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After the 2023 season on the PGA Tour ended, many new policies were in the pipeline for the upcoming season. And as the new season approaches, the Tour body has released a long list of new regulations that the players will find hard to cope with.

On Monday, November 13, during the Tour’s Policy Board meeting, many things were decided that the committee will start implementing in the tournaments from 2024 onwards. Let’s take a look at what the bizarre new rules are.

PGA Tour prepares to make big changes in the 2024 season

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As Rory McIlroy stepped down from his post as a PGA Policy Board member, it was a big shock for the Tour players who saw him as their representative. They have not yet recovered from the shock that some new policies have been rolled out to increase the worries of the players. For the next season, the PGA Tour has made a set of new and strict rules.

First is the Average Stroke Time (AST) Infraction. In simple words, if a player’s average stroke time is more than seven seconds against the field average then it will be considered a violation. Fines will be imposed on players who have such lapses. This new rule replaces the 2021 Observation List. An amount of $20,000 will be imposed for 10 infractions, $5,000 for each additional AST from 11-14; and $10,000 for each infraction from 15 and above.

Second is that no monetary penalty will be applied on Official Warnings, but the number of timings before a financial penalty has been decreased from 12 to 10.

via Imago

Third is that the timings for the Excessive Shot Times policy have also been reduced. Now only the first player will get 120 seconds. The second and third players will get 100 seconds only.

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Observation List gets replaced with new policies

The PGA Tour released a memo to the players in which it wrote, “The Observation List has been very successful, and has been a tool which has allowed the Rules Committee to effectively work with individuals to improve their personal pace habits.”

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However, as we look to evolve the list and improve it, it has become apparent that there was an inequitable disparity in weekly field averages due to factors such as course difficulty and weather.” According to their statement, the Tour has taken these steps after much assessment for the betterment of the game. Let’s see how the players react to it.

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