These are breathless times. In fact, I just ran out of breath right there, halfway through typing the word ‘breathless’. It’s no wonder we’re all wheezing, spluttering and gasping along, of course, in this crash, bang, wallop modern society of ours that demands instant gratification and rapid-fire pleasure with the same sense of unhinged entitlement that used be the reserve of Caligula.
If, for instance, Professor Stephen Hawking went to his publisher to pitch ‘A Brief History of Time’ these days, the nonchalant response would probably be something along the lines of ‘yes Steve, that’s all well and good but can you make it a bit more brief?’
By all accounts, attention spans are shorter than Jimmy Krankie’s semmit and in an era when consumers insist on fast-paced, easily digestible sporting fare, the good old game of golf tends to be as cutting edge as a pumice stone.
Read more: Pelley plans six-hole events next year
Keith Pelley, the heid honcho at the European Tour, is one of these movers and shakers who wants big changes to the way the sport is packaged and presented and last weekend he was waxing lyrical about the idea for a six hole competition on the European Tour. “Yes, there would be a shot clock, yes there would be music being played, and PA announcements, and players would be dressed a little differently,” he gushed.
I don’t know about you but as soon as I read things like this, my jowls shudder with sighing antipathy. Thumping music, shrieking, hysterical announcers, garish outfits that would make Liberace blush? Innovation always has to involve some kind of unbearable racket and crass commercialism in a fevered world that seems to have virtually no appreciation of quality, tradition or tranquil little pleasures.
Read more: Glasgow golfer Laird just misses out on PGA Tour win in Canada
‘You WILL have fun’ appears to be the party line from the barking, finger-wagging enjoyment dictators. But then forced fun is a bit like pulling Christmas crackers on a plane that’s heading for a crash landing. The heart’s not really in it.
Don’t get me wrong. In an ultra-competitive sporting market place, golf can’t simply stand still. It is an easily scalable pursuit. Six holes, nine holes, 12 holes, a wee loop here or a handful of holes there? It’s hardly a new phenomenon. When this correspondent first started swiping away at a ba’, with all the murderous intent of a farm hand thrashing at a rat with a hoe, I only ever played nine holes. But where the game has probably stumbled is that shorter formats have not been vigorously promoted or pursued at club level and the obsession with laborious ‘championship’ golf has become the norm. That is changing now, of course.
Golf could certainly benefit from a fresh approach and Pelley’s undoubted enthusiasm and excitement for shaking things up has to be applauded. With the traditional five day Test in cricket, for example, suffering something of a decline, the shortened Twenty20 format galvanised the game without changing the fundamentals of it.
Golf too is seeking new ways to engage, excite and inspire. Pelley and the rest are clearly keen to innovate but they have to remain true to the sport. And, please, let’s rein in the gimmicks.
AND ANOTHER THING
Speaking casually to one or two female players who are bound for the Olympics during last weekend’s Ladies Scottish Open, it was clear how important the Games are to them. It was also clear how brassed off they are with the blokes for wrapping golf’s return to the Olympic stage in a shroud of negativity. The men may have adopted a downbeat attitude of shrugging indifference to the Olympics with a spate of high profile withdrawals but for the women, Rio will be a huge opportunity. There is the global publicity, the potential for a growth in sponsorship which in turn would help raise the prize funds on the women’s tours.
The men’s and women’s game continues to forge stronger links with each other. The European Tour and the Ladies European Tour, for instance, staged concurrent events at the same venue in Morocco while the Royal & Ancient and the Ladies Golf Union will merge into one governing body at the start of 2017.
At a time of strengthening alliances, however, a wedge has been driven between the men and the women on the Olympic issue. If the good ladies lose this chance to prosper in future years, they know who to blame.
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