Brooks Koepka has thrown down the gauntlet regarding the integrity of professional golf. The five-time major champion suggests the PGA Tour struggles to police players who bend the rules to gain an edge. On his YouTube channel, Dan Rapaport heard Koepka speak frankly about the shady tactics he witnesses every day on tour. He pointed specifically to players fixing their lie in the rough and tapping down spike marks on the greens.
Koepka noted that guys get away with improving their lies more because you’re are not right on top of them. He described a scenario where one player hits a shot while another is over in the left rough fixing the grass. The five-time major winner asked the tough question, according to Golf Monthly: “So I might be over there hitting my shot, but you’re over here in the left rough and guys definitely do it, but it’s just how are you going to prove it?”
The Two-Tiered Reality
Recent events prove Koepka’s point about inconsistent enforcement. At Royal Birkdale during the 2026 Open Championship, Bryson DeChambeau was penalized two shots for improving his lie. Yet, Wyndham Clark faced no action from USGA officials after fans flagged his practice swings and club position at Shinnecock Hills during the US Open. This disparity creates a system where rules apply differently based on who is playing.
Koepka witnessed a specific incident this year that he deemed really bad. He saw a player chip the ball and realized the lie was fixed. The golfer went for a backswing and the whole ball was visible. Koepka admitted he could not prove the infraction. “What am I going to do? I can’t prove it, and like at the same time, I understand guys have got to put the club down here, but if you keep putting the club down of course…” he said. The game relies on an honor system that clearly fails when the money is on the line.
Greens Are Getting Trashed
The problem extends beyond the rough to the putting surfaces. Koepka criticized the trend of players using their putters to tamp down spike marks excessively. This practice, often called trenching, creates a channel for the ball to roll. He noted that the greens get very chewed up around the hole lately. He suspects this damage is linked to more players using AimPoint. “It’s not good. It gets very chewed up around the hole lately and I don’t know if it’s because more people are doing AimPoint,” Koepka stated.
He observed that players are close to the hole when they perform this action. Koepka is not a fan of the technique. “But yeah, not a huge fan of it, they do it in front of the ball and behind the ball,” he said. The damage is visible to anyone watching closely, yet the tour seems unwilling to crack down hard enough to stop it.
Confidence Before The First Tee
Despite the rule-bending chaos, Koepka remains confident in his own game. He claims he knows if he will contend for a major before the week even starts. After his first practice round on Tuesday, he feels a specific level of confidence. “I feel like every time I’ve contended in a major, contended in a big moment, I kind of know it’s going to happen before the week’s already started. It’s a weird feeling,” he told Rapaport, according to Yahoo Sports.
His strategy for these big moments is simple: avoid disaster. Koepka’s theory since day one is to not make a double bogey. He would rather take a safe shot and make a bogey than risk a double. This discipline helped him win the 2018 PGA Championship even after he made a double bogey on his way to the title.
