Go The Distance

by Gary Williams | Mar 15, 2023 | Blog

Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and it was very clear that your opinions were divergent and reaching a common place was unlikely?  It is usually during those moments that one or both of the impassioned voices will utter the most reliable and disingenuous disclaimer ever voiced, “With all due respect”.  It’s these moments where civility and a modicum of respect for the other point of view are on life support.  It is likely to be that time now in the industry of golf as the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient have laid down their collective marker regarding their proposed answer to the ever-increasing distance in the game of golf at its highest levels.  Where do we all go from here? 

I’m not going to share the finite and technical details of the proposed modified local rule proposal right here because you can simply find those details anywhere and this is more about what now than what is it?  The time it has taken to get to this place has been excruciating and for the governing bodies it’s been the white whale for decades.  Governance is a thankless business and now more than ever, with blue check marks for sale, the opinions of the masses are weightier or at least louder.  Change is discomforting and governing a game where scratch players think they can Monday qualify for tour events and grillroom legends think they have a vision for golf course design which would entice Dr. Mackenzie to want to pull up a chair to learn a thing or two about the craft, are plentiful.  The game of golf is enjoying high times right now and naturally there were immediate outcries that now was not the time to make significant changes to the game, primarily at the elite level.  That is one of too many lazy and half-cocked responses to the local rule proposal.  Actually, there is no better time than right now to forge ahead with the changes because of what the future holds, and moreover, making any real change when times are bad generally reeks of desperation.  This change for all the outcry is not about tomorrow.  First off, it would not come into effect until January of 2026, but this change is as much about 2076 as it is about a couple years from now.  The reactions from some would suggest the governing bodies are coming after their wallets and the truth is MANY who are invested in the game in different ways only see it that way.  So, for any righteous indignation emoting from companies and individuals about the distance reduction ask yourself what is it that they have to lose?  Maybe nothing, but to them they may have a very good thing going and they don’t want it to change.  That’s not an unreasonable or unnatural reaction to have but it certainly doesn’t guarantee that they are actually thinking about the welfare of the game.  Many simply are not.  They are thinking about potential lost market share and for some of the elite players the potential loss of some competitive advantage.  The game is inherently selfish, and I promise you many of the outcries I heard upon the release of this proposal are just that, selfish.   

Bifurcation is an amazing word.  No other 11 letter word sounds like a four-letter word to so many.   It is now being weaponized by companies making equipment for all to use as the only thing that separates golf from dizzy bat.  I’m sensitive to the cost associated with the research and development of an elite ball that would be required by all the manufacturers.  I also recognize the economies of scale that are associated with mass production of balls used by all.  However, there are several ball makers who already manufacture balls for a finite subset of the professional game.  I also think there is merit to the ongoing premise that golf as a participatory sport makes the argument that we all play the same thing an argument with some merit.  However, the rules that elite players abide by and the equipment that is built for them by the same manufacturing companies that consumers purchase from are barely recognizable to each other.  Bifurcation has existed in golf for decades and decades and creating a local rule for the long-term betterment of the game for our grandchildren will not tear the game apart.   

The challenge right now is to cut through the propaganda on both sides and get to the real issues and real concerns that are and will continue to be masked by players and equipment companies who will profess a commitment to and for the well-being of the game when in reality they care about their stock price and their bonus pools.  Neither of which has to be affected at all starting in 2026. 

Where do you think the cost of trying to keep up with the changes required in the game have been felt for the past 20 years? Not by the elite players who are making obscene amounts of money, not by the manufacturing companies who have been enjoying record profits but by the consumer who pays dues, initiation fees and green fees at every entry point of the game. Plus, the planned obsolescence when each club company rolls out a new driver that is longer every single year that you can’t live without. The thirst for more yardage, new tees, faster greens, which comes at an extraordinary price tag gets peddled onto the recreational golfer.  Restoration and renovations are far outpacing new construction and these projects cost millions and millions per facility.  So, this plea to not put the cost exclusively on the ball companies rings hollow.  Assessments, initiation fees, monthly dues have all been exponentially increased as distance has continued to go up.  Augusta National has deep pockets but they paid in the tens of millions for a strip of land owned by their next-door neighbor just to try to insure the viability of their most famous, amongst all of the famous holes, on their golf course.   

