The shuffling of feet, the snap of camera lenses, or even a wayward sneeze. These sounds will cause a marshal to raise the “quiet” sign. Being quiet on the tee is a long-standing etiquette in the golf world. It is respected and understood by most to preserve the purity and integrity of the game and the shot. The marshal is responsible for enforcing this standard with each swing. It’s time for the golf world to have a marshal raise their arms and ask for “quiet on the tee.”
Disappointment For All
Players, tours, networks, and fans alike, this is me raising my arms to say it is time for everyone to shut their mouths and stand still for a second. Our society’s obsession with division, fighting, and alienating others is sickening. Golf is supposed to be an escape. This is a sport that we should all be able to relate to and find common ground in, that we all can suck and be great in a matter of swings. I have seen the worst of the golf world these past couple of weeks, and it is disheartening.
I had planned on writing this article a week ago after my experience attending the LIV Tour Boston event. It was meant to be upbeat and optimistic about how both the PGA and LIV can eventually work together to grow this game we love. As you can tell, the tone of this article has changed.
The Kid’s Table
With the reactionary behavior across the golf world, you would think someone spilled milk on their favorite stuffed animal. Yes, it seems we are dealing with children these days. With everyone finding a pedestal to stand on and then complaining about it not being high enough, they fail to realize just how shaky their base has become.
I am not naive that we have landed in a grey area between business and sport. The line to protect business investments and partnerships has been made clear, and I get it. I cannot sit here and defend the players who have joined LIV for making a business decision and then attack a tour for doing the same. There are some differences, though.
Simple Math and Shapes
As an entity, a tour has a responsibility to its contracted employees to provide them the opportunity to succeed, but also to its fans. There is no tour without fans because there is no money without fans. One thing I have learned in my recent experience with The LIV Tour is that the player experience and fan experience seem to go hand in hand. If you want your fans to grow and stick around, they need to be provided with a competitive and entertaining product. The players need to be happy and entertaining to provide that to the fans. You allow them to achieve that by working with them and providing an opportunity to succeed.
Did you see how that worked? A nice clean circle and simple math can sum up the golf world experience. Sure, more fine details mix in with personalities and business relationships. I get that, but that simple circle should be everyone’s core goal, in my opinion. The fan experience and player experience should be tied together and at no point should be pitted against each other.
A “Right” Business Decision Sometimes is Wrong
What happened this past week with the BMW Championship on the DP World Tour was an example of pettiness and a new low. For the networks to not show players from The LIV Tour on the air is a business decision at the core to protect a business relationship. What it also was, though, was a slap to the face of fans. For a network to not show Talor Gooch tearing up a course and charging up the leaderboard only helps the ego of the suits behind the desk. That behavior hurts the players, and more so, it hurts the fan experience.
Even beyond hurting the fan experience by not showing the best golf, it was clearly a bad example of childish behavior. All that clearly showed was a division in the sport that was being perpetuated by so-called adults. There is now a clear divide among the fans that has gone from speculative uncertainty of what LIV would mean for golf to a clear nasty divide.
The behavior I have seen from fans in comments on social media has been shocking, given the topic of conversation. Remember, this is golf and a sport we are talking about. Fans are now choosing sides and feeling the need to defend those sides because the top of the golf world did it first.
Divided Fandom
A divided fan base will destroy a sport or sports entity. I think I can speak for the majority of golf fans in saying that all we want out of professional golf is entertaining, competitive fun. We want to cheer and feel all the range of emotions right alongside the players because we all know what it’s like to mess up a shot. Golf is the most relatable sport in the world if you ask me.
Because of early comments made public by those affiliated with both the LIV Tour and the PGA Tour, we have been on a path of chaos we have not witnessed in golf before. A lot of the comments that have been made public over the year are comments that should have stayed at the negotiating table. The fans do not need to be a part of the back-and-forth between players and businessmen. All the fans needed in this time was a continued example of how to deal with adversity and power through it to the next shot.
Lead By Example
Golf is a sport that typically praises the mental fortitude of players overcoming adversity. It has always been an example of what you can achieve if you can learn to block out the noise and learn from your mistakes. Instead, we have the entire professional golf community taking jabs at each other and the high-ups in an attempt to gain leverage for business transactions.
Let’s not get it twisted here. The PGA Tour is not putting up a fight against the LIV Tour because they want to protect the integrity of the sport or take a stance on social issues. They have fought back because they felt threatened on a business level and because LIV offered not only more money to players but also a happier and more effective work environment.
What should have happened here, instead of trying to sabotage the entire golf world by taking every opportunity to “make a point,” is they should have buckled down, re-evaluated, and pivoted where needed to compete. That would have shown strength. That would have portrayed confidence to their contracted players and to their fans. Instead, they stumbled. Don’t get me wrong; stumbling is okay. The saying is, “It’s not how you got knocked down, but how you get back up.”
A Helmet Just Muffles Your Hearing
A key opportunity was missed to listen to what the modern golfer was saying and open up a dialogue. Instead, armor and helmets were put on to get ready for battle. Voices went unheard, and players began to choose what was in their best interest to protect. The ones who left felt like they were no longer put in a position to succeed.
If the adversity was handled differently, I think it is realistic to think a few big names may not have made a switch. Like I said, though, both sides made mistakes. The LIV Tour may have listened to what the players were looking for, but they also put a lot of comments in public, firing shots at The PGA Tour at the beginning. It can be hard to remember to breathe and face adversity productively when you feel backed into a corner under attack.
Who Fired First?
In the early months of LIV, Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman did not handle the publicity great. Mistakes were made, and the first lines were drawn. Who’s to say that if those lines were not drawn, the PGA Tour may have reacted differently? I can’t fully fault the PGA for trying to protect what they have built for over 50+ years. They felt attacked as a whole, and they went into defense mode. It happens to all of us, and it can cloud what we know is the clear and productive solution.
I am not trying to point blame at one single side. The current state of affairs in the golf world can be blamed on everyone. No one is without fault, from the players to the tours, to the networks, and to the fans. I think that any of us would just want a golf community that gives players the best chance to succeed at what they love.
Golf Can LIV On TOUR
I do not see why both tours cannot exist if everyone can just put their weapons down. The more opportunities for fans to see world-class golf are going to grow the game and make it more accessible. That is what we should all want. Golf growing in our society can and will once again be an example of humility, integrity, and stability. We just need to remember that we are all still on the same side here, the golf side. Everyone slices. We all hook. Chunks and skulls are inevitable for even the greatest in the world. Everyone can still learn something at any age with golf. That is what I will be exposing my children to when I teach them the game.
So please, be respectful. Shut your mouth. Open your ears. Observe intently and clearly. Do not eat up the negativity that is being spoon-fed to us by so many right now. Let’s rise above all of that. Let’s be adults. We can fix this current golf world and straighten out the slice. So once again, please, quiet on the tee.
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