OT...Team Golf: Pro and Am

[Ian Mackenzie]

Was reading some of Phil's measured remarks today as LIV's second event kicks off at a course I have never heard of.


He was highlighting the dynamic of "Team Golf" on LIV tour and how it apparently excites him.
(LIV editorials aside here for a minuite, please.)


Got me to thinking about team golf in general and at what level do we care about it.


Do WE care about team golf on any pro tour?


Do we care about collegiate golf as a team sport or as an individual sport?


Do you ever play any "team golf"?


As an example, at our club, we have the Tuesday night men's 9-hole like a lot of clubs and it's called the "Dunhill Cup" and we have teams of 7  or 8 that fields 4-5 players per night in a season long "league". It's a ton of fun.


But, is that it for team golf that we would do now as amateurs?


Do we really care about "The 4 Aces" and "The Range Goats"?


Would we ever want to see team golf on the PGA tour?

[Pat Burke]

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m all for a challenge to the us tour


 It creating a team concept out of thin air in any arena is a tough sell.


LIV should have paid big money to the captains/owner of each “team” and gave them a budget to try to fill their teams if “team” was the goal.  Or tried to create country/region based teams.  The team is forced.  If it was the real goal, the team money should have been more than the individual purses

[Mike_Trenham]

Golf Association of Philadelphia Team Matches are highly competitive at the top level.  It’s hyper competitive at the top level. At the next level or two down it’s more a declaration of the level of play at a given club.  Beyond that it’s a social game and cancel to get the season started and your game sorted.

[David_Tepper]

The NorCal GA has run a very successful team inter-club competition for 30+ years. The matches have 12 players from each club and each 4-ball has 2 singles matches and one better ball match. Each division has 4 teams and you play a home & away match against the other 3 teams. The winners of each division then play in an elimination tournament to determine the league winner.

Probably the most compelling team golf at the professional level I have seen on TV over the past 8-10 years has been a couple of the Solheim Cup matches.

[Max Prokopy]

Many clubs have siblings with team competitions.  Lots of states have the same thing, both at the junior and Am level.


LIV's team aspect seems terribly hokey to me, but I've never watched any so perhaps it's actually decent.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Team golf has its place provided - to me - that the teams have relevance.


USA v Europe....yup, I get that.
My club v your club...yup, I get that, too.
My drafted team at my club vs. your drafted team and we play for beer...ok, I'm on board.


My school v your school...that's of interest.


But, at the professional level?


Me? I dont care at all about LIV team golf nor do I pay any attention to team rankings.
Same wopuld be if Jordan, Justin, Rickie and Tiger had a team playing against Patrick, Tony, Jon Rahm and Scottie within the same days of say the Memorial.


I like amatuer team golf and Ryder Cup golf.
I do not care whatsoever about professional team golf.

[Will Lozier]

Team golf has its place provided - to me - that the teams have relevance.


USA v Europe....yup, I get that.
My club v your club...yup, I get that, too.
My drafted team at my club vs. your drafted team and we play for beer...ok, I'm on board.


My school v your school...that's of interest.


But, at the professional level?


Me? I dont care at all about LIV team golf nor do I pay any attention to team rankings.
Same wopuld be if Jordan, Justin, Rickie and Tiger had a team playing against Patrick, Tony, Jon Rahm and Scottie within the same days of say the Memorial.


I like amatuer team golf and Ryder Cup golf.
I do not care whatsoever about professional team golf.

Ditto this!!


Cheers

[Mark Pearce]

Completely agree.  Teams work when they represent something.  Entirely artificial teams with silly names, created just for the sake of it?  Doesn't float my boat.

[David Cronan]

Team golf has its place provided - to me - that the teams have relevance.


USA v Europe....yup, I get that.


Me? I dont care at all about LIV team golf nor do I pay any attention to team rankings.
Same wopuld be if Jordan, Justin, Rickie and Tiger had a team playing against Patrick, Tony, Jon Rahm and Scottie within the same days of say the Memorial.


I like amatuer team golf and Ryder Cup golf.
I do not care whatsoever about professional team golf.

You know it's just a matter of time before the "brains" behind LIV recognize this and start encouraging/creating/forming teams from a particular country in an effort to capture some of that jingoistic team spirit.


I can just hear it now.......5 drunken fools chanting "USA....USA....USA!!!" at an event held at Trump Doral. Almost makes a Merican as proud as when they do so at the Little League World Series.

[Kalen Braley]

Mark,

How can you not like team names like Crushers and RangeGoats! 

[Ken Moum]

Kalen, I'm kinda partial to Ironheads GC myself. 


BTW have you checked the LIV leaderboard, with Major champions BDC, Smith, Johnson, Stenson and Schwartzel in the bottom half of the field?

[Tim Leahy]

I thought Phil's team was the "High Fibers".