GolfStinks

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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.

Bo Knows…Golf?

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Just recently I tuned into one of ESPN’s 30 For 30 documentaries – this one entitled You Don’t Know Bo – obviously a documentary about the great Bo Jackson.  When I was a kid, I loved watching Bo play football, play baseball, act in commercials…everything.  I loved just the idea of Bo Jackson!  To see a guy who can be one of the best players in Major League Basbeball then head over to the NFL and one of the best players there as well, is simply amazing.

Now there have been several other multi-sport athletes in the major American sports – Deion Sanders, Brian Jordan and Danny Ainge quickly come to mind.  But despite a relatively short career (eight years in baseball and four in the NFL), none of the others are remembered more as multi-sport athletes more than Bo.  Perhaps that’s deserved though as he is the only player in history to be voted an all-star in baseball and a pro-bowler in football.

Now golf, though there are many athletes who play the game well, has had only one true multi-sport athlete – Babe Didrikson Zaharias.  And though we are aware of guys like Tony Romo who are great golfers that play other professional sports, I wonder why no one has tried to make golf the other half of their multi-sport athletic career.  Perhaps it has something to do with the business of sports today.  With all of the money and huge contracts floating around, the last thing an owner wants to deal with is the risk of injury due to a player participating in another sport.  But seriously…who gets injured on the PGA Tour?

It was a special kind of owner – Al Davis – who would allow a player, especially a star, to miss five or six games of an NFL season to play another sport.  But golf?  If an NFL player was to primarily play in the summer months, during the off-season, then I don’t really see the issue.  But in other sports such as basketball or baseball, the case may be different.  Baseball is played during prime golf season.  It’s played on the weekend – often bigger/more important/rivalry series are played on the weekends.  So MLB owners are not letting players leave to play in a golf tournament.  Basketball on the other hand plays primarily in the winter, until the late regular season and playoffs which occur in the spring.  So in all likelihood, unless the team has no shot at the playoffs, then they aren’t going to be let off the hook either.  However, the NBA off-season runs from mid-June through early October.  So NBA golfers like Ray Allen and Chris Paul could get a few months in if they wanted.

So with the opportunity there, why have some of these athletes from other sports not tried to play on the tour?  Is it due to the fact that, since they can’t do it full-time, they’ll never fully excel?  That makes sense I guess.  The pros are the pros because they work hard to be pros.  So playing part-time only in opens, pro-ams or charity events probably just doesn’t cut it.

Now I understand it’s golf, and it’s not exactly a physically demanding sport, so the Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders comparisons can be put aside.  But it would be a multi-sport athlete nonetheless.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen one and a multi-sport athlete always gets sports fans excited.  So could a multi-sport athlete help generate more interest in golf?  Well, it sure couldn’t hurt.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Do The Numbers Point To Steroids In Golf?

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It’s sad that anytime a major league baseball player has a big year home-run wise, one thing pops into everyone’s mind – steroids.  But baseball has no one to blame but itself.  Looking back to 1996, when the ridiculous home run numbers began piling up, questions and accusations had already started flying.  When Brady Anderson hit 50 HR’s that year, almost a quarter of his career total, fans had their suspicions.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

In the history of major league baseball, there have been 42 individual 50 home run seasons. Two-dozen of them have come since 1995.  So, what?  Did major leaguers all of a sudden just miraculously get stronger over the course of one off-season?  Well, that’s what the offices of MLB would have liked you to believe.  Hell, they were still recovering from the strike of 1994.  Anything that could have been done to bring the fans back, they were going to let it happen…even if it meant mortgaging their future.  Then along came a little document known as the Mitchell Report.  And next thing you know, the thought processes of major league baseball fans was forever altered.

So how and why is this related to golf?  Well, one could loosely equate the spike in home runs in baseball to the 300-yard drive in golf.  Let’s compare a few numbers around the same time period.  Pre-1990, MLB saw a total of seventeen 50 HR season.  Now this dates back to the first organized game back in 1846, and the first 50 HR season being recorded by Babe Ruth in 1920.  In comparison, pre-1990, the PGA saw not one single golfer average more than 280-yards per drive.

