Intentional intervention by spectator.

[jobin]

No doubt you have read about one tour player who requested (demanded?) certain nearby spectators be removed from the premises due to vocal outcry.  Obviously, or not so, the PGA Tour doesn't care, or should care; who knows this answer?

 

But, is there any kind of relief possible if folks call out during a players backswing with the intent of disrupting the outcome.  With the advent of online sports betting and the high return of gambling on sport, we can foresee the possibility of affecting the outcome with well placed sound effects.  Perhaps a mini airhorn hidden deep in the tee box trash barrel activated by remote control would cause a poor swing. 

 

If this were to happen, can the player take a 'mulligan'?  What kind of control or redress can be offered, if any?  How could the RoG address such an issue?

[SNIPERBBB]

There's nothing in the RoG to address it. The tours could possibly have their own recourse outside of the RoG for their events but you'll not see it in a USGA or R&A event.

[MPAndreassi]

I’ve seen this somewhere before.. 

 

 

[Augster]

Sadly, this BS is going to be more and more common as more places allow legal sports gambling. Especially real-time gambling from your phone. It’ll be WAY too easy to skew whether a player is going to birdie the hole they are on by just making noise. Etc. etc. 

 

Hopefully, they’ll go back to no spectators at the highest level. It was awesome to watch golf tourneys without all the yahoo’s. Heck, I might even watch a Ryder Cup. It’s totally unwatchable with crowds there. Too many knuckleheads. 
 

I get it. Yelling “mashed potato” and “get in the hole” and whatever other stupid stuff morons come up with is “funny” to a very small percentage of the viewing public. To the rest of us, it makes golf nearly unwatchable. 
 

During Covid, with no fans, I watched every tour event. Now I pretty much only watch the majors. The “fans” ruin it for me. 
 

This is going to be a problem going forward. 

[Quasimoto]

This is why it was such a treat to watch the USGA Women’s Open last weekend. Really well behaved fans, I believe restricted to members and guests.

There was no yelling, shouting nonsense, disrupting players. Just respectful golf.

[Hawkeye77]

Boorish fan behavior and the gambling connection is a “good get” IMO and one of the many things the Tour will eventually see but never admit as the downside to getting greedy and getting in bed financially with gambling. 

[antip]

14 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Boorish fan behavior and the gambling connection is a “good get” IMO and one of the many things the Tour will eventually see but never admit as the downside to getting greedy and getting in bed financially with gambling. 

I'm enormously sympathetic to this view, but sceptical that the Tour will choose civilized behaviour over the cash take. 

[Hawkeye77]

5 minutes ago, antip said:

I'm enormously sympathetic to this view, but sceptical that the Tour will choose civilized behaviour over the cash take. 

I think we agree.  

 

Even seeing the issue, I doubt the Tour will do much about it.  

[oikos1]

At the end of the day/week, someone is still cashing a $million+ check so whatever.

[Jbegz12]

No way you can do that. It would get so subjective

[LeoLeo99]

They would get rid of gallery silence during the swing before they allowed a Mulligan.  Being able to play with distractions just shows how good they are. 

[bcski]

Agreed, if a PGA tour pro hasn't ingrained the muscle memory to swing with noise around him by now, he wouldn't be on the tour...

 

Noise and distractions are here to stay.  The players will keep adapting as they have been for the past 100 years or so.  Think of the gallery changes from 1920 to 2020 - way more visual colors, larger crowd, fan movement in the swing, and lastly NOISE during the swing. 

 

In 50 years or so hopefully golf will be as loud as baseball or basketball and be much more exciting with a larger fan base and pay for the players that rivals the NFL, NBA, and MLB