Well, they are dead and buried. Rest in peace, green-reading books.
It’s officially the end for golf pros who relied on using the famous books on the PGA Tour. The small, easy-to-carry pocket guides, used since 2008, gave players detailed information with illustrations to assist them. The now-famously banned book will not be accessible to help players detect the directions that putts break and the percentage of slope in different sections of the greens. The ban became official on January 1 and went into effect Thursday, January 6 at this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Looking over the books for reference during play has been a common practice for PGA Tour players like Rory McIIroy and their caddies. But now, with the ban, players caddies predict they will be spending more time out on the greens, rolling balls to access details for ball direction, hoping to get insight that was once published in the green-reading books. Details on putting surfaces have to come about without using electronic equipment, as no measuring devices are permitted. So, it is expected there will be more caddies and players using the AimPoint method of green-reading.
How does the new ruling sit with tour operators and player development specialists? “I think this is good for the game,” says Preston Pinkney, Co-Founder/President of The Pinkney Foundation which operates the African American Tour Quest (AATQ), a professional golf development program designed to promote diversity in golf which includes college and career pathways into the golf industry. “Players will have to revert to using more of their feel and senses when around the green.” Player Development Coach and golf author JC Callaway believes “This ruling will make it more instinctive and spontaneous, which could cause more guessing in reading the greens.”
Brandt Snedeker, who caddies for Scott Sajtinac estimated he’ll be spending anywhere from 5 to 10 more hours per week on the greens to get information on ball rolls.
Andy Walker, who oversees Academy & Player Development for the United Golfers Association (UGA) says “I don’t think it really matters if they ban the books, it just means that same info will be transferred by hand by the caddies or players into the regular yardage books that they get each week or already have. I don’t see the problem with the books, to be honest. Yes, green reading is a skill, and to get to the PGA Tour you obviously know how to read greens. The green-reading books are not perfect anyways, so if there are mistakes in there you are subject to trusting those errors. I’ve never been a fan of going backward with the rules (anchored putters, green-reading books, etc.) Don’t allow them from the start if you don’t want them. If you’re going to ban green-reading books, then ban yardage books period, because it’s all the same…it’s just information. You still have to pull off the shot in the end.” The UGA (founded in 1925] is a 501C3 – non-profit organization that is committed to increasing the introduction, development and advancement of Black youth and adults within the sport of golf.
In a rare instance, the USGA and R&A followed the lead of the players and approved a Local Rule (MLR G-11) in December that enables a committee to limit players to using only the yardage book that it has approved for use in the competition.
The local rule gives the Tour the ability to establish an officially approved yardage book at each tournament so that the diagrams of putting greens show only minimal detail (such as significant slopes, tiers, or false edges that indicate sections of greens). In addition, the local rule limits the handwritten notes that players and caddies are allowed to add to the approved yardage book.
Tour Player Matt Kuchar expressed, “I think it is good for the game for them to go away. I don’t think the game was meant to be broken down that scientifically.”
English professional golfer Justin Rose has won an equal number of tournaments with the green-reading book as he has without, believes that his inability to have the information from the guide with him will make a big difference in his performance. “I don’t rely on it. I used it as a quick guide,” he said, adding “there are ways for me to still use it and the concepts and strategies without it. I will still use it in my preparation in my hotel room.”
Deadly Tour putter Jordan Spieth was a devout user of the books in recent years yet he, too, was among the PAC members who voted for the ban. Speaking ahead of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, he said that he wasn’t too concerned about losing access to what had become a security blanket of sorts on the greens, noting that Augusta National Golf Club didn’t allow them and he had a pretty good track record there, including a green jacket from 2015.
Greens Reading is A Skill
Being able to read the greens is one of the top skills of golf. Players have to be accurate shotmakers and be able to predict how and where their shots will land. Why let a book or the latest technology help players to determine this?
Pro Davis Love III said to Yahoo Sports, “It got out of control for a while.” “At the 2016 Ryder Cup, you had people sneaking around with machines and shooting the pins and putting them on 8×12 paper. It’s just a little too much technology. Yes, there’s technology involved in just about everything: rangefinders, GPS, scorekeeping, and all that kind of stuff. But we need to be careful that it doesn’t become a computer game out here.”
The pushback began in 2018 when the USGA limited the size of the books to 4½ x 7 inches, to the scale that 3/8-inch on the book would correspond to five yards on the green. That legislation was deemed by several top players to be too soft. The purpose behind restricting the green-reading books is to ensure that players and caddies use only their eyes and feel to help them read the line of play on the putting green. Critics say the books offered too much assistance. Or as former World No. 1 Luke Donald put it, “We shouldn’t be given a book with all the answers.”
