Here’s something that’s a bit out of the ordinary for this Wednesday, but was a question raised by golf.com amongst others. Anyone that has ever played this amazing game of golf knows that while it can be the most rewarding sport on the planet, but a single shot later and you could be feeling like it’s the worst invention man has ever thought up. When those “bad days” on the golf course happen, controlling your reactions to those poor shots can be nearly impossible. Knowing this, whether or not golf pros should be able to vocally and verbally express their anger at the quality of their play is being debated, and it’s being debated because of the actions and behavior of golf’s most high profile golfer: Tiger Woods.
Tiger’s Fireworks at British Raised Eyebrows
If you tuned in at all to the British Open, you know exactly what we’re talking about. How Tiger performed is no secret, but what the cameras did their best to hide, was his reactions to that play. An errant drive led to him hitting his golf bag with his club. A missed putt lead to him throwing the putter and dropping the “f” word; a bad shot from the fairway and you heard any number of profanities. The question we’re left asking, and apparently golf.com agrees, is why in the world is the PGA and their cameras doing their best to hide these reactions? I’m sorry, but the one thing I took home from the movie Happy Gilmore, is that if golf could use one thing, more than all other things, it’d be Passion. Golf needs more fire, more excitement, more drama and yes, more REactions. Golf needs every golfer to want to win so bad that one bad shot leads to a 5-iron soaring through the air.
We React, Why Can’t They?
If you think to the last time you played, the people you played with and the other golfers populating the course, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone Not reacting to their play. It’s natural to want to play well, it’s natural to react when you don’t. Why then are we expecting those with the most skill in the world to not react when they don’t display that skill? I understand the need to censor the words being said, but why hide the emotions themselves?
PGA Tour Needs More Fire
Our advice: Let golfers be human too. The PGA Tour needs an infusion of emotion, passion and fire. Stop worrying about the reactions, stop filtering the drama and let golf be even greater.
I think the powers that be look at it the other way round. Instead of saying that we let the problem be because when we play in our backyard we tend to get riled up, and so must be the cast with the top professionals playing for a lot more on the line, they think you handle the stick from the other end. If these top athletes, who have a lot at stake, can manage to keep their emotions in check or at least the cussing aspect of it, then it is something that will be followed by everyone who plays the game, more so the young impressionable minds who are likely to follow that example of righteousness.
And I think one thing that we must keep in mind is that emotions must not be equated with unacceptable behaviour. Sport is not an “adults only” venture. It is the platform which fires the dreams of thousands young kids across the world and for a lot of them, these men are role models. It is something that no one asked for but they must appreciate their special elevated position in the social hierarchy and hence send the right kind of example.