Here's a bright idea from those who oversee golf - let's have everybody play really short courses, and then tell them they're better.
Golf athletes already suffer from poor self images, so let's emasculate them even further.
Let's ask men to play from the forward tees, and in some cases, forward of the forward tees. Let's set up a mini-course for women too.
While we're at it, let's ask the women to wear pink skirts and ruffled bonnets and the guys to paint their fingernails.
Five governing bodies, including the PGA and the USGA (the czars of the sport in the U.S.) have come up with the solution to golf's dwindling participation, calling it the Tee It Forward Project.
Is that going to grow the sport?
These otherwise intelligent people say that by playing the holes shorter, more people will score lower, have more fun, and thus the joy will spread to others, ultimately growing the sport.
There's more to golf than distance, there's skill," said Glen Nager, current czar of the USGA. On national TV during our country's national championship, he attempted to explain how that concept will grow the sport.
Nager may be known as an expert litigator in front of Supreme Court justices, but he's losing this one.
This just in: Generating distance with one's golf swing is a SKILL!
We humans are great skill learners.
Bad idea folks! Asking a guy to play a 4500-yard course will not make him happier. nor better.
We humans are great skill learners.Little Johnny's a poor reader, so let's put him in remedial reading and tell all his friends about it. What can be worse than bettering an already battered ego?
We say no! Let's make him better, not bitter. Let's give Johnny some sound instruction. Yes, good teachers do that well.
True, the length of the golf course is the problem, so let;s deal with the problem.
Let's get Joes and Janes longer! Let build some self-images while we're at it. Let's give them an
EDGE.
Yes, startup players, including juniors, should play shorter holes than experienced players. Believe me, however, asking "senior" player to move ujp and tee it forward doesn't make them happy.
In fact, any tee markers close to the women's is an embarrassment to most guys. Now you're asking them to move forward of women's marker in some cases?
Let's shorten the holes by getting players longer! Surely those decision makers no longer believe that clubhead speed and distance are gifts of genetics.
Yes, let's grow the game by getting existing players longer. Length and lower scores go hand in hand. While we're at it, let's stop stifling the natural instincts of newer players, and stop preaching the misconception that slow is good.
No player controls the ball by going slow. That concept defies both Mother Nature and Isaac Newton's laws of motion.
I'm told that in our country there are over 50,000 golf instructors who get paid (and about 20 million who don't!). Let's make sure they all know that the club doesn't do the work. Players do.
Golf is a sport. In fact, it's the sport that demands the longest ball flight of any other sport. That's the wake-up call. Those instructors who don't get it better heed the call or get out.
Those who play sports are athletes. Speed matters in the performance of sport-specific skills. Clubhead speed equates to ball control - distance and direction.
Every player can lower scores by learning distance. Distance and ball control demand clubhead speed.Want proof? Talk to my guy who just nuked a 7-iron 186 yards on #6 at Oakmont. Hasn't been long ago that he flew it 150.