PGA Championship this year at Atlanta Athletic Club to allow cell phones on the course
The PGA Championship for the current year will be introducing new rules in regards to the use of cell phones on the course, doing away with its previous policy of a strict ban on bringing the cell phones on any PGA sanctioned events.
The 93rd event of the championship, which is scheduled to begin from August 14 to 18, at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia, will be the last major of the season.
The change in the previously held strict compliance of using cell phones on the course has been brought in to facilitate spectators during their time on the course. But spectators will have to comply with the designated areas which have been charted out
by the organizers for using their cell phones.
Spectators will not be allowed to use cell phones anywhere on the course, although they will be allowed to send or receive messages. Organizers will make it customary to inform the spectators to switch their mobiles to “silent or vibrate” mode during their
presence on the course.
The feasibility of the policy change was first tested last year at the 72nd Senior PGA Championship, presented by KitchenAid at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, where the PGA for the first time allowed spectators to use cell phones. It was the
first of its kind PGA sponsored event to have forged this policy.
PGA of America President, Allen Wronowski said, “Having successfully introduced the mobile device policy at one of our major spectator events, we are confident that we will have a positive response from those attending the 93rd PGA Championship in Atlanta.”
“Mobile devices are a part of our daily lives, our personal caddie, and we ask that the great spectators who support our premier Championship will respect the ground rules and the players while enjoying one of the year’s foremost sporting events,” he added.
The spectators will not be allowed to record any videos at anytime during the championship. Those who don’t follow the rules or intend to deliberately disrupt the proceedings will have to give away their cell phones to the organizers and will be able to
later collect them at the end of the day.
The current usage of cell phones has become so common, that the PGA as well as the European Tour has started to consider changes in their rules regarding the use of cell phones on the course.
The turnout has been severely affected in the past few years due to lingering economic recession. PGA decided to change its rule to facilitate the spectators on the course rather than making things difficult in pursuance of decades old rules.
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