The American Dream killing Golf

[Mike Bowen]

"Life Golf should be better and richer and fuller for everyone"

After watching the US Open on a course that most would consider elite, I am blown away by how much criticism is thrown Pinehurst's way.  The course just went through a renovation and already the talking heads want more changed to make it "BETTER."

Is it possible to always make something better?

[Mac Plumart]

Is it possible to always make something better?

Nope.

[Terry Lavin]

Of course not, but we sure love to opine!  The Pinehurst greens seem extreme at 12+ on the Stimp but were much more tolerable at 10 when I played it. Still beat me up, but in a comical way.

[Paul Gray]

Big, big area.

There's more than one thesis in this.

[William_G]

"Life Golf should be better and richer and fuller for everyone"

After watching the US Open on a course that most would consider elite, I am blown away by how much criticism is thrown Pinehurst's way.  The course just went through a renovation and already the talking heads want more changed to make it "BETTER."

Is it possible to always make something better?

the economy would come to a standstill

[Mike_Young]

After watching the US Open on a course that most would consider elite, I am blown away by how much criticism is thrown Pinehurst's way.  The course just went through a renovation and already the talking heads want more changed to make it "BETTER."

I'm not criticizing PH2 at all.  My take on all of this is that most all of golf already has water and such issues under control just out of basic economics.  I don't think the American dream is killing golf but I do think American marketing is killing golf.  For at least 12000 American courses they can't afford to water as marketing would have you think they are doing.  There is a circle of fertilze, then water and then mow.  And the more you fertilize the more you water and the more you mow.  It requires more fertilizer, more electricity for pumps and more fuel and wear and tear on mowers and more labor.  All of this water issue in golf is marketed into a larger thing than it is for the majority fo the courses anyway. 

[Paul Gray]

But Mike, American marketing is a consequence of the American Dream.

[Mike_Young]

But Paul, the American Dream is the results of American marketing...

[Paul Gray]

Mike,

Touche. 

[Mike Bowen]

the economy would come to a standstill

I think this is a perfect response.  If it's not growing it's dead.  Keep the big wheel turning with perpetual growth and improvement of everything.

[jeffwarne]

My frustration is with people who always want to play "the best"
The "best" in Ireland, the best in The Hamptons, the best in Westchester, Scotland.
How about playing an enjoyable course in enjoyable company.
I just gave a recomendation of an incredibly charming, scenic, and fun 9 holer in Ireland to someone who will be literally driving right by it, and not playing golf that day due to  his logistical nightmare  race around Ireland to all the woefully overpriced asshole traps, He looked at me like I was nuts, and said "we're not driving out of our way to play a 9 hole course"

[BCowan]

My frustration is with people who always want to play "the best"
The "best" in Ireland, the best in The Hamptons, the best in Westchester, Scotland.
How about playing an enjoyable course in enjoyable company.
I just gave a recomendation of an incredibly charming, scenic, and fun 9 holer in Ireland to someone who will be literally driving right by it, and not playing golf that day due to  his logistical nightmare  race around Ireland to all the woefully overpriced asshole traps, He looked at me like I was nuts, and said "we're not driving out of our way to play a 9 hole course"

+1,

   the positive is that the course won't be cluttered.  Typical Merican with no humility. 

[Mike Bowen]

The following "better/best" are items that I would argue have hurt or had no positive impact on the game in the long run.

1. Course renovations

2. Marketing of elite golf courses

3. Equipment improvements

4. Improved course conditioning

I would like to add the caveat that all of these things are great in moderation.  However, the excess that they have been done has been the real problem.

[JC Urbina]

Mike,

I think that Bill and Ben proved that less is more.

If making golf course better by doing less is the mantra, I will vote for that.

[Sean_A]

Is it possible to always make something better?

I think in many cases it is, but at what price?  Golfers are incredibly lucky to have so many fields of play.  Its very easy to avoid playing courses which aren't satisfying or otherwise unattractive. 

Jeff

What does it matter if folks want to drive day and night to do the all world golf trip?  Everybody has their own reasons for traveling.  I am off to to Donegal next week, but man I am not looking forward to the travel - Ireland can be a pain in the ass.  The courses are too spread out for the best enjoyment, but one has to go where the courses are  .

Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

Good golf should be judged by the purity of the experience. Too many (even on here) are too caught up on the frills and sideshows whilst missing what is important.

Jon

[Mike Bowen]

Thanks for this Jon.  Well said.

[Lou_Duran]

Is it possible to always make something better?

Absolutely.  It is the pursuit of excellence, of better that makes life interesting, exciting and drives progress.  Homeostasis is extremely finite and mostly theoretical.  Change is constant.  We either grow or decline.  Resting on one's laurels only assures mediocrity and eventual obsolescence.

None of this means that adding bunkers, tees, trees, rough, irrigation heads, etc. is necessarily better.  I played a course yesterday that once had over 120 bunkers and now has around 90.  It could probably lose another 20+ and improve its financials while providing more enjoyable golf to its members.