As for the leading players in the game acting as if this is blasphemous, their words and their statements have little to no weight.  Justin Thomas called the USGA selfish.  This on the heels of the PGA Tour’s best players closing off most entry points to their biggest tournaments to ensure the continued gravy train of new cash in the system, produced in large measure from the existence and presence of LIV golf, going to a small pool of players.  Any player who advanced the idea last summer in Delaware of turning the designated event series into a grab ass of 40 to 60 players needs to sit this conversation out.  They were thinking only about themselves and their newfound leverage as a way to make more at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the tour’s membership and its future members.  It’s hard to see beyond what something might mean other than what it means to you right now but that is exactly what this proposal is intended to do.  This is not easy, and it will require a fair amount of forward and unselfish thinking.  Many of the voices who can and are heard every day are paid messengers.  For all the concern about not being able to play what the players play because they have so much influence over the recreational golfer, why have the equipment companies turned away from paying top players as much or as many to paying “influencers”… many of whom couldn’t break wind in a baked bean eating contest yet they have value now because their audiences are dedicated and have exhibited brand loyalty.  I’m not sure of their feelings about a distance reduction but when and if I hear similar talking points that equipment manufacturers released after the announcement being regurgitated by paid messengers then those words are weaker than water.

Finally, this initiative was going to have to be taken on by some front person and in the case of the USGA its Mike Whan.  Mike has a varied background which included a chapter in a marketing capacity.  He will have to sell this to not only the invested golf companies and organizations who run elite golf events, but he will have to be accessible to the people who talk the game, many of whom will want a pound of flesh.  Some people were cut out for certain jobs and Mike Whan is the right person to advance this because he’s pragmatic and a good communicator.  The best communicators are great listeners and Whan is that, plus he is wired for performance without it feeling like it’s just for show.  He will be equipped with all the data points, but his greatest strength is his willingness to not only see the other side but recognize the merits of the opposition to the proposal.  I worry about the sustainability of not only the most cherished courses in the world but also the never-ending necessity to keep up.  I want to see the examination of the best players be more thorough and that is also being compromised.  Speed is a skill, and its refinement is jaw dropping and I do not want to see that severely diminished, and I do not think that will be the case as all early evidence is that the longest may experience an even greater reward than before.  Those things are to be determined.  Let’s all try to see beyond who gets affected most right now and I understand that is not normal in the human condition.  Let’s also acknowledge the real concerns and challenges both sides of this argument have and listen to them without resorting to name calling.  And if you are one to scream that amateurs with 15 handicaps shouldn’t be governing the game, please lose the lazy line or just sit this discussion out because these “amateurs” are devoting their lives to the game and study it every waking moment, from rules, to equipment testing standards to course and agronomic conditions.  These are serious people making serious decisions.  I support the distance reduction, but I want this conversation to be constructive and I will remember, like I hope you can, that reasonable minds can differ. 

Don’t Take the 5th

by Gary Williams | Mar 6, 2023 | Blog

Comparison is the thief of joy.  And so why is so much of life spent doing just that?  Bigger house, bigger car, bigger job, longer off the tee and so on.  It’s a constant and what do we derive from all the comparisons other than envy and resentment?  It’s not totally unhealthy or unconstructive to find measuring sticks because they can also serve to motivate and inspire.  But the sports talk “gasbaggery” that permeates our world is continually and constantly polluted with comparisons of not just now, but of all time.  These discussions parse everything down to who did what and where.  The where is central to the weight of the discussion.   

