The Pro Tours

This section focuses on the pro tours (PGA, Senior, and LPGA). Articles typically focus on how the professional world of golf affects the recreational golfer.

Is The PGA Hiding a Bigger Problem?

August 4, 2014 | By Chris Chirico | 2 Comments

Darryl Strawberry, Derek Boogaard, Josh Hamilton, Ricky Williams, Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe, Roy Tarpley, Len Bias. All have something in common – drugs affected their careers. And one, due to drugs, never got his career started. Notice how on this list, and among the most famous of all of the athletes with drug problems, there are no golfers. Are we somehow supposed to believe that, other than John Daly’s alcohol-related problems, no other golfer has suffered from any type of substance abuse? Well, thanks to Dustin Johnson, we can now see that this is most likely not the case.

We all know already that the PGA is very quiet about their inner-workings. We know they fine the players, but unlike the other major sports, we rarely know when or ever find out how much. Suspensions however? Well that’s a different story. It’s only when you begin putting two and two together that you begin to figure things out.

After news leaked that Dustin Johnson was being suspended due to a positive test for cocaine, it was followed shortly thereafter by news from the PGA that he was not suspended, he was leaving on his own to deal with, what was it…”personal challenges?” Along with that story was news that Johnson had two or three previous drug-related incidents as well. Do the powers that be not realize that, in this day and age, if there is a story to be leaked, it’s going to be leaked? But like everything else in the PGA, they have not yet realized it’s now the 21st century. Information is everywhere and accessible to anyone. All it takes is one untrustworthy person.

Now I can understand the players right to privacy. If I had a drug-problem that caused me to be suspended from my job, I would not want it to be public knowledge either. But of course, people don’t spend money to see me push a pencil around my desk. And therein lies the problem. Fans of a player or sport spend money to see each – and they believe that entitles them to the right to knowledge. Are they right? Maybe. Fans don’t want to be deceived. They don’t want to feel cheated or lied to. So when, what appears to be a cover-up, surfaces…naturally people are going to be upset and call other occurrences into question. People have already begun questioning Johnson’s supposed jet-ski accident two years ago. Was he hurt, or was he actually suspended due to one of his previous positive drug tests?

To the PGA – the bottom line is the fans want the truth. They spend money to watch your tournaments live. They spend money to watch them on TV. Many make purchases based on what players on the tour use. They do not want to find out that the wool is being pulled over their eyes. With golf in it’s current state, the last thing they need is another avoidable scandal.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Does Anyone Care About the FedEx Cup?

July 11, 2014 | By Greg D'Andrea | 1 Comment

So The Barclays kicks off the PGA Tour “playoffs” next month. You know, the PGA Tour playoffs? Those four tournaments to decide the Tour Champion? The golf playoffs? No?

Well, what if I said the FedEx Cup is next month? Oh! Now you’ve at least heard of that…Good, we’re making progress. Of course it really started last October, but I guess that’s not important right now. Now then, how many knew the FedEx Cup culminates in four tournaments starting with The Barclays and ending with the Tour Championship? Confused again?

You know, there are a couple of other stops in between too – The Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship. Still scratching your head, eh?

Anyway, as the race to the finale is heating up (or so we’re told), I’m not sure I give a crap. I mean, I realize this playoff thing is the Tour’s way of adding a climax to a season that otherwise never seems to end, but is it working?

And by working, I mean is the Tour attracting new fans because of The FedEx Cup? How are the TV ratings during these playoffs? And perhaps most importantly, are we growing the game of golf because of it?

We’ve just had the World Cup and here in the U.S. (even though soccer isn’t considered a “major” sport), the entire country was abuzz about it – including folks who don’t normally follow sports! Does this happen with The FedEx Cup? Hardly.

So in today’s poll, I’d like to know what you think about the PGA Tour playoffs. Do you care about The FedEx Cup?

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POLL: Is The Masters Your Favorite Major?

March 26, 2014 | By Greg D'Andrea | Leave a Comment

The Masters (by Torrey Wiley via Flickr)

With The Masters fast approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to see what your favorite major tournament is during the season. There’s always a lot of buzz around The Masters, but I figured that was due to it coinciding with the start of the new golf season too.

But recently via Twitter, one of our followers has called The Masters the March Madness of golf. Is this true? Sure, it attracts a lot of attention but some of that has to do with the course itself (Augusta National) and not necessarily the tournament.

It also has a great field of players – but don’t all the majors? And it’s at the start of the year…not the end – so it’s not a true reflection of which players have had the best year.

Still, The Masters has a certain appeal to it – be it that it kicks off the new golf season; or that it attracts a field of top players; or the fact that it’s played at a legendary golf course. Heck, I’ve written rather scathing remarks about Augusta in the past, but I still find myself watching The Masters on TV more than the others.

So, is The Masters your favorite of all the majors? Take the poll below and let us know.

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Is The Pro Golf Season Too Long?

