[Mike Hendren]

Okay.  Let me see if I've got this straight:  What you're saying is that golf is a competitive sport?  Hmm.  Never dawned on me.  I do seem to recall seeing some trophies in the attic of the home I grew up in.  Perhaps they were mine

Despite my diminishing skills (please, no testimony from recent King's Putter participants), I have come to love the game far more than I ever liked the sport.  Competition essential?  That's much too strong a word.

Regards,

Mike

[A_Clay_Man]

 I found these and just a cursory look tells me there was alot more to gamng in golf then there is today.

…and one point for the best ball. In Three Point Method: One point is allowed for the low total and two points for the best ball.

BEST HOLE, also RINGER SCORE COMPETITION-A stipulated period of time where contestants turn in their score cards showing where an improvement has been made for their score on hole or holes. The contestant to win is the one with the lowest total score at the end of the stipulated period.

BIRDIE-When the hole is made with one less stroke than par; also the player with the lowest score for a hole, when competing against two or more players.

BIRDIES, ACCUMULATIVE-A betting arrangement whereby a player winning a "birdie" at a hole collets not only for that hole but upon all holes just prior to this one upon which no birdies were made.

BISQUE-A handicap of a certain number of strokes which the player takes from his opponent's score on any hole in match play.

BLIND BALL SWEEPSTAKES-Each contestant turns into the club or committee a designated number of balls as the entrance fee. The committee selects from five to ten holes at the beginning of the game keeping them secret from the contestants. The player with the best medal score on the chosen holes is the winner.

BLIND HOLE-One where the putting green is not visible from the tee.

BLIND HOLE CONTEST-In a blind hole contest certain holes are selected by a disinterested person before the game begins, and are unknown to the contestants until all score cards are turned in. The contestant with the best medal score on the selected holes is the winner.

BLOWN-UP-When a player becomes so bad in a match that it seems impossible that he will resume his normal game he is said to be "blown-up."

BODY-TURN-The turn or twist the body must make in completing a successful stroke.

BOGEY-A reasonable fixed score for each hole on a golf course; it is supposed to represent the score that a good player could make it in and is one stroke more than par.

BOGEY COMPETITION-Stroke competition against the fixed bogey for a hole.

BONE or HORN-A piece of bone or fiber inserted in the sole of a wooden club to protect the lower edge of the face and sole, and prevent it from splitting.

BORROW-When making a shot, the allowance made for the slope of the ground. Sometimes an allowance made for a hook or slice, or when playing in the wind.

BRACKETS-Two sections of players in a flight of a golf tournament; as the upper and lower bracket in a Championship Flight.

BRASSIE-A wooden club with the bottom of the club-head covered with a  plate of brass. It has a slightly shorter

[Phil_the_Author]

Tom,

I think you have the question wrong. To answer what you asked, competition has no effect on golf whatsoever. Nothing, Nada!

The correct question is one that some might think is more semantics than subtlety, but I would disagree and will explain. The question really should be how has competition changed the WAY golf is played?

For example, if there weren't competitions with big money rewards, is there anyone who honestly thinks that the quipment evolutions, both of golf balls and clubs, would have occurred? If there is no one to use as the example of how far a ball can be hit and how this makes them a champion golfer, what motivation for spending R&D capital would a manufacturer have?

If then ball & equipment design is regressed, then what about golf course design, both new construction and renovations?

If Augusta didn't showcase the Masters every spring, would we routinely see putting surfaces turned into race tracks rather than greens because of the hyper speeds that many insist the ball roll on.

Speaking of Augusta, can anyone seriously argue that golf course maintenance procedures and the desire to look like a twin to ANGC would have happened without the Masters being televised?

Competition is most definitely not essentiaL to golf, but it is at the heart of the FUN of the game, whether we compete against ourselves, the golf course or other players. The competitions of the game contested at the highest levels and with the greatest visibility have effected how people perceive the game, changed the fields it is played upon and helped bring about spiraling expenditures and equipment evolutions that have brought on even more changes.

[TEPaul]

Phil:

Interesting point. However, I don't believe I'd agree with it. Competition or no competiton the quest for distance I believe would always be there amongst all golfers. If one strips away whatever their current sentiments are about the current distance problem amongst the elite players I think one would find if the entire history of golf was reviewed carefully and honestly that the fascination and allure of distance very well may be the most seductive thing there is about golf! Accuracy may be the most seductive but I believe the allure of distance for most all golfers would be very close.

[Phil_the_Author]

Tom,

I agree with you, distance is and always will be the elusive goal of every golfer. What I was trying to show, and something that I believe to be true, is that without the sub-culture os televised competitive golf, the equipment manufacturers would not have as great a motivation to perform R&D & thereby evolve the equipment used to play the game as quickly as they have.

Without the acceleration in equipment evolution there would not have been as great an effect on golf course design evolution as has occurred.

Consider this, without a televised PGA Tour would there be a Tiger Woods? I mean that not as a talented player but as a media icon. Without Tiger, where would Nike be in the equipment business? With Nike's bold entrance, didn't that encourage other manufacturers to try and match efforts? Otherwise, we would all still be playing either Titleist or Top-Flights with the occasional Slazenger in some-one's bag. One follows the other.

[Mark Brown]

Primarily I compete against what I think I am capable of shooting, and the game should be enjoyed for what it is. I enjoy some friendly match play but if you want high stakes to play poker in Vegas.

