Greetings from Atlanta, a town where I’m still trying to figure out what the allure is that so many people choose to make it their home. But more on that another time.
Congratulations to Jason Duffner on winning the PGA Championship and his first major. Everyone knows him for that famous waggle which seems to go on interminably before he finally pulls the trigger, but he’s got a great swing and is a true student of the game. He earned my respect when he made the conscious decision in 2012 to start playing some European Tour events, saying that he wanted to experience playing on all different kinds of golf courses other than the perfect tracts the players get here in the USA on a week in/week out basis. I can’t help but think that decision and his finally breaking through to win his first major are not unrelated.
I think it’s time sites hosting PGA Tour events start cracking down on the idiots who feel the need to yell stupid things as soon as a player hits his drive. It used to be limited to imbeciles who’d yell “Get in the hole!” after Tiger or Phil drove the ball (never mind the fact that the hole was a par 4), but it’s gotten to the point where it’s happening all the time and is taking all the joy out of watching golf on TV. This past weekend at Oak Hill was an embarrassment, but New Yorkers are a pretty – er, boistrous (I’m being kind) – crowd to begin with. Still, when you’ve got golfers and on-air talent complaining about it you know it’s become a problem.
I know what you’re thinking – every other sport plays in large venues where the crowds are going crazy and those athletes are able to do their jobs, why not golf? Well, I think in golf it’s a little different. First of all, if you’re acting like a moron and yelling stupid things at a baseball, football, or hockey event you’re pretty much drowned out by thousands of other folks in an enclosed setting (although I do remember years ago that guy at Tampa Bay Rays games being totally obnoxious without a large crowd to drown him out), whereas in golf you’re one of only dozens or hundreds that are in close proximity to the players. Second of all, c’mon, we’re taking golf here – pristine settings in the great outdoors and a sport that is more genteel in nature.
Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with applause and loud shouts of encouragement when players hit a great drive. But these obnoxious clowns don’t care about that: the ball could be starting forty yards off track and they’ll still yell ridiculous things like “mashed potatoes” or something equally as absurd just to get heard on national TV. It’s too bad our culture has degenerated to the point where people pay good money just to show how immature and obnoxious they can be, it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean a few jerks have the right to wreck the experience for others who pay the same kind of money.
It’s time venues hosting profssional golf tournaments start enforcing codes of conduct on spectators who come out to watch. A few highly-publicized ejections from the course will nip this problem in the bud before it gets any worse – if it possibly can.
