USGA PR team to Justin Thomas: "We need to talk"

ZNDavis · Mar 2, 2019 8:02pm

"Justin, we need to talk. You’ve cancelled every meeting we’ve planned with you, but we are reaching out again. We were at the first 5 events, and tournaments last year, and your tour has had a seat at the table for 7 years. We’d love nothing more than to give you a seat. Call us."

https://twitter.com/USGA_PR/status/1101978749199925248

Thoughts?

larciel · Mar 2, 2019 8:10pm

If things go bad, USGA higher-ups will blame it on one Twitter handler.

tiderider · Mar 2, 2019 8:37pm

lol ... what's there to talk about? ... half the time, it's not the rule - it's the interpretation of it, as today's latest "behind the player" incident proves ...

Josh L. · Mar 2, 2019 8:38pm

I'm guessing that's not a real USGA account.

Swisstrader98 · Mar 2, 2019 8:42pm

Josh L. wrote:

I'm guessing that's not a real USGA account.

Ya think?😂

b.helts · Mar 2, 2019 8:43pm

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

North Texas · Mar 2, 2019 8:48pm

b.helts wrote:

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

Well, he is being a bit of a ****.

But he has company among the players.

b.helts · Mar 2, 2019 8:58pm

North Texas wrote:

b.helts wrote:

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

Well, he is being a bit of a ****.

But he has company among the players.

Ha! Indeed.

Not that the mob is right very often.

tiderider · Mar 2, 2019 9:20pm

like the arnie one ... jt will respond with a gif of his own ... he likes the social media ...

MattyO1984 · Mar 2, 2019 9:28pm

Bizarre. I get that the USGA might think that JT is being petty. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Their responding in the way that they seem to have done however takes them down to the same level and it's not as if the USGA needs the bad publicity.

North Texas · Mar 2, 2019 9:30pm

At some point, the players have to take responsibility instead of blaming others.

gatorMD · Mar 2, 2019 9:32pm

?what is this about

BMC · Mar 2, 2019 9:43pm

The USGA does not work for the Pro tours. Their focus is more on the amateur game. The Pro Tours are independent, money grabbing businesses whose innovation is putting cars on tee boxes and beer gardens. The Tours could and should make their own rules if they don't like them.

tiderider · Mar 2, 2019 9:49pm

BMC wrote:

The USGA does not work for the Pro tours. Their focus is more on the amateur game. The Pro Tours are independent, money grabbing businesses whose innovation is putting cars on tee boxes and beer gardens. The Tours could and should make their own rules if they don't like them.

amateurs in competitions ... the tours will never pick up the responsibility of making their own rules ... even JT knows that's a headache ...

bladehunter · Mar 2, 2019 10:00pm

Hard to have an opinion until I know if that’s a real USga account or not.

chris975d · Mar 2, 2019 10:03pm

bladehunter wrote:

Hard to have an opinion until I know if thats a real USga account or not.

Being reported in Golf Digest.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-calls-out-justin-thomas-after-thomas-again-ridicules-enforcement-of-new-rules?utm_campaign=likeshopme&client_service_id=31201&utm_social_type=owned&utm_brand=gd&service_user_id=1.78e+16&utm_content=instagram-bio-link&utm_source=instagram&mbid=social_instagram&utm_medium=social&client_service_name=golf digest&supported_service_name=instagram_publishing

DLBTide7 · Mar 2, 2019 10:04pm

North Texas wrote:

b.helts wrote:

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

Well, he is being a bit of a ****.

But he has company among the players.

I, for one, am glad JT is being a “****”. In this country, we have not seen a level of arrogance displayed by the USGA since King George ruled the colonies.

North Texas · Mar 2, 2019 10:14pm

DLBTide7 wrote:

North Texas wrote:

b.helts wrote:

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

Well, he is being a bit of a ****.

But he has company among the players.

I, for one, am glad JT is being a “****”. In this country, we have not seen a level of arrogance displayed by the USGA since King George ruled the colonies.

You're right.

It was very arrogant of the USGA to expect the players to actually learn the rules they are expected to play by. And it was really arrogant of them to think that the players would not act like my 8 and 9 year old grandchildren.

OldTomMorris · Mar 3, 2019 2:31am

They've always been hyper sensitive to criticism.

Its difficult to learn a rule that is so badly written that it gets re-written (barely an improvement) only a matter of weeks after its initial rollout.

Vindog · Mar 3, 2019 7:09am

North Texas wrote:

DLBTide7 wrote:

North Texas wrote:

b.helts wrote:

The GIF responses to that are awesome.

It does make JT look a bit like a ...... ****.

Well, he is being a bit of a ****.

But he has company among the players.

I, for one, am glad JT is being a “****”. In this country, we have not seen a level of arrogance displayed by the USGA since King George ruled the colonies.

You're right.

It was very arrogant of the USGA to expect the players to actually learn the rules they are expected to play by. And it was really arrogant of them to think that the players would not act like my 8 and 9 year old grandchildren.

