Golf is a game of tradition, what should change or stay the same?

[OGputtnfool]

Not a hill I would choose to die on, but I've always thought not stepping on someone's putting line is kind of silly tradition.

Depends on how soft the greens are. If they're soft, then I will defend that. If the greens are harder than a rock, then it ain't gonna make no difference.

 

[Scorp]

I'm pretty sure slow play is not a tradition.

I think the game was played a lot faster when it was first conceived.

I wouldn’t be certain of that... I picture the first game of golf as a group of drunken Scotsmen challenging each other to get a roundish rock into a gopher hole with a crooked stick... and when they were successful, they made it more difficult by adding “rules” that they had to obey. Kind of like one would imagine a frat house would do with a drinking game. “Ok, on this one you have to make sure you don’t use ____________otherwise you owe us a beer”

 

[MarMill]

I think not playing for a couple decades let me shed my original beliefs on all the place of 'traditions' in golf.

Stay:

- Like @Sox_Fan said, being and taking responsibility for your own score and playing within the rules. Honor systems breed integrity.
- Respect and appreciation for the origins of it
- The tee it forward initiative. Newish, but make this a 'tradition', please.


Go:

- The air of privilege and superiority. I know of no sport more 'get off my lawn' than golf. Everything I love about it runs contrary to some of the traditional beliefs and behaviors that still permeate it. The general judgement of others on everything from race, to sex, to income, to attire, etc. etc. is something I'm far more aware of at this stage in my life.

- Slow play debate. It's an issue or it isn't. It won't change without consequence. Penalize it for real or stfu about it. Just seems like another thing they're responding to a glacial pace out of fear of change or upsetting tradition.

- The dress code stuff. It's like a guy on a sinking boat refusing to let go of the anchor. Shorts don't change the game. Let public and peer influence, and individual clubs decide it. Look at some of the stuff that's been worn within the rules. The battle's been lost.

Do you think the privilege and superiority come from the game being a gentleman game that the wealthy played? I don’t really have a great knowledge of the game in the past but currently there are country clubs where only wealthy people could even pay the initiation to play.

 

[BriMac]

One of the funniest / dumbest phrases that needs to go: “Singles have no rights on a golf course.” Whatevs - let the single through if there’s room ahead and who gives a sh!t.

 

[OldandStiff]

Do you think the privilege and superiority come from the game being a gentleman game that the wealthy played? I don’t really have a great knowledge of the game in the past but currently there are country clubs where only wealthy people could even pay the initiation to play.

Oh yeah. Old money mentality drives some of the worst of it, imo.

 

[NEhomer]

One of the funniest / dumbest phrases that needs to go: “Singles have no rights on a golf course.” Whatevs - let the single through if there’s room ahead and who gives a sh!t.

Depends. Are you the only group he'll play through? Sure let him through but a single cannot arrive mid day on a Saturday and expect to play through multiple groups throughout his round.

Somewhere between those extremes a responsible fellow will consider date, time and traffic and whether it's wise or not.

 

[Annhl8rX]

I'd say 99% of the time anyone invokes "tradition" it's because they're trying to justify something with no actual benefit or reason for being. If "tradition" is the only argument in favor of something, then it is almost certainly something that needs to go away.

I couldn’t agree more. Tradition is nothing more than saying, “That’s the way it’s always been done”. To me that’s a ridiculous way to look at something. It is essentially saying that you’re too lazy to think of alternatives or too closed minded to consider anything new. I’ll indulge other people’s traditions when they aren’t too intrusive, but I’m usually rolling my eyes while I do it.

So to answer the question, if the golf tradition doesn’t serve a practical purpose then it needs to go.

 

[SquirrelyDave]

Golf doesn't feel very traditional when I see these on the course.
View attachment 8883763

I will totally be trying those out the first chance I get.

I’m for jeans on the course. Why not? They’re everywhere nowadays.

Oddly enough, I wear jeans to work and my “slacks” are reserved exclusively for the golf course. How ass backwards is that?

I see the clothing commentary all the time (not just in golf, i see it regarding lots of things) people continue to bang on the “it’s traditional” drum. ******** it’s tradition.












Like everything else in the world, golf fashion has changed over time. It will be ok if people wear shorts on tour, and it will be ok if people wear jeans to the course. I promise.

 

[GoldenBuff]

I will totally be trying those out the first chance I get.

Go for it! I got a kick out of seeing people ride those on the course. Twice I watched their clubs go flying as they hit a compression. And that has never happened in a regular cart.

 

[Jman]

Tradition is fine.

Refusing to evolve and adapt means death.

Things NEED to change because people change. Golf will forever be stigmatized as an upper echelon of wealth and society game, and that needs to be battled to prove inclusivity.

So many want to die on the tradition sword and it’s just silly to me.

 

[SquirrelyDave]

Go for it! I got a kick out of seeing people ride those on the course. Twice I watched their clubs go flying as they hit a compression. And that has never happened in a regular cart.

I’d like to refer you to a muni course in the town where I grew up in the mid 90s.........

 

[G-Man]

If baseball can have a "shot clock" so can golf! Let them wear shorts and everyone is mic'd up...

 

[NEhomer]

Has anyone mentioned the tradition of using 5 minutes to search for a ball?

 

[SquirrelyDave]

If baseball can have a "shot clock" so can golf! Let them wear shorts and everyone is mic'd up...

OH MAN! I’d love that. I do think it might end up closer to the hockey players from Letterkenney than what most people think.

 

[Grins]

I'm pretty sure slow play is not a tradition.

I think the game was played a lot faster when it was first conceived.

I wouldn’t be certain of that... I picture the first game of golf as a group of drunken Scotsmen challenging each other to get a roundish rock into a gopher hole with a crooked stick... and when they were successful, they made it more difficult by adding “rules” that they had to obey. Kind of like one would imagine a frat house would do with a drinking game. “Ok, on this one you have to make sure you don’t use ____________otherwise you owe us a beer”

If you ever play in the UK I think you'll be surprised at how fast they play over there. They don't screw around.