Hold all calls, golf comes to its senses

Golfers need no longer live in fear of a minor infringement being picked up by eagle-eyed armchair fans, after the sport’s ruling bodies agreed to limit the use of video evidence.

The decision issued Tuesday — and effective immediately on all tours around the world — has two standards.

Players can avoid a penalty if the violation could not be noticed with the naked eye, such as a club touching a few grains of sand during a backswing in a bunker. Rules officials also can eliminate penalties if they feel players made a “reasonable judgment” in taking a drop or replacing their golf balls on the putting green.

The golf authorities, who have established a working group with the women’s LPGA Tour, PGA Tour and men’s and women’s European Tour, have acted because of advances in high-resolution super-slow-mos available to viewers. Such images could also theoretically show a player unknowingly striking the ball more than once during a stroke.

“Golf has always been a game of integrity, and we want to ensure that the emphasis remains as much as possible on the reasonable judgment of the player rather than on what video technology can show,” Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, said in a statement.

Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of rules, said, “When dealing with video evidence, should we be holding players to a high standard simply because they’re on television?”

The catalyst for such quick action was Lexi Thompson, though it was not clear if she would have been fully exonerated from a four-shot penalty with six holes to play in the ANA Inspiration this month.

Thompson had a 15-inch par putt on the 17th hole in the third round when she stooped to mark the ball, and then quickly replaced it about an inch away. A television viewer contacted the LPGA Tour the next day, and officials determined it was a clear violation.