IIRC, the club in question has been Non-conforming for nearly 20 years. It was non-conforming in 2009, and in 2008, and in 2007, etc.
Nitpick: the PGA and the PGATour are two entirely different entities.
AFAIK, the PGA is not bound by any lawsuit settlement with Ping but the PGAtour is.
here is a brief timeline of the chain of events
Basically the part where you kept saying that on one hand, yet kept repeating some BS about some “spirit of the rule” - for reasons I could not comprehend.
From 3 separate posts of yours in this thread:
Even tho you said Phil could use the club, I interpreted your repeated references to some nebulous “spirit” to suggest some disapproval. Now you say
So you were repeatedly making a point you aknowledge to be meaningless? I apologize for expecting clearer language from you.
Thank you for explaining, although you might have been able to do it in a slightly less snotty manner. Well, you could have tried … :rolleyes:
What part of: “he’s violating the spirit of the rule” do you not understand? :rolleyes:
He IS violating the spirit of the rule. And whether or not you condemn him for that would depend upon how you feel about that. But I have never, in any post I made in this thread, said that this is important. Indeed, if you go back to my VERY FIRST POST, I made it clear that what he was doing was acceptable in my opinion.
You need to do a better job reading, I think, since my language was quite plain.
[quote=“DSYoungEsq, post:64, topic:527029”]
What part of: “he’s violating the spirit of the rule” do you not understand? :rolleyes:
[QUOTE]
I don’t understand what you think the term “spirit of the rule” is supposed to mean, and what its significance is supposed to be.
I think it a meaningless phrase that you chose to keep repeating for some reason - apparently to suggest something unfavorable about Mick.
My first comment was I don’t understand what the “spirit of the rule” is, and how it is being violated.
You never answered. Instead, you kept repeating meaningless crap like So the spirit AND the letter of the rule are being violated; it’s just that the PGA can’t do anything about it.
I don’t think rules have “spirits.” Since you apparently do, I was hoping you would explain such things as where they come from, who decides them, and why they are even worth mentioning if they are “meaningless.” But instead of answering a direct question, you obfuscate and insult. Nice work, counselor.
But that’s a completely subjective point. Consider the following scenarios:
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The PGA allows shafts of a new, extremely expensive alloy. 99% of the players don’t use them, because they cost $1 million per set. But one very wealthy player does risk spending that much, then wins several tournaments in a row with the new clubs. Is he violating the spirit of the rule?
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The PGA enacts a “slow-play rule” in the interest of speeding up play which forces players to take a shot within two minutes of the previous shot coming to rest. One player decides to wait one minute and 59 seconds after every shot–even if the next shot is a tap-in putt–to take the next. Is he violating the spirit of the rule?
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Let’s go to another sport. MLB decides to ban ash bats, but includes a grandfather clause that states that any player who used ash bats in the past can continue to use them. Is any player who takes advantage of this clause violating the spirit of the rule?
And if #3 isn’t a violation of the spirit of the rule, why is Mickelson’s use of the Pings a violation?
Any player can legally use the wedges. It is not an advantage, it is a choice. It is not going against the rules .
This isn’t that hard to understand.
He is violating the rule. The rule prohibits his clubs. There is just no enforcement, and no possible enforcement, because of a lawsuit.
Those same clubs, if the serial number comes from after the date in the lawsuit, are not protected by the lawsuit, and the rule will be enforced.
But if the serial number comes from before the date in the lawsuit, the rule will not be enforced.
None of this means Mickelson is “bad”, it just means he is violating a possibly stupid rule which cannot be enforced.
The fact that the rule was made with no way to enforce it is pretty ridiculous in the first place.
Bad timing for Phil, just as he becomes the worlds number one golfer.
No, MLB’s monopoly is recognized and protected under federal law. No other major sport has that protection.
Yet. The NFL is after that and I believe the Supreme Court will hear it soon. With this court it is a lock. there will be 2.
Lefty says he will not be using the PE2 this week. He mainly did it last week to protest the new rule which he thinks is bad for the game, but he personally thinks he will benefit from the new rule.
The reason they were sued is because they have rules regarding club design, the specs that were allowed were the ones Ping used to design their clubs. at this point the USGA says they are not allowed due to there not being made to spec…Ping can prove that they are indeed made to spec.
as for the use of the clubs? Golf is a game, the most important thing to remember about ALL games is that you have to play within the rules of the game, not your personal interpretation of those rules.