The Problem with Golf’s Scorekeeping

If you thought Golf was a slow sport, it’ll give you whiplash when compared to the glacial speed of the behind the scenes decision making of its tournament committees. While doing research for this, the absurdity kept growing the deeper I dove into the rules of Golf, and it became less and less surprising that this rule is somehow still around.

But before I get to that, there are a couple other rules that I want to talk about in order to emphasize the impact this one rule has.

Story Time

The following is a true story from the 1987 San Diego Open.

After teeing off on the 14th hole, Craig “The Walrus” Stadler found himself in a bad spot right up against a tree. He decided the best way for him to hit the ball was from a kneeling position, but with the ground still damp from an overnight rain, he placed a towel down in order to keep his pants dry. Seems reasonable, right? Well, as it turns out, for the longest time at-home viewers were able to call in and report rule violations to tournaments, and that’s exactly what happened. A viewer called in and reported that Stadler’s act constituted “building a stance”, which was in violation of Rule 13.3 (now Rule 8.1) which then stated, “A player is entitled to place his feet firmly in taking his stance, but he must not build a stance.” The violation carried a two-stroke penalty, but Stadler, unaware that he violated a rule, turned in his scorecard without the penalty recorded, and was subsequently disqualified, denying him a 2nd place finish and a $30,000 prize. And just in case you’re curious about the new Rule 8.1:

Rule 8.1 Player’s Actions That Improve Conditions Affecting the Stroke

Rule 8.1a. Actions That Are Not Allowed
Except in the limited ways allowed in Rules 8.1b, c and d, a player must not take any of these actions if they improve the conditions affecting the stroke:
(1) Move, bend or break any:
- Growing or attached natural object,
- Immovable obstruction, integral object or boundary object, or
- Tee-marker for the teeing area when playing a ball from that teeing area.
(2) Move a loose impediment or movable obstruction into position (such as to build a stance or to improve the line of play).
(3) Alter the surface of the ground, including by:
- Replacing divots in a divot hole,
- Removing or pressing down divots that have already been replaced or other cut turf that is already in place, or
- Creating or eliminating holes, indentations or uneven surfaces.

While this was unfortunate, eventually another rule was put into place that was borderline unfair.

More recently, at the 2017 ANA Inspiration, Lexi Thompson suffered a controversial loss when a viewer emailed the tournament committee about a violation she made in the third round. Because she turned in her scorecard without the penalty recorded, she was subsequently given a 4-stroke penalty in the final round (2 for the initial violation and 2 for not recording it) forcing a one-on-one playoff against Ryu So-yeon that Thompson would go on to lose. Had the penalties not occurred, or at the very least the additional penalty, Thompson would’ve won the tournament outright in regulation.

This controversy served as the catalyst for 2 of the 3 policies in question to be done away with:
1. Allowing viewers watching on TV or streaming online to call-in rule violations.
2. An additional 2-stroke penalty for failing to record a penalty.
While both of these were announced in 2018, the latter wouldn’t fully come into effect until 2019.

3

So what’s the 3rd rule that I’m making such a big fuss about you may be wondering. Well, ironically, it’s Rule 3.3:

Rule 3.3b
The player’s score is kept on his or her scorecard by the Marker, who is either identified by the Committee or chosen by the player in a way approved by the Committee.

Rule 3.3b(2)
When the round has ended, the player:
- Must certify the hole scores on the scorecard and promptly return it to the Committee.

Rule 3.3b(3)
Wrong Score for a Hole. If the player returns a scorecard with a wrong score for any hole:
- Returned Score Higher Than Actual Score. The higher returned score for the hole stands.
- Returned Score Lower Than Actual Score or No Score Returned. The player is disqualified.
Exception – Failure to Include Unknown Penalty.

(However, this exception wasn’t always in place, as previously mentioned in Stadler’s case.)

Now I know official rule book verbiage can be very dressed up, so basically: At the end of each round, players are required to turn in their own scorecard.

This is an archaic system, as it is essentially an honor system. In years past, Golf didn’t have the coverage that it does today, and with so many players spread out over such a large course, an honor system was necessary in order to obtain everyone’s score. But honor systems are only only used when there is no official oversight system in place, and Golf seems to have forgotten that we live in the 21st century. Every match of every sport has an official scoreboard for all to see and follow, even Golf. And in every sport there are several people in charge of making sure said scoreboard is accurate and up to date. So why is it that Golf still requires players to keep track of their own score, and then check those scores to see if they’re being honest when there’s an official scoreboard in place to keep them honest?

As far as I can tell, the only function this policy serves is to see players disqualified. If your score is correct, nothing happens, you simply continue playing; if your score is wrong, then you are either disqualified or your score is negatively affected. Mandating that a player’s scorecard must match the official tournament scoreboard begs the question of, why bother checking if a player’s scorecard is accurate if the tournament scoreboard is the official score that all must abide by? Why not just follow the scoreboard and have that be it? This would also eliminate the unnecessary process of having to verify all the scores, saving the tournament committee a lot of time as they are verifying what they already know, and as we all know: time is money.

Now, obviously players are still going to keep track of their own score for their own reasons, but having those very scorecards determine a player’s tournament status is not only an unnecessary process, but an unnecessary burden. A player already has countless things going through their mind while simultaneously trying to play the best game of their life, and as anyone who’s ever seen an episode of Experior Golf will know, it’s very easy to lose count, even when not under the pressure of playing in a tournament.