PGA takes green books away and it is a good thing for the game

Remember that scene in The Legend of Bagger Vance when he’s walking across the greens with his bare feet trying to find the breaks? In that scene, we’re led to believe that Bagger Vance has some cosmic intuition that he alone can sense. The inference is that lesser caddies just stick a finger in the wind, but Bagger reads the earth itself, how it interacts with the sun, and how that knowledge can give his golfer an advantage.

With the PGA embarking on its first full season since outlawing green books, might we see some of Bagger’s tricks being used by modern caddies? The player’s committee unanimously voted to get rid of green books. It’s not that they weren’t helpful, but that the books were taking away from a critical skill in golf – reading greens.

While most Pros and caddies are probably very good at reading putts, having a green book was both a pacifier and a good excuse for players and caddies alike. That will no longer be the case and will force caddies and their players to make decisions without using the green book as a cheat sheet.

I suspect it will add a little more teamwork into the green reading. Those conversations – both before and after the putt is struck – will be fascinating to watch. Most fans agree with the elimination of the green book. One hope is that it cuts down on the length of rounds. I’m not convinced that will be the case. Without the book, caddies and players will likely take more time to look at putts.

One group that probably isn’t happy about the new rule is the caddies. Their job involves knowing every inch of the course so they can give their player the best, most accurate advice. Rangefinders during practice rounds provide ample data for coursebook notes on yardages.

However, there is no shortcut to reading a green. Their research often involves rolling balls from every location and angle to detect subtle breaks not obvious to the naked eye. With eighteen greens to break down, that’s a lot of extra work. It’s not immediately clear how making notes in a coursebook about the greens and having an actual green book is different.

I will go ahead and predict that some players, at some tournament, will be caught with an illegal green book during tournament play. There’s just too much riding on putts to not seek advantages – even those that are now illegal.

If the PGA has the stomach, I’d like to see rangefinders find their way into tournament play. While it may seem hypocritical, getting yardages is not a particular skill like green reading. Pros and caddies have such extensive notes, along with rangefinder yardages from practice rounds, they already know every distance.

If speeding up the game is indeed the goal, rangefinders can make a fast impact. Make getting yardages easy and fast, they still have to pull the right club and execute the shot. Then, make them read the putts without the benefit of a 3D, laser-mapped green book. That’s a winning one-two punch that will make the game more skillful and faster.

Fans won’t miss players and caddies staring at a green book for two minutes on every hole. Go ahead and let them shoot pins and hazards from tee to green to make up for any extra time they might need to read their own putts.