All the rule changes came as such a surprise, too

iBanesto · Mar 3, 2019 7:18am

After watching all the Narcos series episodes, this will end only one way. JT is gone.

You can't go up against an organisation like the USGA.

BlackDiamondPar5 · Mar 3, 2019 7:19am

Even the R&A appears to side with the players, as chief executive Martin Slumbers remarked on Tuesday, “I think it's fair to say that it hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked," just days after USGA CEO Mike Davis said at a conference, "From my perspective, I would say by and large they’ve been a huge success."

dropkicked · Mar 3, 2019 7:33am

JT has a lot of fans and followers on SM..That USGA PR, account will get smashed if they force the issue with him...

MtlJeff · Mar 3, 2019 7:44am

Players need to learn the rules , and some of their complaining has been a bit childish, especially IMO as it relates to fairly inconsequential things like drop height....i mean i still don't understand why anyone cares about this enough to complain.

But i think the root cause is mostly that people like to complain about the USGA because they do many things that make you not like them. So they are an easy punching bag even when they do things that are understandable. I mean just mention USGA and "rules" in a sentence and people are going to support you, given how they have mismanaged things at big tournaments lately, and made other unpopular or controversial changes, or have threatened to.

Them tweeting at Justin Thomas like the above (even the manner it's written) just shows how out of touch they are, because someone there probably thinks this will make them look like the good guys. I don't think they even realize that tour and public sentiment seems to be largely against them, again not because of specific rule changes, but the overall bumbly-ness of their organization the past 5-10 years, and the arrogance of it's leader.

the bishop · Mar 3, 2019 7:46am

BlackDiamondPar5 wrote:

Even the R&A appears to side with the players, as chief executive Martin Slumbers remarked on Tuesday, "I think it's fair to say that it hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked," just days after USGA CEO Mike Davis said at a conference, "From my perspective, I would say by and large they've been a huge success."

Mike Davis seems to have a particular tunnel vision - Pauline Kael type syndrome - where he thinks it has been a huge success because he only surrounds himself with sycophants who tell him how great they are. He should get out more.

TerpFangolfer · Mar 3, 2019 9:02am

bladehunter wrote:

Hard to have an opinion until I know if that's a real USga account or not.

It definitely looks legit...it's not a parody or troll account - all tweets are pretty much official info

turtlekc · Mar 3, 2019 9:03am

BlackDiamondPar5 wrote:

Even the R&A appears to side with the players, as chief executive Martin Slumbers remarked on Tuesday, "I think it's fair to say that it hasn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked," just days after USGA CEO Mike Davis said at a conference, "From my perspective, I would say by and large they've been a huge success."

LOL

You may have accidentally left an important piece of the article:

“The Rules of Golf committee at the R&A has done a lot of heavy lifting, but we’ve done it all with the tours from Day 1,” Slumbers pointed out. “And the tours sit on our Rules of Golf committee and have been involved. I think that’s important to remember. This is not just us in isolation. We do this in collaboration right across the game. But, yes, it is a lot of change. So we will continue to work closely with the tours and with the players. I remain completely committed to believing this is the right thing for the game. We will work through any further issues.”

One Putter · Mar 3, 2019 9:16am

The USGA just needs to focus on not f****** up the US Open for once

mackepa · Mar 3, 2019 9:24am

BMC wrote:

The USGA does not work for the Pro tours. Their focus is more on the amateur game. The Pro Tours are independent, money grabbing businesses whose innovation is putting cars on tee boxes and beer gardens. The Tours could and should make their own rules if they don't like them.

If the USGA is focused on the amateur game they wouldn’t have made that ridiculous groove rule. That was done 100% because they hated seeing pros stop shots on a dime from thick rough. When’s the last time you’ve seen the average hack spin a ball from the rough let alone the middle of the fairway?

The USGA is out of touch

BrianMcG · Mar 3, 2019 9:25am

JT doesn't want to meet anyone. He's a petulant child. If he stopped whining he would curl up and die.

widow-maker · Mar 3, 2019 9:44am

There's a long process that the USGA goes through before they institute a new rule. There was a long period where players could give their feedback to proposed changes, as well as all of us being able to give feedback. These rules weren't just tossed out as a surprise one day out of the blue.

The rules aren't just written for the PGA Tour players. They are written for everyone, and it's difficult to do that unambiguously. If the players didn't like the way a proposed rule was being written, then they should have spoken out through their Tour Policy Board over a year ago with their concerns. It's funny but you don't hear the compliments from the players for the rules changes concerning loose impediments, grounding, repairing spike marks, accidental moving of ball that they all seem to like just fine. Get involved in the process before changes are implemented and you don't have to be so surprised and disappointed if something gets implemented that you find you don't like. This is a situation where the Tour Policy Board could have been proactive so that individual members didn't need to be so reactive... after the fact.

USGA PR team to Justin Thomas: "We need to talk"

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