CAN WE GET BACK TO GOLF IN ITS PURITY?

by Doug McAllister

Don't you hate that golf has become fodder for the tabloids? I can recall when — just a few years back — golf was considered the last, pure gentleman's game. No out-of-the-ordinary reports about this golfer getting caught with his pants down (literally). No wild and crazy photos showing up about that golfer struggling with an addiction (of a variety of sorts). Peaceful stuff.

Now golf seems to be headed — albeit and thankfully more slowly — in the same sordid direction as many of the globes other games.

For me and my blog here, there has been the temptation to address some of the same stories as other blogs about the sport. No more. Yes, I may have to weigh in if there is truly something earth-shattering and golf-related as well. Other than that, though, it's time to focus on golf!

I have said again and again and again that golf is the bigger than any single professional player or golf personality. Bigger than any golfer, for that matter. Big enough that it cannot really succumb to dips and valleys in the market. Oh, sure, there may be a drop in player participation stats when the economy gets tight but, thankfully, it will never be such a catastrophe that the game ceases to be played.

There is something far too fundamental, far to foundational about golf. It seems almost timeless, regardless of whether yellow golf balls are "in" or "out." It has been and always will be a BIG DEAL. When a King of England goes out of his way to try to ban the game for fear of its effects on national security, you know that this isn't something a faddish as longboarding or hackysacking.

So, I'll say it: To hell with Tiger! To hell with his personal problems. To hell with guessing about whether his wife beat him up or not. To hell with speculating about why his game has gone south.

There are far better golf-related subjects about which to speculate. For example, a better question — one more pertinent to golf in its purity — is why has David Duval's game gone south? Huh? How about that? Or why did Johnny Miller's game go south when it did? Or, even better, why has your Uncle Stan's game gone south? OR why is it that going south is such a bad thing?

The interesting thing about golf is that it is played at all levels with just as much emotion — sometimes even more so — as in the professional ranks. We lose sleep over it. We worry about whether we can make a high school golf team. We agonize over whether we will still be able to play it a decade from now or, worse, whether we'll still want to. We mess with it and we fidget about it. We buy too many golf balls or too many pairs of golf shoes. Why? Because, when we can't be on the course, buying something that is golf-related gives us a feeling that we are still actively part of the game!

So, I'll try to keep this interesting WITHOUT stooping to the stupid nonsense that has come to pervade golf journalism. It's true, we love a scandal. But, surely, there is so much of good and noble and lasting about this game that I should be able to explore it and write about it. No?

So you go hit 'em long and straight and I'll get working on putting together stories that go a bit deeper than the tabloid ordure that's all the rage for today!