I see many rules violations every tournament round I play...Open Masters tend to be lenient on some things and hyper critical on others. I've seen very lenient views of backing into lies...hitting a branch on numerous warm up motions...and the run up plant that is 8-10 inches off to the side of the mini. I've seen hyper critical calls about falling putts, arguments over what 'Ten Meters is'...I hear 30 feet...it's not...it's 32 feet...9 and 45/64ths of an inch...approximately
I think it has to do with Open Masters concentrating on the part of the game that truly matters most in our outcomes..and that is putting. When someone goes deep in the crude off a drive we tend to be more forgiving because we feel bad for them..but we won't let them putt illegally.
The two I see that drive me nuts....and they are nothing short of deliberate are:
1. Someone walks up to their lie and they lay the mini down to the right edge or the left edge of the disc...whichever gives them the advantage getting around an obstacle....instead of drawing a line from the basket straight down the center line of their disc...or before a dog leg....drawing a center line down the fairway center point thru their disc...and yes I realize this can get fuzzy when you are near the corner of the dogleg and then just let the guy mark it either way..but not something different for the sake of getting around an obstacle.
2. Walking up to your lie very quickly while everyone is catching up....tossing your mini down in front of your lie all willy nilly...could be six inches ahead of where it is supposed to be...and then have the audacity to put their foot up against the mini to putt and I'm watching the mini flip up as they shift weight in their putt.
I could mention a 3 here...but sometimes it is hard to tell if it is intentional or not..but still against the rules...the old 'Patent Pending Putt'....where you turn your back to your throw...place the opposite foot behind your lie...and throw out of trouble...but 99% of the people lift their supporting point behind their lie and spin on the supporting point that is out..thus giving them like 5 foot of clearance around obstacles.
I've changed from jump putting to the Feldberg Walk-Thru putt because some people said I was leaving the ground before I released...sometimes I wasn't...but other times???? Who knows...so I myself changed so nobody can try and use that to get in my head. After getting my form and technique on putting down...I have the strength to straddle at 25ft and just pound it in with very little effort...outside of 30ft I'll walk thru...and outside of 50ft I just toss one under the basket...take my 3 and walk on...I mean what's your percentage of making that shot anyway?...versus the extra stroke you could possibly take on a blow by that is once again outside your high percentage putting zone?
With all that said...I think the biggest rules violation is this: People only calling foot faults or other infractions when it suits the results....as in...if you miss the putt they won't call you on the back foot coming down pass your mini....they won't call a bad drive where your plant foot was 6 inches in front of the teepad when you released...they won't call you on a jump putt...if you miss....etc