December 9, 2013 | By Chris Chirico | Leave a Comment

I’m watching some college football games on Saturday afternoon when across the bottom of the screen scrolls an update reading Tiger Woods leads in some golf tournament. As I reach for the remote to rewind what I just saw (gotta love DVR), I’m thinking to myself that I couldn’t possibly have seen what I think I just saw. They must have just been mentioning his name as part of some other story. I mean, it’s December. What golf tournament is still going on?

But sure enough, I was wrong. Tiger, at the time, was leading the World Challenge in California. So I know I’ve mentioned it before but, come on. Doesn’t golf have an off-season? If you take a look at the PGA Tour schedule, it sure doesn’t appear so. Don’t get me wrong, golf is great. But wouldn’t some down time make for more excitement when “golf season” came around? Everyone has heard the expression “Too much of a good thing.” Well, why wouldn’t that apply to golf also? I love football, but I would lose some interest if it was on every weekend. I need the off-season to keep me excited and interested. But if there isn’t going to be an off-season, then why not add a wrinkle here and there?

What do I mean by a wrinkle? How about we see more of a connection between the pros and the hacks like us? If they’re going to play in December, lets see them play somewhere other than southern California where the temperature is still 70 degrees. Head a little more north and play where the temperature is hovering around the 45-50 degree mark. Myself and three other stinky golfers played a nine-hole round last month on a shoreline course. The temperature topped out around 45 degrees and the wind was blowing/gusting from start to finish. I’d like to see the pros play in that once in a while.

Did anyone happen to see the Eagles-Lions game this weekend? They played that game in blizzard conditions with 4-6″ of snow on the ground. Now I don’t want or expect to see golf played in that weather. However, let’s do something other than the “challenge of playing by the ocean breeze of Pebble Beach.” I mean, please.

The problem I’m getting at is, I enjoy golf, but I had absolutely no idea that a golf tournament was taking place this weekend. I truly believe the sport could be helped by simply creating a more condensed season. I mean, December? The NFL is into the final few weeks of the regular season. The NBA is now in full swing, as is the NHL. There’s simply too much competition for viewers. Shorten the season to April through early November (at the latest). The only competition through a good part of the season is baseball.

If it seems like I’ve said this before, it’s because I have. But I’m truly only trying to help! The whole point is, if I as a golf fan had no idea that a golf tournament was even happening this weekend, then there may be a problem. Not that I would have been watching anyway with football going on…but you see my point.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Maybe Golfers Are Getting Younger After All

September 9, 2013 | By Chris Chirico | 1 Comment

(photo by Fairy Heart ♥ / CC BY 2.0) — (photo by
Fairy Heart ♥ / CC BY 2.0)

It’s a subject we’ve gotten into a few times in the past, but it looks like a tour pro is beginning to see a problem as well. I’m talking about kids playing on the pro golf tours. At one time it was a sixteen year old. Then it was a fourteen year old. Now, the European Tour is pushing the envelope and had a thirteen year old participate in the European Masters this past weekend. So really, at what point is the line to be drawn? Well, it seems Miguel Angel Jimenez is one player who has had enough.

Jimenez spoke out against the idea of having a thirteen year old in the tournament saying he should be playing against other players his own age, and that this type of pressure could ruin their careers. He even went as far as to accuse the organizers of using a kid to gain publicity for the tournament. Some other players defended the decision saying that the additional promotion is good for the game.

So what do you think? Is thirteen years old too young for a player to participate in a golf tournament? Especially when it’s a tournament as big as the European Masters? If you don’t think so, keep in mind, this same kid also played in the Volvo China Open back in May at the age of twelve! Me personally, I think so.

While I do agree that the extra promotion for the tournament is good for the sport as a whole, I feel more strongly that this does, in fact, cheapen the sport. A thirteen, fourteen or even a sixteen year old could not even be on the same court/field as a professional in any other major sport without risking his life. But in golf, it seems that these young players are popping up in more tournaments, and they’re getting younger and younger each time.

Also, as far as using young players simply to promote the tournament, I agree with Jimenez. I don’t think there is any other legitimate reason to add a thirteen year old kid to your tournament other than to help generate more of a buzz surrounding it. You mean to tell me there is no other tour pro deserving of a spot in the tournament ahead of a thirteen year old kid? How do you think that makes the tour pro’s who didn’t get the invite feel? One of them has to be thinking “Are you kidding me? I don’t get an invite, but a kid still struggling with his math homework does?!”

So where does it end? When is it enough? At what age do we put a cap on it? Is it 12? 11? 10?! Come on now. Do we really need to see this? We all know right from the start that the kid has no shot at winning. He barely has a snowballs chance in hell of even making the cut! So is it worth, as Jimenez says, ruining their careers? Well, I guess that’s up to the promoters. But as Jimenez indicated, and has sometimes been shown, sometimes it’s more about the money and promotion than it is the players.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Is The PGA Hiding a Bigger Problem?

Does Anyone Care About the FedEx Cup?

POLL: Is The Masters Your Favorite Major?

Is The Pro Golf Season Too Long?

Maybe Golfers Are Getting Younger After All

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