Let the Tour Pros have their place in History

There’s something about end of season money events that leaves an unsatisfactory feeling with the fans. Once the Fed-Ex Cup or Race to Dubai has finished, the quality and originality of events in the post-season seems way below par, and consequently our interest wanes. You can’t blame the player but it’s all too apparent that they’re only participating in order to fulfil a sponsor’s obligation, take the family on holiday or bank a few more dollars. I couldn’t care less who wins the most ‘skins’, and sadly you can’t help but get the impression that the competitors couldn’t either. The courses tend to be pretty dull, and the primary concern seems to be that of the tournament sponsor. And if that isn’t enough to grind your gears, the latest fashion of attaching a microphone on each player’s back so the fans can hear what they ‘really think’ as they knock it around the manicured fairways of Hawaii surely will be. Call me a cynic, but I doubt the emotion and reaction of a meaningful 6 footer in a Major will ever be replicated in an environment where every word is being recorded and players are competing for nothing more than bragging rights and fuel for the private jet.

Why don’t we demand a change of format to a concept that genuinely intrigues the fans? It strikes me that our enjoyment is sacrificed at the expense of satisfying the sponsors, but in my mind there is no reason why you can’t keep all parties happy.

Without starting a separate debate, bear the following question in mind: “Who was the greatest player of all time?” It’s a fairly common discussion and one that usually ends in someone saying “the game was different back then” when the names of Jones, Hagen and Vardon are touted alongside the likes of Woods, Nicklaus and Ballesteros.  But golf is one of the few sports where you can come pretty close to seeing how players of the past would measure up against those of today. This is simply because the main improvements in performance are largely down to equipment changes, course conditions, and technological advances. The trouble is we never give players the opportunity to test or prove the notion, but why not?

So how about this, instead of our traditional end of season dross, the authorities create an event which turns back the hands of time on the modern day professionals. For one week only, let’s ask them to play on one of our finest links course under 6,500 yards, with a leather bag full of hickory shafted brassies, spoons, cleeks, mashies, and niblicks. Cast aside the Pro V1, lob-wedge, and 460cc driver, and reintroduce the gutta percha. Let’s ditch the clothes of today too. Instead of breathable rain gear and traction control shoes, let’s bring back the blazer, plus twos and a stout pair of leather brogues.

The players should be allowed to acclimatise and practice with the ‘new’ equipment, but forbid all tinkering.  No loft and lie checks, or replacement of those perished old leather wrapped grips.  Also, rid the greens of a double cut and roll. I don’t suppose they were running at 12-13 on the Stimp meter back in the day – an approximate 3 should be sufficient. And let us do away with tees, a small cup and a bag of dirt should provide ample teeing assistance. The more you think about it, the more entertaining and watchable it becomes.

Admittedly it wouldn’t help answer the question of whether Woods was better than Bobby Jones, but for one week in the year it would give an incredible insight into how the game used to be played, who the genuine shot-makers are on tour, and how much the modern equipment really accentuate players’ abilities. There is a realistic chance that we discover a few fakers making a serious living on the tour. After all, plenty of golf legends and experts hypothesise that the current crop of professional golfers has inferior abilities to those of previous generations that used second-rate equipment. Perhaps we’d get a chance to gauge the truth of this allegation. I don’t personally subscribe to the view, and I’m not one for basking in the struggles of professional golfers making bogeys (as can happen on a tough set-up at the US Open), but you can’t argue that it wouldn’t make for compelling viewing to watch the best golfers battle with the more simplistic tools of the trade. Who’s to say they wouldn’t burn the course up and silence those that disparage the modern day tour players?

Perhaps we’d genuinely get to see who the purest ball strikers on tour are, but wouldn’t you love to see whether Phil Mickelson could play a flop shot over a pot bunker using a niblick and a gutta percha while negotiating the swing restrictions imposed by a 44” tweed blazer? The likes of Callaway might argue they’re a little under exposed, but I’d argue it would have the opposite effect. It’s inevitable that Mickelson would spend the post round interview talking up the quality of the grooves on his modern-day Callaway wedge, and how much spin he can generate on his Callaway golf ball. Combine that with the swell of interest and fervour from golf fans, and the value to all the brands and sponsors would surely match that of any current end of season event?

Call me delusional, but there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be a huge success and be introduced as a regular Tour event in future years.  Professional sport is, after all, entertainment – why else are they paid to hit a little ball round the countryside? It’s the number of people watching that ultimately dictate the success and longevity of an event and who wouldn’t pay good money to see Tiger’s reaction at being “stymied” by Poulter? You can’t tell me that this wouldn’t generate more interest than a routine season closer on a resort course. All professional golfers want a place in history, I say let’s give it to them.