The divot debate rages

Emiliano Grillo knocked a great 406 yard drive down the middle of the fairway at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Thursday, only to find that it had rolled into a really bad divot. 

As everyone knows, the rule is a simple one – you have to play it as it lies. But could there be a better way, which doesn’t unfairly penalize a high quality shot?

At this level of the professional game, everyone will be hitting into very specific zones, which must inevitably get some pretty hard usage over the course of four days. That said, there can't be many players knocking it 406 yards and then finding themselves in a divot, unless you've got yourself into a second shot zone.

The ground staff will work hard after every round to repair the damage, but inevitably the key landing areas will take a pounding.

We think there could be a way out of this mess, and we certainly know that it is the rule that most of our readers want to have changed.

In our humble, if a shot ends in a divot could it not simply be dropped with the agreement of your fellow golfer on an undamaged area part of the fairway within, for example, a club length of the divot? Would that really be so hard to do?

We also appreciate that pace of play is very important, and we wouldn’t want to see any rule change that has a negative impact on this. But again, could a simple rule change not be introduced that doesn’t add time to a round, and properly rewards quality play?

We know that this is an issue that will run and run – or not if you happen to be plugged in someone else’s divot.

Maybe it needs a really big incident to drive this change. A final approach shot in a tight major that goes into a divot might be what’s needed to tip the balance.