Golf Nuts,
I am so discouraged by what is happening in the game in so many ways, and this is yet another example. Here are a few more…
- LIV Golf League and the damage it has done to the game on several levels:
- The Great Philosophical Divide in the Game
- Tournament golf redefined as a party rather than a competition
- Two separate tours featuring elite players
- Money as the measure of greatness
- The circus atmosphere at their events, complete with blaring music
- 54-hole, limited field, shotgun start professional events as their standard
- Entitlement to riches instead of earned value through hard work and golfing excellence
- The intrusion of Saudi blood money and the Saudi culture into the game, with the very real possibility of the Saudis sitting at the head of the table of the PGA Tour
- The Great Philosophical Divide in the Game
- The spectacular greed demonstrated at the highest levels of the professional game, including players, the Tour, networks, advertisers, sponsors, etc.
- The “new golfer” and his demand that the game bend to his will rather than embracing the game’s roots
- The horrible broadcast quality of televised golf (The Masters is the standard)
- Maximizing commercial revenue, as opposed to the actual broadcast, as the end game for broadcasters, ignoring the consumer entirely in their quest for increased revenue
- Golf management companies and their impersonal attitude toward their customers, and their maniacal focus on net revenue
- The equipment manufacturers and their unjustifiable defense of making the game “easier” rather than embracing the essential challenge of the game
- The ungodly distance the ball travels now, and the unerring “straightness” of the golf ball
- Tour professionals whining over a small reduction in the overall distance standard for fear they might have to actually hit a mid-iron to a par 4 hole instead of a wedge to a par 5
- The rampant cheating at all levels of the game, including improving one’s lie as mentioned above, anchoring, backstopping, and so much more to make the game as easy as possible
- S-L-O-W Play on Tour, and when we amateurs play the game
- A profound lack of etiquette by fellow golfers
- The stunningly obscene behavior by fans at Tour events:
- Drunken parties
- Fistfights
- Party holes
- Morons yelling “GET IN THE HOLE!!”
- And a general disregard for the competitors
And, finally, speaking of competitors, garbage like this…
(The last image is a 10-second video.)
They are Tour professionals, and with such behavior are setting the standard for the “new golfer” knuckleheads who are degrading the game beyond repair.
This is not “their” game. It belongs to all of us, especially those who came before us who made it the greatest game of all. A game for everyone, provided you respect the game for its great history and wonderful traditions.
Golf changed me as a person. But today, the people who play golf are doing the opposite. They are changing the game, and not for the better.
It is now, along with so many other areas of life lately, a metaphor for the decline in our society, and I don’t see a positive end result for either our culture or for the game.
I welcome your thoughts, even if they disagree with my observations and conclusions. They are nothing more than my personal opinions, but they represent the lament of someone who dearly loves this game for all that it has done for and to me.
The Head Nut
#0001