’t know what profession you are in, but mine requires continuing education and compliance with a way more intrusive regulatory state than the USGA or PGA Tour could ever muster.
Anyone who makes their living playing golf should make reading the rules and decision part of their regular routine. Seriously, something is very wrong when so-called professionals routinely hold up play to ask for a ruling on even the most simple situations.
I’ve got zero sympathy for any “professional” who acts as if ignorance of the rules is anything but their own fault.
Don
May 26, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Whether the rule is bad or not, the issue as I see it is that he broke a rule, got DQ’ed, then acted like a 9 year old. I liked Overton until he started his twitter tantrum. He could have said something along the lines of he unwittingly made a mistake, learned from it, and is moving on to get ready for next week. Instead he refused to accept responsibility and blames the official who told him that he could chip and putt for NOT telling him that he couldn’t use training aids.
I guess he needs to be read the 2013 Rules of Golf on the first tee next week.
G
May 27, 2013 at 2:31 am
I think you can say that there are 3 things wrong with this whole situation.
Jeff could’ve handled it more professionally, the rules don’t state WHERE ON the course the rule applies, and the official wasn’t forthcoming as to be cool enough to remind him that a player should not use any extraneous equipment at all. At the same time, in normal play, it is also understood that a player cannot USUALLY “practice” during a tournament round.
All very vague.
Paul
May 26, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Alignment sticks are in just about every pros bag… They are not “unusual”… This rule is crap, I don’t blame Jeff for being upset. If the violation does not take place within the boundaries of the course (not to be confused with practice area) then the rule should not apply.
John
May 27, 2013 at 1:35 am
Just because every pro uses them doesnt make it not a training aid. He was in the middle of his round anyways, not like he was practicing before his round on the practice area, but DURING his round!
G
May 27, 2013 at 2:29 am
@ Paul.
I agree. It wasn’t ON the course. He had stepped off the course to a practice green, as he was told he could do so. So it should not have applied.
Isn’t grabbing a can of beer during a round from the concession stand “unusual” equipment, especially when the stand is ON the course along the side of the fairway? And a can of beer is definitely equipment for some, right?
Randall
May 26, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Just claim you didn’t now the rule. Just a penalty and no DQ, ehh Tiger
G
May 27, 2013 at 2:27 am
I like that.
JB
May 26, 2013 at 4:52 pm
He should totally know that an alignment stick is unlawful to use in competition?? Seriously you don’t think twice about pulling that thing out??
Paul
May 26, 2013 at 3:44 pm
If he had instead used the shaft of another club as the alignment aid, would he have been DQ’ed?
ed
May 26, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Is a club ‘unusual’? No.
txgolfer130
May 26, 2013 at 6:55 pm
Yes he would have been DQ’d as well. The rule stipulates “…any equipment in an unusual manner.” Laying a club down is an unusual manner and is not allowed in a competitive round.
G
May 27, 2013 at 2:33 am
If it doesn’t say WHERE, does it really count? I think the rules apply during the round ON the course, but stepping off the playing area of the course to a practice green must mean something different, surely? Way too vague. And I thought the PGA Tour bifurcated this stuff anyways, no? :-p
John
May 27, 2013 at 2:39 am
Yea because you go to the tactics range/green sooo frequently during the middle of your round of a pga your event, much less ANY tpurnament or even a normal round. Seriously are trying to defend this guy? I mean come on, some rules are easy to misunderstand but this isn’t one of them, just a ignorant player.
Mario Good Times
May 26, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Rules are rules and how small the violation may seem its in place for a reason. This one I get… Its like signing your scorecard wrong, DQ!!! well unless your TIGER then you get special treatment..