Since the Players Championship was born in 1974, and subsequently more so since it moved to its permanent home at the Stadium Course at the home of the PGA Tour, the event has grown in scope, size, purse, and stature.  It’s a massive event and its enormity is only matched by a few events in the sport.  But for many, it’s not enough.  Some players, some media and some fans want it to be a major.  It’s not, and that’s more than ok.  It’s the crown jewel of the best tour in the world boasting a massive global reach across television and streaming audiences.  It has an astronomical purse which outpaces the four majors by millions of dollars.  It resides at a time on the calendar where the NBA season is crawling to its merciful regular season finish and is still almost three months from crowning a champion.  Additionally, college basketball does not hold the place it once did with the sporting public other than the constant fever for legalized wagering.  And finally, it is played on a golf course that is recognizable, that elicits opinion on its merits, and is home to one of the most provocative holes in golf, let alone championship golf, in the 17th.  Add in the strength of field, which is void of qualifiers and amateurs, and it’s the sternest examination of global championship field depth in tournament golf.  Despite all that, some want more.  They want the MAJOR title. 

The evolution of what we now consider the grand slam of golf took decades to be established. Amateur golf was the standard in the game and golf’s professional game didn’t become firmly entrenched until after Bobby Jones retirement in 1930. It took time for the Masters tournament to ascend from the perception of regal fellowship to a colossal achievement upon in winning.  

As Brandel Chamblee expertly and snidely said a few years ago on his own podcast about Gene Sarazen completing the career grand slam at Augusta National in 1935, “What he won at that time was the equivalent of winning the Hero World Challenge”… the end of year boondoggle for less than 20 players put on by Tiger Woods.  The four men’s majors have comfortably held that status for roughly 75 years and up until recently the advancement, albeit modest, to include the Players as a major was from only a handful of media members.  The kingmakers of American sports journalism could share opinion, help drive initiatives and without arm-wrestling readers help them form their own thoughts on what was and wasn’t of real value in sports.  The notion of bestowing major championship status on any event in golf, specifically the Players Championship, faces a brutally more demanding evaluation than it would have even ten years ago.  The mass proliferation of digital media and the behemoth that is social media at large has given every solitary fan of golf their own digital voice for consent or dissent.  And no, the idea of a fifth major is not only insulting, it’s harmful to the brand.  Sports have fundamental and romantic connections to numerical value and distinction.  The Grand Slam is FOUR yesterday, today and always.   

The whataboutisms to senior golf and women’s golf are a waste of time.  Senior golf is highly competitive, and they also drive carts.  Women’s golf has faced countless challenges with far more majors that had the status and then didn’t exist, plus the decision to create a fifth major was to placate a sponsor.  A couple years ago, in a joint meeting with the PGA Tour and management, production and on-air staff for Golf Channel, I asked Jay Monahan if he liked people in the golf industry advancing the idea of the Players as the fifth major.  He said at that time it wasn’t something he could control but did I have a point with the question.  I did.  Why would anyone want to strive to be recognized as fifth in anything especially with the notion you are equal to the other four.  You would either be a major or you would not be a major.  It’s already established that people rank the weight of the four majors and inevitably the PGA Championship comes in fourth (except for winners of only the PGA and their families) but they are firmly entrenched at the table.  Moreover, nobody looks at the total majors won by Nicklaus, Woods and Hogan and does anything other than count the total.  Trying to shoehorn the Players into major championship status will never come at the expense of the existing majors.  The riptide of opposition to the declaration of major status whether by a television partner of the tour, media members or by the tour itself would be so self-defeating it’s not worth the advancement.  Many things have certainly changed in men’s professional golf in the last seven decades but the four biggest events in the game as the bedrock of historical achievement have not.  Finally, the existence of LIV Golf has separated the majors from the rest of the men’s game as the last four locales where the very best players in the world compete.  LIV is not going anywhere, and the absence, starting with the defending champion, in addition to a dozen, at minimum, players capable of contending makes the Players less in potential depth of field than it was only last year.   

There has been too much of the diminishing of achievement in elite sports.  I’ve always appreciated and found division titles, conference titles and accomplishments less than the ultimate trophy as bold type on anyone’s resume.  Winning a Players Championship is a massive accomplishment.  Bullying the general public into accepting that it is more than that is counter-productive and a fool’s errand.  Golf’s newer wave of independent thinkers and content creators are bright and righteous, and they hold the attention of a wide swath of the viewing audience.  Pushing the major agenda only distracts and decays the event on the platforms that are also earnestly invested in covering it.  Let it be what is.  It’s the best win of all the events the best tour runs.  That’s pretty major without ever being a major.