GolfStinks

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What Is It About The Masters?

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In most sports, the most important or biggest game of the year usually happens at the end of the season.  The NFL puts the Super Bowl at the end of the year.  The NBA Championship, the Stanley Cup, March Madness…they all come at the end of the season.  OK, so there was a point during the 90’s when the NFC Championship was considered to be the “real” Super Bowl.  Those games between the Cowboys and 49ers were epic.  But in golf where, for some reason there is no actual championship, they’ve decided to do things differently.

Instead of a championship game, golf does majors – four tournaments that are “more important” than other tournaments.  And still…none of the four is an actual title match.  Oh sure, many of these tournaments are called the “Blah-blah-blah” championship.  But that’s nothing more than a title.  However, there is one tournament that gets more press and more attention than any other tournament – The Masters.  And yet in still, it’s not a championship match, nor is it at the end of the season.

So what is it about The Masters?  What is it that makes this one tournament stand out above the rest?  Now right here, I’m sure you’re expecting a history lesson on The Masters, but no way.  I actually want to ask and learn.  When did The Masters become the big deal that it is and why?  Is it because of the exclusive private country club?  Is it the course itself?  Maybe the traditions such as the green jacket, the honorary tee shot or the par-3 contest?  Is it because of the international flavor that started in the 80’s?  Or was it because there was only one player from outside of the U.S. to win it prior which at the time made it a truly American tournament?

See, I honestly don’t know.  And no matter what I do, I can’t wrap my head around the idea that a sport which has no actual championship match, has the most hyped tournament of the year right in the beginning of its season.  That tells me that it’s all downhill from there.  Sure, there are still three other majors along with numerous other tournaments throughout the rest of the season.  But that’s like putting the Super Bowl in October and then playing a bunch of playoff games throughout the rest of the season.

But, I guess we’ve all grown used to that now.  Golf just seems to do things differently than most other sports.  No actual championship, biggest match comes practically at the beginning of the season, leaders are based on money…I guess I just don’t get it.  But hey, that’s OK.  I’m not here to figure it all out.  I’m not here to say what’s right and wrong, although I’ll try.  But for the most part, I don’t care about any of that stuff.  I just want to play.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Would Sex Sell The LPGA?

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As a lifelong sports fan, I can understand what it is about women’s sports that most fans don’t particulary enjoy.  Let’s face it, the speed, power and physicality of women’s sports are simply no match for the men’s games.  I’m not in any way trying to disrespect what these women do.  They are fantastic athletes; are great at the sports they play; and deserve all the credit and any attention they get because if it.  But in comparison to their male counterparts, outside of tennis, it just doesn’t match up.  That being said…I don’t understand why the LPGA doesn’t get the same recognition as the PGA.

A perfect example is probably the WNBA.  Have you ever watched a WNBA game?  These women are great basketball players and great athletes.  But when compared to the speed and physicality of an NBA game, the women’s game seems to look just a bit dull.  But it’s not just basketball.  The same can be said about women’s softball vs. baseball, women’s hockey, boxing and what seems to be the newest fad…women in UFC or MMA fighting.  Again, outside of tennis, no matter the sport, the women’s version just doesn’t seem to match up.

But lets look at golf for a second.  The game is slow.  It doesn’t much require the player to be a superior athlete.  And the only time any real power is demonstrated is off the tee, and that really only matters if you’re a spectator live at the event witnessing it first-hand.  On TV, you can’t tell.  You can’t judge the power of a golf swing via your flat-screen.  The only reason you know how far a ball went on TV is because the announcer told you.  The women of the LPGA are just as skilled as the men.  They are just as accurate.  They have as firm a grasp on the game as the men do.  They just don’t have the power that the men do.  But if that isn’t translated through TV, then what’s the problem?  What does the PGA have that the LPGA doesn’t?  Just the longer drives as far as I can tell.  So what would make the LPGA more attractive?  Or…did I just give away the answer?  Attractiveness.