The mentality that the devil made me do it (marketing, advertising, frequent product cycles, keeping up with the Joneses) might have a lott to do with the decline in golf.  Some, perhaps many, seem to think that most of us have little volition.  If we can't control our actions, then we are not responsible for playing slow, not fixing ball marks, not raking bunkers, not letting faster players through, and not respecting the etiquette and courtesies of the game.  And, since we are not responsible for resisting that new TaylorMade driver that SuperStar pro just won a major with, how can we be held accountable for not having enough money to pay our mortgage or our medical bills?  Blame that terrible bank who marketed that bad loan to get us into that dream house that we couldn't afford.  That damn back that's been bothering me for 10 years and costs $20k to fix, well, of course the operation should be paid by the government.  After all, I am not responsible for being overweight, mostly sedentary, and spending my money playing golf.   The devil made me do it.    

Jon W,

Please define "purity of the experience" and "what is important".  Might it surprise you that what people experience and deem important varies greatly?  Are your personal judgments/preferences the only correct/appropriate ones?

I enjoyed #2 very much and would love to play it regularly but for the cost.  I can fully understand how someone with a different aesthetic and golf game might prefer playing a course with wall-to-wall irrigation and green grass coverage.  Courses for horses.  

[Jon Wiggett]

Lou,

to me it is the challenge the course presents. A course should make the golfer think and assess the situation each time. The whole ideology that all playing surfaces should play the same is perplexing to me. It leads to a boring game as once you know what it is you can hit shots without the need to think.

A green surrounded by trees is going to be more receptive and slower than one on an exposed hill top. These are things that are obvious and the golfer should be able to take into account and adjust the way the shot is played. As to uniformity of look, it is nice if it happens but really has very little to do with the game yet it all to often seems to be the main way people judge courses especially on the tour.

Just my opinion of course

Jon

[George Pazin]

I think the response you're looking for is "You're never going to please everyone."

Please the people that matter.

[Carl Rogers]

Is it possible to always make something better?

...
The mentality that the devil made me do it (marketing, advertising, frequent product cycles, keeping up with the Joneses) might have a lott to do with the decline in golf.  Some, perhaps many, seem to think that most of us have little volition.  If we can't control our actions, then we are not responsible for playing slow, not fixing ball marks, not raking bunkers, not letting faster players through, and not respecting the etiquette and courtesies of the game.  And, since we are not responsible for resisting that new TaylorMade driver that SuperStar pro just won a major with, how can we be held accountable for not having enough money to pay our mortgage or our medical bills?  Blame that terrible bank who marketed that bad loan to get us into that dream house that we couldn't afford.  That damn back that's been bothering me for 10 years and costs $20k to fix, well, of course the operation should be paid by the government.  After all, I am not responsible for being overweight, mostly sedentary, and spending my money playing golf.   The devil made me do it. ..... 

Well of course you are correct, but the issue with these personal problems is that when 50 million people do it it becomes a macro-economc problem, which becomes everybody's problem.

[Mark Buzminski]

"Life Golf should be better and richer and fuller for everyone"

After watching the US Open on a course that most would consider elite, I am blown away by how much criticism is thrown Pinehurst's way.  The course just went through a renovation and already the talking heads want more changed to make it "BETTER."

Is it possible to always make something better?

For context, read the last couple of pages of 'The Great Gatsby'. 

[Jim Nugent]

First off, I don't think golf is in any danger of dying or being killed.  The boom is over.  Golf is retracing some, as a business and activity.  But I believe fifty years from now, the US will still have thousands of courses and millions of players.  Same with the rest of the world. 

To me, the gist of the American dream is that if you work hard, you should be able to carve out a better life.  That generally applies to the game of golf: work hard and you will improve.  I don't know about golf courses or golf course architecture.  It's interesting, e.g., that most of the world's elite courses are considered classics; and the modern courses ranked among them are almost throwbacks that follow the same general design principles.   

The American dream does NOT mean that every enterprise will be successful, or that all will embrace change, or that we will live in a world free of controversy. 

[Paul Gray]

Eventually you have to accept that something can't be improved any further. The fact that the very notion contradicts the concept of continual improvement inherent within the American Dream can only lead to the conclusion that the American Dream, by way of not being able to recognise or even accept the concept of leaving well alone, has damaged golf.

Consider this, would TOC, for all of the R&A's recent tinkering, be anywhere near as well preserved if it happened to be state side?

[Brent Hutto]

Would TOC be better if every grain of dirt, every blade of grass were in exactly the same spot as it was when Young Tom Morris was alive?

I suspect for a certain number of Golf Club Atlas participants the answer to that would be an enthusiastic "yes".

Obsessively believing that all change is good is no more silly than obsessively believing that all change is evil. Every single change, every single bit of evolution of a golf course must be judged on the results, not on simple-minded reverence for either "chance" or "stasis" as ends to themselves.