Posted on by Shane Bacon

Mailbag: What do you want changed in golf?

 

I’ve talked about the uniqueness of golf for many years. No other sport becomes more popular with age like golf, because no other sport allows people to play it as long as this one does. The older you get, the more accessibility you may have to playing the game and buying clubs and getting out on the course; all of this means you like the sport more. And with that, comes issues. So many issues. I asked people on Twitter for something they’d change in golf, and the responses came pouring in. Here are some of the best answers.

Bacon: I am all in on this idea and actually have started to see it happen slowly around the country. We talk so much about growing the game and finding goofy initiatives for “YOUNG PEOPLE” that almost always flame out (note to those in charge; a commercial during the second round of the Dean & Deluca isn’t exactly reaching the group of people you hope it reaches). The best way to grow the game is to allow kids a chance to play it for a very minimal cost.

One of my goals in the Phoenix area is to raise some money and build a friendly par-3 course that is nine holes and blocks times off for kids. Literally no adults on the course. Have signs up around hazards explaining what to do. Simple to read, simple to understand signs about drops and bunkers and hazards that kids can read and hopefully comprehend. Even if they don’t, that’s fine, just the fact that they are out there helps grow the game simply be implanting the idea that golf can be fun in a percentage of those young brains.

Bacon: Well this seems like a simple enough request. I’ve done it before and now I feel like a dope. No more!

Bacon: I’m going to take this a step further; every golfer needs to have a realistic idea of how far they hit the golf ball with certain clubs (driver, 3-wood, hybrids) and if you can’t fly the ball that distance to a green or a drivable par-4, go ahead and swing.

I know a very, very good ball-striker friend of mine (like, played in PGA Tour events good) who probably would have had a lengthy career if he was better inside of five-feet that once told me he hits five good shots a round. That’s it! Five!

I see so many people waiting out golf shots with the idea that “If I hit this thing PERFECTLY it’ll be enough to get there.” Well, bad news; that probably won’t happen, and even if it does and it isn’t a legit carry distance to the green, rolling one up on a group from 250 with a three-wood isn’t as much a cause for an apology as it a cause for celebration from the group in front knowing what you just did. Can we all just agree to be a little less macho on the golf course and a little more realistic? That would be amazing.

Bacon: I can only speak for where I work, but our producer pounds home the idea that we give away a shot that happened moments ago. We aren’t trying to trick the viewer, trust me, and going all over the top on a predictions when you know what happened makes for a lesser broadcast.

I would bet you think this happens more than it really does.

Bacon: Wait, but  … do you want us to tell you this or not? I just … nevermind.

Bacon: I have to disagree with you on this one. We do a ton of match play at Fox and not giving out what they putt is for in terms of scoring on that hole means you lose the identity of the match.

Think about this from earlier this year; Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm are battling for the Dell title in Austin and it’s the final hole and Dustin has a putt from 12-feet and Rahm has one from 18-feet. If they’re both putting for birdie that’s great, but what if they’re both putting for double-bogey? Doesn’t giving that away help the viewer understand how the hole was played? We at home associate with birdies and bogeys and pars all the time in golf, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to eliminate that just because the final stroke play score doesn’t count here.

Knowing a big putt is for eagle in match play can carry the same type of crescendo for the fan at home as in a stroke play, and doing away with that would make for a lesser event.

Bacon: I don’t know about a work camp, but what about forcing them to come out the next morning at 4 AM and get the course set up? Or fill divots? Or greet everyone as they enter the tournament with a ridiculous golf/dad joke?

Why do golfers always carry two pair of pants? 

In case they get a hole in one! 

I have long said that I don’t mind yelling after the golf shot if it’s original, but few people seem to be that original these days and it annoys way more people than it makes laugh.

If you really wanted to stop these types of yelling at a golf event, just say they’re cut off from alcohol the first time they do it. That would stop it immediately. Problem solved.

Bacon: We aren’t far from this happening. I thought it would go down in 2018 but it’s looking more like a ’19 project. Still, we need it more than ever. Lexi Thompson and Bryson DeChambeau were the biggest draw at the Franklin Templeton last December. This is such a smart thing for golf to do, and to do it soon.

Bacon: Absolutely agree. It’s why I love doing PGA Tour Live so much. We are on the same group for four straight hours, so the moment the caddie and player start talking, we lay out because we have plenty of time to get in what the heck we want to say after they’re done.

Being able to pick up that audio really does differentiate golf from almost every other sport. Could you imagine being able to listen in on what the offensive coordinator is feeding down to the quarterback before every play? That is basically what we have here.

Bacon: As a Texan myself I totally agree, and maybe with the new PGA Championship scheduling we could at least see the Lone Star State join the conversation.

The last time one of the big four events came to Texas was in 1969, when Orville Moody won the U.S. Open at Champions, and since then the majors have been all over the country, but never back in Texas.

What courses would be on the short list if it ever did become a conversation starter? Besides Champions, you could see Dallas National, Shadow Hawk, Whispering Pines, Pine Dunes (oh yes, Pine Dunes!) and maybe Colonial. Could Bluejack National get a major at some point with the backing of Mr. Tiger Woods (the Tiger tees do stretch to nearly 7,600 yards)? It isn’t inconceivable but it does get muggy and gross in the summer and the event would really have to get lucky for a mild week for the new date of the PGA to actually land one.

Bacon: As a man who has been known to miss even the widest of fairways, I’m all in on this and frankly can’t believe it isn’t a rule at this point. It’s like finding out your ball is plugged in a bunker except for the fact that a bunker is a hazard and you just hit it in the damn fairway!

I almost feel we should start up an “Amateur Local Rules” page that groups can play by. Golf is hard enough as it is. What if we started it right now.

Amateur Local Rules, Vol. I

1.) Pull your ball out of a divot if it’s in your fairway.

2.) Clean up any spike mark or imperfection on the green you want.

3.) If you hit it in a bunker and it’s in a footprint or old divot or unraked area, you can move it to a clean position.

4.) No more O.B.; play everything like a lazy lateral.

5.) If someone shows up on the first tee with iron headcovers, you can ask to be moved to another group.

Fire any ideas that you have my way on Twitter using the hashtag #amlocalrules and we will add to this.

Okay, that’ll do it. Check back here for more posting and fun over the next few months.