It seems to me that, especially in recent years, when you want to promote anything related to female athletes, you sell the women…not the athletes.  Is it shallow?  Absolutely.  Do I like the idea of it?  Not even a little bit.  Does it work?  Well…that can be argued, but lets just say it doesn’t not work.  Look at the previously mentioned tennis.  It’s quite possibly the only sport where fans care just as much about the men as the women.  There are some examples to learn from here.  It started long ago with the battle of the sexes between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.  It continued when, forgive me as I’m not a tennis fan and don’t remember the year, Wimbledon somehow allowed “commoners” into the stands and the men began hootin’ and hollerin’ for, I believe it was Gabriela Sabitini.  Fast forward to an average player on the tour becoming the most popular player in the world (albeit for the wrong reason)…Anna Kournikova.  And next thing you know, every tennis player promoted is either named Williams or is a blonde-haired beauty.  Convenient, right?

So does the LPGA need to take that route?  Should the powers-that-be in the LPGA come to Natalie Gulbis and say “A little less MasterCard, a little more Maxim.”  Now I know that some female golfers are no strangers to a swimsuit, but maybe that’s just not enough.  Sponsor exemptions are there for what reason?  To get their “hot” property out in front of a few cameras.  Again, I don’t like the idea.  I want to see good athletes compete for their athletic ability, not for their looks.  But if it’s their looks that bring attention to the game, then who am I to say what’s right and what’s wrong?

All I’m saying is that it has worked to bring some attention to other sports.  It most definitely is a shallow way to do so.  But in the end, it could possibly bring the viewership for which the sports are looking.  If it brings in new fans, great!  But if it doesn’t, or if those new fans don’t stick around, does it leave a black eye on the sport?  Well, it sure didn’t seem to for tennis…quite the opposite actually.  But that doesn’t automatically equal success for the LPGA.  Maybe they just wait on another phenom.  Maybe a new star will rise and not decide to take on the men of the PGA before she even has any success on the LPGA Tour.  Or, maybe they just start a lingerie golf league.  Want to talk about shallow?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

The Beauty Of Parity In Golf

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It’s funny, in any sport when a team or player is said to “dominate” their opponent, we all picture a blowout. Whether it be a 20-point win in basketball, a three touchdown victory in football or a double-figure pounding in baseball – when you hear the word “dominate” or something related to it, you think of a blowout. So why is golf different?

For instance, two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open we heard about Phil Mickelson dominating the tournament, from his first round 60 to his -28 final score. But when you stop to look at the final scores of the other players, “domination” is not exactly the word I would use. A four stroke victory over Brandt Snedeker somehow doesn’t quite qualify as a blowout win in my book. Beating your opponent by what works out to be an average of one stroke per day seems more like a pretty tight match to me.

But it wasn’t just that tournament. There are many that go by deemed a dominating win, or a player runs away with it. But more often than not, that’s just not the case. So is it the media that overuses the terms? Do they want to make it seem like a player is more dominant than actually is the case? If so, why? Wouldn’t the parity of the PGA Tour make for more exciting tournaments and possibly better viewership?

Parity, to me, makes for a better overall sport. In football, there’s something about knowing that any team can win at any time – the god awful Jacksonville Jaguars can be a playoff team in two years. Same in the NBA – a perennial loser like the LA Clippers has become one of the most exciting teams in the league. Even baseball is on the right track with some smaller market teams making yearly runs at the playoffs. A little more balance to the playing field and they’ll have it just right. But there’s parity in golf, right? Of course there is.

When you see the final scores of a golf tournament, you see that there isn’t much difference in the final scores between first place and tenth, especially when you take into account the scores are over a four day period. So when tenth place finishes twelve strokes back of first, that works out to only three strokes per round on average. So how much better was the winner?

Now I think that’s great! I love the idea that anyone can win any tournament because not a whole lot of strokes separate the best from the mid-level players. Sure, there’s a favorite…there’s always a favorite. But at the level these guys play, anyone can get hot at the right time. And that’s the beauty of parity, which the PGA already has. Any player can win any tournament at any time. The field is open week in and week out. How can that be a bad thing?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

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!

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!

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