I Call the Shots Straight Talk About the Game of Golf Today

CHAPTER 1 Welcome to Smackdown Golf The Decline of Etiquette in Today's Game THE BEST U.S. OPEN performance of all time was by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000. The worst performance at a U.S. Open was also provided by Woods that same year. Teeing off on the 18th hole at the conclusion of the second round, Tiger pulled his drive to the left of the famous par 5 and onto the beach. That's when he let himself have it with as vile a stream of profanity as I've ever heard on a golf course. Everyone in the broadcast booth was so stunned we didn't know what to say. So we said nothing.Tiger is not the first golfer to swear after a bad shot, and a case can be made that maybe the microphone shouldn't have been positioned so close to him. What surprised me though was the way some people flew to his defense when the episode came widely to light. I heard things like, ?He's only human? and ?It just shows how competitive he is.' When someone pointed out that some kids were probably tuning in to see their hero and role model, the reply was, ?Every kid has heard those words before.' The implications of the outburst came and went pretty quickly'clearly, a lot of people thought it was OK. Here's the deal: Tiger's swearing was not OK. I don't buy that's it's merely the language of the GenX crowd. The people who defended Tiger are the same people who swear at their kids or at least swear in front of them. The rationale to my objection is simple: Did the incident elevate golf or bring it down? What if all golfers swore at the tops of their lungs when they hit a bad shot? That episode was symptomatic of a recent decline in etiquette and behavior in the world of golf that has to be watched. It isn't a crisis yet, but as golf more and more becomes a ?sport? as opposed to a ?game,? it's taking on some of the more unsavory features common of the NBA and NFL. This isn't true so much with PGA Tour players as it is the newest wave of fans and amateurs just taking up the game. One thing is for sure: I don't think the people who play golf already are doing a very good job of educating the newcomers. This isn't a wholesale indictment of Tiger Woods. For the most part, he is one of the class acts in golf. His work with the Tiger Woods Foundation proves he cares about people and loves the game deeply. On the course, he is the one who revived the classy act of removing his hat when he holes out on 18, shaking hands with his fellow competitor, and acknowledging the crowd. He even removed his hat when he lost to Darren Clarke at the 2000 World Golf Championships. He also has toned down the defiant, fist-pumping, in-your-face displays he regularly made early in his career. Like Walter Payton in football, he began to behave like he'd been in the end zone before. Deep down, I believe Tiger was embarrassed by the swearing incident, and at the time I predicted we wouldn't hear any more cussing out of him. And indeed, we didn't hear many epithets from Tiger for a time. But at Olympia Fields at the 2003 U.S. Open, as Tiger struggled with his game, he let the four-letter words fly again'albeit not on national TV but certainly within earshot of some eleven-year-old kids. Had that not happened, I probably wouldn't hold his behavior up as an example of a problem that's becoming all too common on golf courses everywhere. Golf probably is the most frustrating game of all, and it's rare to find a golfer who hasn't sworn out loud on occasion. But it also is the ultimate game of self-control, of keeping your composure. I've always believed that swearing can be controlled. For example, a person can learn to implement milder words into their vocabulary. The odd ?crap,? or ?you stinking hacker? aren't very offensive and can give full vent to your frustration and anger, if you make a habit of it. In all my years of playing with Jack Nicklaus, I never once heard him swear on the golf course. His style was toMiller, Johnny is the author of 'I Call the Shots Straight Talk About the Game of Golf Today', published 2004 under ISBN 9781592400652 and ISBN 1592400655.