MIND / THE NEXT ONE'S GOOD M
Three Risks to Golf’s Momentum BY JERRY TARDE
A POPULAR IRISH GOLFER who has flip-flopped so many times I’m not sure where he stands
now, spoke the unvarnished truth when he said he used to be opposed to the PGA Tour partnering with LIV. But look at how much money he made last year, and, well, you know, it’s all good. We’re sick of pro golf’s infatuation with money and inability to bring the top players together. It reminds me of what Dr Cary Middlecoff, the only den- tist to win two US Opens, said about the senior tour when it was getting going. “If we play too many times,” he said, “We might remember what it is we don’t like about each other.” That’s sure to be the case with today’s stars. If they get together too often, we – meaning you and I – might remember what we don’t like about them. Four majors may be enough. LIV has spent $5 billion so far on pro- moting team golf, which nobody cares about (outside the national teams of the Ryder, Walker, Solheim and Curtis Cups). Team golf ranks with square drivers, bubble shafts, Feather-lite irons and the Polara golf ball as ideas whose time never came. Team golf is even the least interesting thing about TGL, the indoor game with the best moment of the year: when Tiger Woods mistook two football fields for one foot- ball field. If pro golf doesn’t collaborate on a compromise, the overall game risks losing its momentum. This theme be- came apparent to me while moderating a discussion at the annual Golf Course Superintendents Association of Amer- ica conference. “Ten years ago, if you’d have told anybody that this game could grow by 50 percent, all of us would’ve called BS on that,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “And if I would’ve said, the majority of that growth is go- ing to be women, juniors and people of
Your Enthusiasm: “A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied.” It’s not so funny that the PGA of America is now saying they weren’t consulted when its own press releases show the opposite. Everybody needs to get onboard. The third risk is in sustainability. Cli- mate crisis is out of vogue in Washing- ton, but extreme weather events hit golf courses hard this past year. “Things are going to change a lot in Washington and in your individual state and city, but long term, you have to see this challenge,” Whan said. “We golfers are stewards of the land, relative to what else could be there.” The USGA has taken the lead with its 15-30-45 campaign: In the next 15 years, they’re spending $30 million to reduce water usage on golf courses by 45 percent. “Water is the greatest risk to golf’s future and always will be,” added Greg Nathan, CEO of the National Golf Foundation. Sustainability isn’t popular in some quarters, and it’s different from Arizona to Florida, but the game needs a cohesive strategy based on collaboration. We all know the values that guide us on the course: civility, sportsmanship, integrity, honesty, respect and respon- sibility. Golf leaders desperately need to practice the way they play.
colour, then you would’ve said I was smoking something.” The National Golf Foundation num- bers agree. Total participation is up 38 percent since 2019, with women up 41 percent, kids up 48 percent and peo- ple of colour up 44 percent. Last year marked the seventh straight year that on-course golfers increased with a net year-over-year gain of 1.5 million – the largest single-season jump since 2000. Whan says golf’s leading organisa- tions were not aligned at the height of the Tiger boom. Covid caused the in- dustry to coalesce around shared objec- tives, and we didn’t waste a good crisis. The second risk to the game’s mo- mentum is how the industry reacts to the distance rollback to be imple- mented by the USGA and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. It will hit pro golf in 2028 and recreational golf not until 2030. New ball regula- tions will reduce driving distance 13 to 15 yards for tour pros and less than five yards for the rest of us. Balls fly- ing further require more land for golf courses, which stresses affordability, labour and water usage. The solution doesn’t seem to make anybody happy, but I like what Larry David said in Curb
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BYERS
12 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JUNE 2025
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