KAPALUA, Hawaii – Ian Poulter was an animated figure as he spent several minutes demonstrating potential drop scenarios with a rules official on the first tee at the Plantation Course on Tuesday night. Bryson DeChambeau was over at the nearby putting green still experimenting with speeds and angles of flagstick in and flagstick out putting. He’d been doing it a for a few days. Bubba Watson was having fun with it on his Instagram account in the days prior. Jason Day and Dustin Johnson hadn’t bothered to study the changes at all. Here was the varied approach to the biggest rule changes in golf in decades as the Sentry Tournament of Champions is about to kick off as the first PGA TOUR event played under the new world order. The changes from the USGA and R&A are many — you can get our comprehensive guide on them here — but it is a select few that have some of the players talking. DeChambeau made his intentions clear during the fall series when he admitted he intends to put with the flagstick still in the hole as the new rules allow. “It depends on the firmness value of the flag. The C.O.R. or coefficient of restitution of the flagstick,â€� he said on his way to winning the Shriners Hospital for Children Open. DeChambeau knows his method is going to create some division amongst players, too. “Inside a certain distance it could become a problem. Most people are going to want the flagstick out and I’m going to want the flagstick in,â€� DeChambeau said. “There are going to be weird instances where I want it in because I know it is a benefit. If it’s a 20 to 30-footer I’ll just put it in and it might add a little time taking it in and out. “So I don’t know how I am going to deal with that yet (with playing partners) … it is certainly going to be interesting.â€� His first playing partner will be defending champion Dustin Johnson. The pair will go off in the final group in the opening round on Thursday. “It’s going to be weird because the flag’s going to be going in and out a lot,â€� Johnson said, smiling. “But it’s all right. I mean it’s not bad.â€� He even said he could envisage a few scenarios he might leave it in himself. “If you got a real long putt or something I might leave it instead of having the caddie stand there and tend it,â€� Johnson said. “Or if you know it’s sometimes if you hit one up there, it’s always awkward trying to take the flag out. You can just tap it in.â€� Johnson admitted to not spending much thought on the changes, saying a poster in the locker room was his first real peek into it all. His brother and caddie, Austin, hadn’t yet immersed himself in it either. “I had one of the TOUR officials do a printout that I’m going to give to him to study later on today,â€� Johnson said. In the group ahead of them on Thursday is 2017 Sentry Tournament of Champions winner Justin Thomas. “If I have an eight-footer to win a golf tournament … I mean no offense, I can’t really take myself seriously if I kept the pin in,â€� Thomas said. DeChambeau wasn’t perturbed by that, later joking that he’d be very comfortable leaving it in in the same scenario and would take another trophy to go with his now five PGA TOUR wins very seriously. “All I try to do is use every aspect of the game of golf to my advantage,â€� DeChambeau said in November. “I try to use the rules to my advantage in the most positive way possible. Not trying to skirt around anything, just use them.â€� Golf has always been a sport of integrity where players call infringements on themselves. While plenty of grey areas have been removed with the changes, others have popped up. We now no longer have to worry about balls moving on greens, a lost ball being stepped on, balls being accidentally double hit, balls accidentally hitting a player or caddie or equipment, accidentally brushing a grain of sand in a bunker, or knocking off a leaf in a penalty area, among other changes. Many of the changes bring the word accidental into play — and that can cause debate. “There is just a lot of grey area that is starting to occur and questions are coming up where we didn’t think about that so it is going to come down to integrity,â€� DeChambeau said. “We are playing for millions of dollars … what do you think could happen?â€� The changes to green reading books sparked the most debate in a player meeting in Kapalua. Limitations on the books have been placed with any putting green image that is used during the round limited to a scale of 3/8 inch to 5 yards. A yardage or greens book must also meet a size limit of 7 inches x 4.25 inches. Any hand-drawn or written information by the player or the caddie is allowed, but only if contained in a book or paper meeting this size limit (other than a hole placement sheet). Questions came a plenty. Can a caddie or player trace their old books and then cut them into a four by seven square that fits in a book? The other debate came around the new drop rules where you drop from knee height. Now if the ball bounces from the drop into your body accidentally then there is no penalty. The interpretation around intent here has some players waiting to see how it plays out. Rory McIlroy said it had provided some comedic fodder for players, especially at shorter players expense. “Guys are practicing drops from your knees,â€� Mcilroy said. “We’re saying that Brian Harman has got a big advantage, he can basically place it. Where you got someone like Tony Finau who is dropping it probably from like waist high for me.â€� One thing is certain: There will be an adjustment period, and everyone should try to remain as patient as possible. “Everybody’s going to be calling a rules official in as much possible,â€� Thomas said. “So unfortunately play is probably not going to be too fast. But it’s tough, with anything, with change it’s always going to be different. “I’ve tried to study up … You would hate to get penalized just for making a mistake for something you’ve done your whole life, so it will be different.â€� Despite all the debate and talk amongst the playing throng, McIlroy said there was still an overbearing feeling of change will be for the best. “I’ve always said that the rules of golf are way too complicated, especially after the debacles and farces we have had at U.S. Opens and all sorts of stuff over the last few years,â€� McIlroy said. “So I’m happy that they made the decision to try and simplify them and just try to make everything a little bit easier to understand.â€�
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