…That the R&A, co-conspirator with the USGA in burying their heads in the sand with regard to the effects of modern equipment, will be undertaking changes to toughen up the Old Course in preparation for the 2015 Open Championship (the list of planned alterations appears here).  That the Old Course hasn’t been substantially changed since 1949 – and that it remains among the least-altered championship courses on the planet – is apparently of little relevance now.  The game’s governing bodies have spent the better part of two decades abrogating their regulatory responsibilities, and now apparently plan to place a finger bandage on a gaping wound by instituting a putter-anchoring ban which took them a full 20 years to figure out.  And now, to cover for this legacy of non-governing governance, they will make changes to the game’s most sacred playing ground – a move which, as my friend Geoff Shackelford points out, they not-so-proudly tried to bury by announcing it not only on a Friday but also the day after American Thanksgiving. 

It’s good to see that the game remains in such responsible and courageous hands.