At the national convention of men’s and women’s college golf coaches in Las Vegas, substitution was a large part of the discussion.
Last week, the annual Golf Coaches Association of America and Women’s Golf Coaches Association national conventions took place in Las Vegas. College golf has undergone a fair amount of change over the past 10-15 years and for the most part, the convention is where many of those discussions take place.
This year, the hot topic was substitution. In fact, substitution has been a topic for a few years now. While substitutes have been allowed in the postseason for the past couple of years in men’s college golf, the concept has shifted to the regular season. A substitution rule was set to go into effect this past fall, but there are too many nuances still to figure out.
On the men’s side, a session was entirely dedicated to this topic during the convention but was also attended by members of the women’s committee and several women’s head coaches.
MORE: It’s time to consider allowing substitutes in college golf
The biggest hurdle for allowing substitutes seems to revolve around what it will do to a player’s individual ranking. What happens to a player who may play only one or two rounds of a 54-hole tournament? The fix would be to allow the rankings to be computed by round and not tournament, but what about the World Amateur Golf Ranking? A player who is subbed in or out mid-tournament would fall to the bottom of the leaderboard and take a loss to the entire field, which is why the collegiate rankings are examining the concept of round-by-round ranking.
The plan is to try to have all this in play for the 2021-22 season and use the 2020-21 season to examine how the details could work.
There is some pushback. Hallway discussions centered around why college golf even needs substitutes.
The short answer is to avoid a situation where a team would not be able to post a score if two or more players were not able to turn in a score. In a play-five-count-four format, there is only room for one player to withdraw or be disqualified. A substitute would still not be able to be inserted into a lineup until after a round is completed. A team would also not be required to bring a substitute, it would only be an option.
A show of hands in the room revealed that the majority of coaches are not in favor of allowing substitutes during the regular season, but it does appear the NCAA Division I Golf Committee is committed to finding a way to make this work. Another show of hands suggested that if a substitution rule were in play, most coaches would bring a substitute on trips.
There was continued discussion in Las Vegas about possible regional modifications. Several coaches are still trying to think of ways to reward a team that has played well during that season with a top seed and a hosting opportunity.
Note that regional fields for the men and women are set through the spring of 2022.
On the topic of regionals, there is discussion about the women of increasing from four to six regional sites in the future.
When the topic of standardizing tournaments was brought up, it led to very little discussion in the room.
On the women’s side, there is still hallway talk of the .500 Rule but not a lot of conversation about it in the sessions. Women’s programs will now have to turn in their schedule by Oct. 1. The deadline was set as a result of teams pulling out of an event, maybe due to conditions, even though the event is still being played.
Women’s coaches also talked about teams being allowed to play Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, site of the NCAA Championship from 2020 through 2022. The rule previously did not allow teams other than host Arizona State on the course, but it was recently announced that rule will change beginning next year and leading up to the 2021 championship. The issue here was more missed class time and increased costs to make that trip. The men did not discuss this.
The USGA was also on hand and presented a proposal for modernizing its rules on amateur status, which is something the organization says it does roughly every seven years and now comes as a follow-up to the 2019 rules changes.
USGA officials on site did address the NCAA’s name, image and likeness issue. Right now, a business can help an amateur pay for expenses but can’t get anything in return (such as an endorsement from that player or having him or her appear in a commercial). The officials mentioned that could change in the future and said “there are some outcomes that could really be uncomfortable.”
The USGA is going to accept feedback through 2021, but could be forced to decide on some issues sooner than that.
Part of the proposal included that vocation would no longer be a breach, such as PGA membership and employment as a golf professional.
