Johannesburg – It is widely known by now that the R&A and USGA propose to ban the anchoring of long putters come January 1, 2016, although the PGA Tour in America have said they will oppose the ruling.
I’m not convinced one way or the other, but on the subject of banning, I’d like to see a number of other bans taking place in golf.
For one, ban interfering parents – in most cases, this happens to be fathers – who stick like leeches to their youngsters in junior and amateur tournaments, watching every single shot and showing the kid their disappointment when he or she messes up. That’s called rejection – it’s not healthy, and the parent should be DQ’d.
Closely related to what I’m talking about, you can’t really ban parents for this but I also don’t think it’s healthy to pull your child out of school in their mid-teens in order to home school them just so they can play more golf. Does that kind of strategy, where one is isolated from one’s peers, form well-rounded individuals (or even well-rounded golfers for that matter)? I don’t think so.
Okay, I’m being a little facetious now, but I’d like to see Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini banned (not that it would make any difference) from playing on the Sunshine Tour because they NEVER support our tour or the country where they learnt their golf. Let them stay in the US where Rory can perfect his American accent.
Also, let’s ban sports equipment companies who pay players like Rory McIlroy a reported $200-million (R1,6-billion) to carry their logo. Now matter how good a golfer is, I reckon that’s just sick. There’s no balance there.
Okay. I’m having a rant but I’d like to ban golfers who are obsessed about hunting (there’s a whole bunch of them) and go public about it.
On Inside The PGA Tour on this week there was a feature on American golfer Brian Harman and how he and his family are absolutely crazy about hunting. Their whole house, it seems, is filled with “trophies” – the remains of once healthy and magnificent animals, now dead and stuck on the walls. The golfer opened a huge fridge jam-packed with meat from their “kills”. A smiling Harman said how proud he was. I don’t think the ex-deer would share his feelings. I say ban him.
I’d also like to get rid of modern golf course developers and “architects” who create 18-hole monsters with par-fours well over 500 yards, bunkers as big as small deserts and long carries over water.
For 90 percent of us golfers, the game is supposed to be fun, not torture.
I don’t like seeing six-years-olds equipped to the hilt with the very latest high-tech golf equipment, shoes, gloves, top-of-the-range clubs, golf bags as big as they are, and trolleys on which to place the bags just to make it all that much more “comfortable” for little Johnny. At that age, this game is just as well learnt on a sports field with an old club and an old golf ball hitting at a rugby post or something similar. Maybe even in bare feet, dammit! So, fathers, don’t spend thousands of rands trying to mould your son (it’s usually a son rather than a daughter) into something they may not even want to be moulded into, but because dad calls the shots they have to go along with it.
Well, I’ve had my say. Any conclusions? Yes. Gosh, how I love this game of golf! – Saturday Star