Fast forward to the 90’s, a time when it’s widely believed (and somewhat proven) that the steroid era truly began.  After seventeen 50 HR seasons in 144 years, we see twelve in only one decade.  And one can argue there could have been several more if not for the strike in ’94.  Coincidentally, the PGA saw the number of players sporting a 280 yard average drive increase from zero to 29!  Further, John Daly became the first player to average over 300 yards per drive!

Moving on to the years 2000-2011, despite the crackdown on the steroid epidemic, baseball saw thirteen 50 HR seasons.  Moving over to the PGA Tour, as of 2011 there were 169 players averaging more than 280 yards per drive.  Remember, back as recently as 1990, there were none!  Furthermore, there are 21 players averaging over 300 yards per drive, and five averaging over 310 led by J.B. Holmes at more than 318 per!

Now, does this mean there’s a steroid epidemic on the PGA Tour?  Of course not.  Players are more focused on physical fitness.  There have been technological advances in the equipment used to play the game.  But, the same can be said for MLB and its players.  Players are hitting the weights more than they did in the past.  The days of the scrawny and scrappy second baseman are on their way out.  Baseballs wound tighter and bats made of harder woods such as maple are becoming more prevalent.  But one cannot deny that steroids played a major role in increasing those numbers as six of the sixteen different players to have a 50 HR season since 1990 have been linked to steroids and/or PEDs in one way or another.

Of course, golf is a gentlemen’s game.  It’s built on a code of honor.  So no one on the PGA Tour would ever consider using steroids.  If this is your particular school of thought, I’m sorry but…you’re a fool.  Golf is a sport played by human beings.  There is more money on the line from tournament purses, sponsorships and endorsement deals than ever before. These are all reasons that someone would be tempted to cheat the game…even a PGA golfer.  And if you don’t think a few other golfers other than Tiger, Phil and Furyk would like to be on Sports Illustrated’s Fortunate 50, you’re crazy.

All I’m saying is the increase in certain numbers, coupled with the steroid problems occurring in some other major sports, may constitute an investigation by the PGA itself.  Because if the PGA doesn’t handle something themselves, they may have a report of their own on their hands.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

The Golf Pros Set The Pace

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Last week I read an article by Rick Reilly on ESPN.com about how slow baseball is despite the rules that are supposed to be in place to keep it moving along.  The article is funny, but true.  Sometimes, with all of the stoppages in play, it’s just tough to sit through an entire baseball game.  But what it reminded me of most was…golf.  In particular, going to a golf tournament and watching the pros.

Now we’re not the only ones to put some blame on the pros for the reason slow play makes it’s way onto your local course – this topic has been debated plenty of times before, so you already should know what I mean.  But the similarities between the two when it comes to slow play are pretty funny.

Watch the pro golfers wander around the green for as long as they do before a putt.  Now compare that to watching an at-bat for a major-leaguer.  The golfer looks at the green from every angle.  Sometimes twice, as if the green is going to move.  Then look at the baseball player and his at-bat.  Take a pitch, step out of the batters box to “adjust”, back into the box for another pitch.  Repeat a few times.  By the time it’s all over, we could have seen six or seven scoring plays in a basketball game.

At least on TV they can switch from golfer to golfer, so we don’t have to sit through the painful green-wandering, the conversations between the golfers and their caddies, the endless practice swings…you get the idea.  We’re stuck with all of the nonsense that Mr. Reilly so accurately describes.  It’s no wonder I don’t pay full attention to baseball until basketball season is over.  And my attention span is cut short once the NFL starts up.  Kind of makes that stroke clock idea look better and better all the time!

But seriously, how can you tell everyone to play their round in four hours when we all watch the pros take their sweet time?  I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be on a clock.  The pros, they should be.  But not us.  As long as we’re being considerate to other golfers and following the rules of etiquette, then screw your four hour time limit.  I’ll let people play through before I’m rushed.  Hey, they’re the professionals.  They set the example, right?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Defining A Golf Era.

