We are four weeks, precisely, into golf's new rule book. Changes to it are not made without careful consideration - though it's less clear that those who play the sport, at all levels, are having their unique insight made us of. Nor are changes to it made without coming immediately under the microscope.
Still, it does feel like 2019's updated Rules of Golf have drawn greater scrutiny. In part that's because several are immediately visible - for anyone watching professional golf, players leaving the flag in on putts has been impossible to avoid. It's also because at their core is an attempt to stem the noxious tide of slow play.
Some rule changes address the issue unequivocally: three minutes, rather than five, to search for a lost ball; the ability for clubs to enforce a local rule allowing for a drop close to where the ball crossed the out-of-bounds fence, rather than requiring the shot to be replayed. These are fantastic additions for the club golfer and should make little difference to the professional game.
Others, though, fall under that phrase which gives web developers nightmares: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. What was wrong with dropping from shoulder height? Why shouldn't players be able to continue doing so should they wish to, rather than be forced to drop again from knee height which, seriously, could prove troublesome for some seniors.
And then there are those which were always likely to cause controversy in a sport which courts it. A double-hit being no penalty, for instance; players being allowed to continue using a club they have damaged; and Rule 10.2b(4), which on Sunday saw Hao-tong Li robbed of money, world-ranking points and third place as defending champion in the Dubai Desert Classic.
Li had managed to play 71 holes without an infraction, plus 36 the previous week, but on the final hole of the tournament his caddie, Mike Burrow, was adjudged to have helped line up a putt - enough for a two-stroke penalty, denying the Chinese star a top-10 finish.
The rule change forbidding such behaviour was not introduced without cause - on the ladies' circuits in particular, caddies standing behind players up until the point of execution had become a frustratingly familiar sight - but evidently there was not enough thought as to how it would be applied. Li is not the villain here, he has gained no advantage and committed no crime.
Nor was there contrition from the R&A, who explained: "(The rule) applies as the player begins taking a stance, which includes when the first foot moves into position.
"This rule prevents any opportunity for a caddie to line up a player. Intent to line up is not needed for this rule to play. On the putting green, the player can back away from the stance to avoid a breach of the rule. It was an unfortunate situation, but the rule was applied correctly."
Quite what the R&A expected, except for penalties to be handed out, I'm not sure. It's akin to expecting the ban on anchoring putters to immediately spell the end of the broom-handle, which of course it did not. Instead, players have found ways to use the technology within the boundaries of the rules, sometimes contentiously. Those who have relied on caddies lining them up are unlikely now to have them stand aside altogether.
In Li's case, it is clear watching the video that Burrow wanted one last look at the line the ball would take - not his player's set-up. It's easy to imagine a conversation along the lines of "hold on... yep, left edge and firm, mate." The rule was brought in to prevent "left a bit, no, right a bit, there - right there." Li has had his pocket picked.
It's also easy to suggest that had the infraction been at the hands of Ernie Els and caddie, or Colin Montgomerie perhaps, no penalty would have been applied. Imagine had Jose Maria Olazabal made a similar putt on Friday, to make the weekend, only then to be told that his caddie had not left the premises quite on time. It simply would not have happened, would it?
And that's at the core of all rules and their application, not just in this sport but in most. They are there to apply to all, without fear or favour, yet in golf it's impossible to conclude that this is what happens. Rules are not always black and white, but when the supposed infraction falls into grey, all that needs answering is did the player seek an unlawful advantage? If not, there should be no punishment.
Over the last five or six years, high-profile penalties have been dished out to Li, Guan Tianlang and Hideki Matsuyama, all young, all still learning the language, all unfairly penalised.
This isn't to suggest that there is a racist element to the application of the rules. Such an accusation would be baseless. But it is undeniable that it is far easier to take on a player still finding their feet in the sport, even one so immediately popular as Li, than it is to punish one of the game's elite, past or present.
These rules were brought in to speed up play. On Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau was as slow as he was imperious, frequently taking upwards of a minute to hit when 40 seconds are allotted, but the world number five, a tournament invite, the marquee attraction, was never going to be made a scapegoat.
Instead, it was Li, who is leading the way for a new generation of golfers from China and building an enormous fan base in so doing. His sense of humour and evident humility have made him friends on the circuit quicker than he might have expected, and the grace with which he dealt with Sunday's absurdities speaks to a quality character. Punishing him for what happened on the 18th green is not what these rules were brought in to do.
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 28, 2019
Scott handed a lifeline
It says much about this sport that Adam Scott's career is tethered to putting laws. First, he won the Masters with an anchored putter, a performance which played a key part in such a technique being outlawed. Then he showed that banning anchoring need not mean binning the broom-handle. Now, after finishing second to Justin Rose at Torrey Pines, there is a chance he finds further flat-stick success with the help of the flag stick.
Scott is one of the players who have taken immediate, drastic action following the change in rule which means the pin can be left in the hole when a player is putting. Previously, doing so would amount to a penalty, but now we're having to get used to seeing Scott and others leave it in - even for close-range putts.
It's unlikely that this is going to make Scott a world-class greensman - he still managed to miss the hole from inside two feet on Sunday, and those claiming his putting performance to have been a career-best are way off the mark. In the end, he ranked 14th for the 54 holes measured, versus a more typical first in approach play.
But there is no denying that he struck mid-range putts with an authority seldom seen in recent years, the sort of authority those rain-softened greens at Augusta National helped reveal on that famous Sunday afternoon. One of the sport's premiere ball-strikers is somehow defined instead by his putter. The latest rule change could revitalise a career and bring a flourish to its final stage.
