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Kevin Na says he can't pull the trigger because he feels uncomfortable over the ball with his posture and his setup. He is simply thinking way too much, intently focusing on his swing rather than his target.

Ask the Rules Guy: Placement Puzzler

Ask the Rules Guy: Marker Mishap

Here's the Pelz way to lob it high and soft -- and some free gear to practice it.

Rules Guy: Clean Sweep

Bubba Watson has a whole lots of talents -- creativity, power, precision and touch, to name a few. But the one thing Bubba has that really sets him apart is clubhead speed.

Ask the Rules Guy

Golf gadgets have reached new technological heights, but can high-tech training aids outperform experts doing the same tasks? With our testers as judge and jury, three humans battle three high-tech toys in a mano-a-gizmo competition.

Recent breakthroughs in the science of impact technology prove you need two swings to score low.

Carl Pettersson, who’s ranked 17th on Tour in putting and led the field at Harbour Town, could be the best long-putter user on earth.

Ask the Rules Guy

Ask the Rules Guy

On the 18th tee, Hunter Mahan was in a precarious situation. He had a slim one-shot lead; water runs along the entire left side of the hole; and a huge fairway bunker sits on the right side of the landing area. Also, Mahan couldn’t lay up with an iron or fairway metal because 18 is so long.

Ask the Rules Guy

<p>Rules Guy: Clean Sweep</p>

  CLEAN SWEEP   Rules Guy, I hit my ball into a water hazard and went to take a drop in the designated drop zone. Before I dropped my ball, I swept away some leaves that were in my way, and which probably would have covered my ball if I'd taken my drop over them. My buddy (and, not coincidently, my competitor) instantly cried foul, claiming that I was improving my lie. I told him he was crazy; how could I have been improving my lie before I even had one?!? Please tell my friend that he was out of line, and that my drop was on target.   -- J. Karde, St. Louis, MO   The golf course is definitely one of the few places where a little extra cleaning can get you into a lot of trouble. In this case, however, having to fish your ball out of the drink was penalty enough. According to Decision 23-1/6, a player is allowed to remove loose impediments from the area in which he is about to drop his ball (as long as that spot is through the green) without penalty. As long as you only removed leaves and other loose impediments, you did not violate any rules and were able to drop your ball without thinking twice. Tell your buddy that if he wants to play Rules official he’d better clean up his act.  

Bubba Watson has a whole lots of talents -- creativity, power, precision and touch, to name a few. But the one thing Bubba has that really sets him apart is clubhead speed.

Bubba Watson has a whole lot of talents -- creativity, power, precision and touch, to name a few. But the one thing Bubba has that really sets him apart is clubhead speed. With a driver, his clubhead speed approaches a phenomenal 130 mph. So if you want to play, or try to play, Bubba golf, you too need more speed.   THE DRILL: How can you increase speed? Simple: make a bigger swing. But wait. There’s a huge misconception about big swings. Most people think that means just a longer backswing, but that’s not what I mean by a bigger swing. Your whole swing needs to be bigger, so you need more turn, back and through, more lift, more shift, more width and more length. To increase clubhead speed, hit practice balls while focusing on these two basic things.   1. In the backswing, get the back (right for a righthander) shoulder as far away from the ball as possible and as high as possible. 2. In the downswing, and especially at impact, get the lead (left for a righthander) shoulder as far away from the ball at impact as possible and get the clubhead to fly past the hands as fast as possible.   If you can start to accomplish those things, you’ll definitely increase clubhead speed. Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Brian Manzella runs his own teaching academy at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans.

Ask the Rules Guy

DISTANCE DEBATE Rules Guy, I was playing in a tournament and grouped with two other players I'd never met. On one fairway, I noticed that a distance marker was right in front of one of my competitors. Rather than walking up to it, I called out to him and asked what the distance was. Before he could even respond, the other player in our group stormed up and shouted that I couldn't ask a competitor for help with my distances, and that he would report the incident to tournament officials if I asked again. Not wanting to ruffle any feathers, I obliged and found the distance myself. Was this guy right, or just being a jerk? I feel like it was the latter. -- Mark F., via e-mail   When dealing with the Rules of Golf, I rarely tell golfers to trust their instincts, but in this case, yours were dead on: Your competitor was both wrong and a jerk. According to Decision 8-1/2, information about the distance between two objects (including your ball in the green) is considered public knowledge. That means that passing that information between players or caddies, whether they are partners or competitors, is not considered giving or receiving advice under Rule 8. Tell your third wheel that his argument is way off, and if he ever asks you for a distance, feel free to tell him to take long walk off a short pier.