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Following golf for the past 25 years or so has opened my eyes to many exceptional players. Unfortunately, no matter which way you cut it, a lot of these greats were lost in the shuffle. The reality is, just like other pro sports, we associate greatness with not just being at the top of your game but also with mass appeal.

From the late 90’s to about 2010 we all know golf was owned by Tiger. He was everywhere and everything golf.  There is no doubt about that. It was Tiger’s world and everyone else was living in it. Vijay, Phil and Furyk all had their chances, but couldn’t quite do it. Tiger was…ok, ok…is still a great golfer no doubt but golf is as much mental as it is physical. When his scandal went public his golf game suffered soon after. And so went an era.

What about a decade earlier when Greg Norman and Nick Faldo dominated? Why didn’t they get as much hype? Neither one was presented a $40 million dollar deal from Nike. Wouldn’t that have changed things a bit? I understand times were different then but I’m sure a deal like that would have altered the way things played out.

Going back a few more years, the last golf era I can think of was the Jack Nicklaus days. Granted I was a youngster and caught the end of his reign but you couldn’t mention golf without the name Jack Nicklaus. Looking to the future I wonder who will be next? It should be quite interesting to see especially with a young talented group to pick from.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

What If The PGA Experienced A Lockout?

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What would a PGA Tour lockout look like? No golf or replacement pros?

Well, all signs are pointing in the right direction. It seems there’s finally some agreement between players and owners. All signs are pointing to an on-time start the NFL regular season…and I couldn’t be happier! Now, if the NBA will soon follow suit, then the sports world will once again be right as rain.

But with lockouts currently going on in two of the three most popular spectator sports in the United States, it kind of makes me wonder what would happen if there was a PGA Tour lockout.

Would it be like an NFL lockout? I guess that could go two ways. With the current lockout, I think all of us know that both parties understand there is way too much money to be lost if games are not played. It’s by far the most popular spectator sport in the country. When it’s estimated that anywhere between $200- $250 million could be lost per week of the PRESEASON (!!), imagine what’s to be lost during the regular season!

But if you look at it like 1987 (which was actually a strike, not a lockout), it may look a bit different. Back then, the owners thought it would be a good idea to play a few games with replacement players. I remember distinctly watching a “replacement player” game when flashed upon the screen was a players regular job – car salesman. This was not the NFL I or anyone else wanted to see. Can you imagine the PGA Tour heading in this direction? Many of us have no idea who many of the players on the tour are now. Could you imagine if, in place of the tour pros, we had a bunch of course pros out there? Or, a bunch of guys from the Hooters Tour? Well, I guess if many of us don’t know who the players are now…

But what if it was approached like the NBA? Back in the 1998-99 season, the players were locked out and the games simply didn’t happen. No replacement players. No D-League players. Just no games. By the time it was over, the season was shortened from 82 games to 50. Would a PGA lockout look something like this? Just no golf at all for almost half the season? This would be the equivalent of missing approximately the first 17 tour stops of the season. Now, before you look at the schedule I’ll fill you in…yes, that includes The Masters.

But what if it worked out like the MLB strike of 1994? Everyone recalls only one thing from the ’94 season – no World Series. Obviously, The PGA Tour doesn’t work the same. Despite the tournaments name, there is no actual PGA Championship. But you get what I’m saying…

My question is, how would the golf world react if a lockout or strike were to hit the PGA? Would all be forgiven as it was (and will be) in the NFL? Would there be lingering after-affects as there was in MLB, a sport that was already on the decline viewership-wise? Or would it deal the sport a significant blow such as it did in the NBA which, 13 years later, has still yet to recover?

Obviously this is all theoretical as we know the PGA doesn’t work the same as the players organizations in the other sports mentioned above. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen one day. And if it ever does…and since Tiger has already hit his decline…would we even notice if replacement players were out there?

Swing ’til you’re happy! Because one day, you too could be a replacement player.

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