NCAA Officials Requested StrackaLine Send Books After “Official” Guides Were Ruled Non-Conforming Under the Rules of Golf
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — StrackaLine, maker of golf’s best greens guides and yardage books, fulfilled a last-minute request from the NCAA to provide all teams competing in the 2019 Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships at the Blessings Golf Club with its USGA-compliant books.
Just prior to the start of the Women’s NCAA Championship, the event’s official yardage books were ruled to be in violation of the USGA’s new interpretation of Rule 4.3a, which limits the scale size of greens in yardage books. The decision left the few teams who don’t use StrackaLine’s industry-leading guides without a yardage book.
The men’s and women’s championships are being held at the Blessings Golf Club in consecutive weeks.
“We were more than happy to provide books for the couple teams not already using StrackaLine Greens Guides in the women’s championship and will do the same for the men,” StrackaLine president Jim Stracka said. “We want everyone to have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, and that means providing them access to a StrackaLine greens guide and yardage book. During the USGA’s review and eventual reinterpretation of Rule 4.3, we worked with the organization every step of the way to ensure our greens guides and yardage books were in compliance with the Rules of Golf.”
Twenty-seven of the 30 women’s teams and 29 of 30 men’s teams that qualified for the NCAA Championship used StrackaLine books this season, highlighting the quality of the industry-leading greens guides and yardage books.
Usage of StrackaLine’s greens guides have surged at every level of the game due to the quality of the product and the company’s diligence in preparing the books.
“We’ve been producing the game’s best greens guides for years, and we’ve worked just as hard over the last six months to ensure our books conform with the Rules of Golf,” Stracka said. “StrackaLine players arrive at the course knowing they have access to the game’s best greens guides and that the information will be presented in a way that complies with USGA rules.”
StrackaLine provided greens guides to more than 300 Division I men’s and women’s golf teams throughout the 2018-19 season without a single issue related to Rule 4.3. During regional play, 77 of the 81 men’s teams, including all six regional winners, used StrackaLine’s yardage books.
StrackaLine sent its 3D laser scanner to Blessings Golf Club allowing the company to create a topographical map of each green that is accurate down to the millimeter.
The quality and accuracy of StrackaLine’s greens guides have also led to widespread adoption on the PGA, LPGA, Symetra and Web.com tours.
StrackaLine scans courses for $1,500 and that includes 100 greens guides for resale. The scanning process takes five hours to complete and is unobtrusive to the golfer experience.
StrackaLine now has 900+ courses scanned, including some of the nation’s most prominent layouts. Use of the greens guides at all levels of the game has surged, and the company now counts nearly every Division I golf program among its users.
The greens maps, which feature easy to read arrows, allow players to view contour and fall lines, in addition to slope percentage, anywhere on the green.
For more information on how to order a greens guide or have a course scanned, go to www.StrackaLine.com.