[Ed_Baker]

Tommy,
I think that in each of us that love the game and it's playing fields there exists both the "golfer" and the "player", are they mutually exclusive?

[Steve Lang]

 

Why isn't there any mention or link to developing skills in your golfing endeavor question?  

Aren't the various skills of the game, the sport, the gaming,  and building mental fortitude and the tools and playing fields the essence of its past and future human endeavor?  

Improvement in skills leads the competitive nature in all these areas, so if one tries to break this link, then one has to accept the status quo.  Not very inviting for growth or satisfaction, if you ask me..

[Tommy Williamsen]

I've been a silent reader for the last few weeks but this thread and the questions that Tom Paul raise are questions that I have been asking myself as well.  
In my younger days I could not wait to compete.  I did relatively well in club competitions but finished in the middle of the pack in state wide tourneys.  so I'd set personal goals for tournaments, not unlike what runners do in saturday races.  They strive for a "personal best."  It is still a kind of competition but not in the strict sense.
It got to the point that in my late twenties I did not enjoy golf very much.  I wasn't playing golf I was playing the success game.  I pretty much quit.  I misssed, however, hitting a golf ball.  I love the sound, the feel.  I love standing on the tee aand watching the ball against the sky.  I love being in the woods and trying to hit a hooking low shot and watching it run between the bunkers onto the green.  If I miss the shot, I love trying it again.
For some this may not be golf.  All I know is that at 58 I don't need to beat anyone or even strive for a personal best score. My game is as good as ever and the "fun" quotient is higher than ever.  If I play with someone who wants to play skins, I'll do it.  I do it for him not me. I din't need it.  
Maybe what I am playing is not golf in the strictest sense.  
all I know is I can't wait to get to the course.

[JESII]

Tom

Your question seemingly could inspire answers in multiple directions and has, thus far, only inspired one; an individuals competitive needs requirements. And that is something sure to vary with each response.

I think looking from the commerce and capitalism perspective, competition is the lifeblood of the golf industry. As it is for any industry I would say. Without the desire of the lesser player to beat the more accomplished player there is no demand for innovative equipment. That is not to say we would still be using sticks and stones in open fields, but we most certainly would not have the game, and its ancillary effects, we have today.

My individual feelings about competition driving my interest in golf is a stumper right now, as you can probably imagine. I grew up playing plenty of competition and any success I had probably played a large part in my enjoyment from day to day or week to week, but as I look back today as a 30 year-old amateur awaiting reinstatement my memories of golf as a young kid (12, 14, 16 years old) I am by myself playing 9 holes as the sun is going down and I am simply playing for the enjoyment of the shots and the environment. Was there some internal competitiveness to play my best? Maybe, I certainly wanted to, and took pride in hitting good shots or shoot a good score, but that would be comparable to my desire these days to cook a meal for my wife and have it come off well. I am certainly trying to do my best but there are no consequences for failure. To me, that is the heart of competition, a self imposed consequence for not succeeding.

When I play golf today I always have a match of some sort, I simply love the action, but the minute I have the time to do so I will be back out there as the sun is setting enjoying the game for itself.



You ask in your first post I believe:
"So is golf completely reliant on competition and its ever increasing rules and conventions and definitions?"


It all depends on what you consider golf to be. If, as I'll assume, you see golf as does Max Behr in the second paragraph below:


".....and the psychological tendency is to make further inroads upon nature's side of the balance, for once the human mind succeeds in overcoming natural hazards in life it never remains satisfied until it has devised a means to do away with them altogether.

I do not mean to imply that it is possible to return to those halcyon days of golf, or that it is even desirable; but what I do wish to emphasize is that unless we keep before us a true perspective of golf, a viewing of it always from its natural side, it will eventually degenerate to a known quantity, a true game, and will become robbed of those elements of mystery and uncertainty which make every round a voyage of discovery.

The fate of golf would seem to lie in the hands of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the United States Golf Association. Can we expect that they will protect and reverence that spirit of golf?"
Max Behr, 1922

I would say competition (in the commerce and capitalism sense) is the greatest threat to golf. The driving force behind all innovation is to make things easier in some way or another and that directly results in an effort to smooth out all of nature's "elements of mystery and uncertainty". It is this quality that Behr feels should be a lasting element of the game. I would have a hard time arguing.

[JESII]

I don't think that there's any doubt that competition is the essence of the game.  I'm certain that once the shepard started hitting the rock TOWARD something, competition quickly ensued.  It is the nature of the game.  It is its soul.  Without competition, golf isn't golf.  It's just practice.  

A guy playing 9 at twilight is the exact same thing as a gym rat practicing his jumper alone in the gym.  He's doing it for love of the game.  He's doing it because he likes it.  But the guy rat isn't playing basketball until there are 9 other guys on the court with him and he can put those skills to use in the actual game of basketball ... and the golfer isn't playing golf until he is competing against a person.

Have to disagree with the gym rat comparison, defense is 50% of basketball, so you cannot 'play' basketball alone. There is no aspect of golf which cannot be performed alone.

Hunting, Fishing or Running have all been mentioned and seems to make sense as comparable solitary sports. Or are they?

[JESII]

Tom Paul

Would it be fair to also ask where architecture would be without competition?

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