The NCG Podcast: This one’s with the ‘Voice of the Rules of Golf’
There are few people more steeped in golf than John Roger Jones – his list of achievements is both long and illustrious.
Three times a Welsh strokeplay champion and twice winner of the matchplay, JR – as he is affectionately known – clocked up 85 caps for his country before becoming both a Wales and Walker Cup selector.
Elected to the R&A’s championship committee in 1989, he has refereed at some of the world’s top tournaments – including more than a dozen Open Championships.
The voice of the Rules of Golf for a number of years on NBC, where his dulcet tones explained the technicalities to American TV viewers, there’s little he hasn’t seen either out on the course or in the booth.
So whether it’s explaining why he put Ernie Els on the clock on the pivotal back 9 at Royal Lytham in 2012, or how he deciphered Jordan Spieth’s incredible adventures at Royal Birkdale five years later to an audience of millions, sit back as we go on a journey with JR through the Rules of Golf.
The NCG Podcast: JR Jones and the Rules of Golf
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Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
