LETTER FROM AMERICA
Undisputed What golf has over other sports can’t be seen on video BY MAX ADLER
LIKE STABBING A DEAD GUY is what we call sinking a meaningless birdie putt after
your partner has already won the hole. In the same realm of superfluous satis- factions, we might count writing to con- vince Golf Digest readers that golf is a great game. Preaching to the choir. Car- rying coals to Newcastle. Yet, if you’ll bear with me, I have fresh perspective for why it is so. It has been a celestial year in sports. From the Winter Olympics in Milan to the FIFA World Cup and more, we’ve been treated to athletic glories of all kinds and seen fan passion spill over. Although I didn’t personally partake in any dance parties on the street or set fire to buses, I watched a lot more TV than usual. The airtimes lined up well with the bedtimes of my elemen- tary school-age children, who were fascinated with the geographical ele- ments (“Is Cabo de Verde a country?” “Is there summer in Norway?” “Have I ever been to San Antonio?”) and picked sides as eagerly as if at a playground fight. With the fatigue of accumulat- ing middle-age, the couch beckoned more strongly than it ever has, and in this sumptuous comfort I discovered a wellspring of patience for explaining the arcana of games. Of course, no beings are more sharp- ly attuned to fairness than young sib- lings. From desserts to dollars, they keep tighter ledgers than accountants. If sporting contests are meant to an- swer who wins and why, it was to this sceptical audience that I presented the maths behind judging in ice skating. Then with ski racing, the difference between a tenth and a hundredth of a second. In basketball, what touching constitutes a foul and what doesn’t, as well as the strategy of desperation that drives most games to end with a logjam of free throws. During the NFL playoffs, I found analogue in The Hail Mary pass and why the closest, most
thrilling games in- evitably will hinge on the binary out- come of the pass- interference call. For immediate up-and-running
But then, the golf! Once past the anomaly that the lowest score wins, golf unfolds in a straightforward and satisfying way to newbies. A ball drops into the cup or it doesn’t, so any mar- gin of victory is guaranteed to be at least one full stroke – or “point” as my daughter prefers. Yes, there have been regrettable rules episodes in the game’s history (see Roberto De Vicen- zo at the 1968 Masters, Dustin John- son at the 2016 US Open and Bryson DeChambeau at this year’s Open Championship), but golf has contin- ued to adjust the fine print to make these aberrations even rarer. In 2018, call-ins from TV viewers were banned, and stricter protocols for video review were put in place. Golf never stops to “go to the monitor,” and putts never get revoked. There’s no flopping in false agony. Drops from grandstands and hazards sometimes feel fluky, but never does it feel like the result rests entirely in the hands of the ref – or worse, a machine. As we hurtle forward in an ever-te- chier future, more human endeavour will come under the microscope. May all the other great sports follow golf’s example of resisting it.
BEING HUMAN Golf has banned viewer call-ins and limited video evidence for rulings.
backyard participation, there is no beautifully simpler game to explain to a child than soccer (“Do whatever you must to put this ball in that net with- out using your hands”). However, to unpack how offsides annulled dozens of goals during the World Cup, well, I couldn’t have done it without the aid of Telemundo’s hi-def superimposed graphics. “See, son, the striker’s knee- cap crossed a theoretical two-dimen- sional pane of existence before the pass was struck.” Wimbledon wasn’t bad, but still, the electronic line calling contributed to the creeping sense that tennis was yet another spectacle determined by au- thoritarian spirits in the sky. That we humans were again the hapless pawns unable to see and decide for ourselves who wins. During somebody’s tan- trum, my wife coolly observed that perhaps our household needed instant replay, too.
28 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026
ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON KETCHAM
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator