The seriousness of it all...

Mister Sifter

Interesting article in the Independent today by Karl McGinty who was at the Mullingar Scratch over the weekend.

I've been a bit of a petulant bastard on the course at times over the years, but i think with age i've copped on a fair bit (i hope so anyway!). Not totally sure i'd lay the blame solely at the feet of Tiger, but i suppose it makes for a headline.

With thing i do wholeheartedly agree with though is that a certain class of golfer tends to take a hobby far too seriously at times. From personal experience i've realised for a while that the level of pretentiousness stinks in the Junior Scratch category, but i'd always thought/hoped that the 'proper' low handicappers were somewhat above all that. It would appear not...

---

Petulant habits of Woods rubbing off on our youth

SITTING at the trunk of a towering pine tree by Mullingar's 12th green on Sunday, one could hardly have been further removed from the bedlam of Warwick Hills and Tiger's march to his fourth PGA Tour victory in just 11 outings this season, and his 69th in all.

Yet, watching the fine young cannibals of Irish golf parade past and hearing the occasional furious thwack of putter against leather (golf bags), it was impossible not to be struck by the all-pervading influence of Mr Woods on this game.

Yes, cannibals! Many of these hugely-talented teenagers and twenty-somethings were almost eating themselves, such was the all-consuming, Tiger-like intensity of their play at the Mullingar Scratch Cup.

Even a birdie at this mischievous 151-yard par three elicited little more than a tight grin and the barest flick of a wrist in acknowledgement to the polite flutter of applause. Elite amateur golf doesn't look much like fun for so many of these eager young men. It's business.

Minutes earlier, I'd witnessed one player respond to an unsatisfactory drive by taking a furious swipe at his tee peg. The pointed piece of wood hurtled into the white picket fence which at that moment was the only protection a group of spectators were afforded from his petulance.

One middle-aged man quietly bent over the fence and picked up the tee, offering it back to its owner, who missed the significance of this simple, silent gesture as he stomped off down the fairway.

reaction

For sure, he'd just double-bogeyed the previous two holes, taking four to get down from the back of the green at one and three-putting from inside five feet at the other. Yet, his reaction to a slightly-pulled tee shot went way over the top.

Frankly, the lust for perfection in an imperfect game is setting too many of these kids at odds with themselves and the world. Of course, there were several notable exceptions. Not least, Niall Kearney, who at age 21 seems remarkably even-tempered and well-equipped to deal with those twin imposters, triumph and adversity.

It is a quality which will stand to the Royal Dublin man when he makes his Walker Cup debut against the US at Merion next month.

Another who performed impressively under pressure at Mullingar was Dessie Morgan, who shouldered the weight of his club's great expectation of a first local winner in the 47 years of this August event and still managed to enjoy himself. At age 28, Morgan has grasped the significance of playing this game with a grin.

Few have mastered the art of smiling in the face of disaster as well as Padraig Harrington, who almost uses it as a form of psychotherapy. Meanwhile, the most impressive feature of Rory McIlroy's rapid rise into the upper echelons of world golf has been his ability to control a temper which only a few years back could be notoriously quick and fiery.

With so many players of the same age clustered around the top of the leaderboard at elite amateur events these days, mature advice and guidance is in short supply. The Carrs and Clinches, Craddocks and Gannons no longer dominate the game or lay down the laws of etiquette and good behaviour.

The moral majority has gone with example coming instead from television and, inevitably, the Tiger.

Even as we marvelled at his victory at Warwick Hills last Sunday, we cringed when once again golf's greatest-ever player responded to an error at 13 by slamming his club into the ground. It was a small mercy on this occasion that, as his ball flew into the water, Woods buried his face in his cap and vented any verbal expression of his anger in private.

As ever, there's method in Tiger's 'madness'. He deliberately exorcises his fury, leaving it behind him on the fairway. With every deliberate step he walks further away from it, leaving him in the right frame of mind to play the next shot.

We saw this 'mind control' at work at 13 on Sunday as Woods took his penalty drop, before hitting an exquisite pitch directly over the pin to within three feet for an excellent par five.

Of course, there was an emotional element to Tiger's appearance at the 50th and final Buick Open in Grand Rapids. It showed on 17 when he threw his golf ball to the raucous gallery around the green. "I don't ever do that but this is different," Woods admitted.

Yet Tiger knew that a course as player-friendly and forgiving as Warwick Hills offered him the perfect opportunity to rebuild morale after missing the cut in the British Open at Turnberry last month.

So it proved, though Woods had to recover from an infuriating 71 last Thursday, when he delivered one of his worst putting performances as a professional. Yet even that would add cachet to the weekend's performance as he fought back from a share of 95th to victory, the largest leap he's made from the first round in a tournament he's ended-up winning.

At the 1999 Buick Open, Tiger completed his first round at Warwick Hills in level-par 72 and has been under par in the 35 since. After Friday's 63, Saturday's 65 and yesterday's 69, he wrapped up his third victory at this tournament in 20-under, giving himself the perfect fillip going into this week's WCG Bridgestone Invitational and next week's US PGA at Hazeltine.

How much would Harrington like to put all this season's swing ills behind him so easily in the run-up to his US PGA Championship defence? He, McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Irish Open sensation Shane Lowry square-up to Tiger this week at Firestone.

The figures behind Tiger's success last weekend make impressive reading. He's won 21 times in 39 events since the 2006 British Open at Hoylake and he has rattled up his 69 wins on the PGA Tour eight years quicker than Sam Snead and seven years faster than Jack Nicklaus, the only two men still ahead of him in the victory stakes.

Yet it remains to be seen if Tiger's ready to transfer that winning form to the Major championship arena in the wake of his eight-month lay-up after last summer's reconstructive knee surgery. Woods won't get away with hitting his ball onto the wrong fairways at Hazeltine as readily as he did at Warwick Hills last Saturday, for example.

So don't be too surprised if Tiger sets a few more clubs and oaths flying over the next fortnight.

- KARL MacGINTY

soundsham

i would disagree with your own point graeme
in my club the cat 1 players are definately the crankiest, maybe these guys are playing to such a good standard regularly and cannot really afford a scratch or too many bad shots as they are definately more worried about their h'cap and what they might qualify for,it makes them uptight,there would be a few i have played with that i would rather not play with again but saying that too most of them are v. nice and 1 or 2 would have helped me with my game, so as with everything there's always a few bad apples in every barrel, but imo the higher the h'cap the more chance the player is out to enjoy himself and less caught up in results and will accept a bad round a lot easier

f22

Can get a bit petulant myself but usually just exptends to a quick four letter word or two and a shake of the head.

Learned my lesson when slapping my 3 iron from a new set into the ground and snapping the thing in two. I'm more aware now of players around me and feel uncomfortable myself when someone loses the plot completely.

I agree the lower handicappers are the worst, shots are minimal and a few mistakes and .1 beckons.

scrubber72

Wonder if Karl has ever swore or slammed his clubs on the course. Ian Poulter`s conduct at the French open when he shouted at a photographer is a thousand times worse than tiger throwing a club, ffs Bobby Jones did it and hit a woman once. I understand what he saw in Mullingar wasnt the best conduct but does it merit a full page in the Indo when a half page is given to the actual comp itself. I used to be quite a fan of Karls articles but in the last year or so I have lost interest in his writings as everytime a major is on its either Padraig or Rory to win. Not many others get a mention. Sorry Karl but you are losing one fan.:(

Mister Sifter

scrubber72 wrote: »

fs Bobby Jones did it and hit a woman once./QUOTE]

Every cloud and all that.

ShriekingSheet

From my experience, golfers of around 4-8 handicap, for whatever reason, seem to be the most uptight and liable to get their knickers in a twist. Yeah, Karl McGinty is writing specifically about the senior ranks here, but how many Junior Scratch Cups has he been to lately?

Anyway, regardless of level, there's only one real reason guys do this shyte and that's to give off the impression that they are seriously good players. They want people around to think that that last shot was so poor, relative to their ability, that they are aghast and furious that a fine player such as themselves would make such a rare error. If they were to shrug it off, people might (godforbid) think such mistakes are a usual occurance.

Oliverdog

Graeme1982 wrote: »

scrubber72 wrote: »

fs Bobby Jones did it and hit a woman once./QUOTE]

Every cloud and all that.

I think it was between the first and second holes.

stringy

don't think Tiger is to blame for guys losing their temper, when you get to a low handicap a double bogey is so costly, and people like to win and improve and be the best they can. I'm not defending bad behaviour, I just don't think Tiger is to blame, I think he is just a well know example.

I lose mine but I'm calming down with age (I hope), last incident was in our captains, was going really well only to have a 9 on the par 4 13th to ruin my card completely...threw my hat to the ground in the disgust! sheer disappointment more than rage

stockdam

I must admit to slamming my wedge into my bag a couple of weeks ago (and I'm far from young). That's the first time I've done that since I was a kid.

If you watched the US Seniors (??) at the weekend you would have seen The Walrus throwing his putter over his head and into the lake behind. The when his caddy picked the ball out of the hole he threw it also into the lake........it was funny rather than bad temper.

jampotjim

This all has been going on before Tiger and will do after Tiger.. Happens in all sports and espically at amature level even at the rop amature levels...

Part and pacel of players who are competitive and get frustrated..

GreeBo

jampotjim wrote: »

This all has been going on before Tiger and will do after Tiger.. Happens in all sports and espically at amature level even at the rop amature levels...

Part and pacel of players who are competitive and get frustrated..

I think the point is that if the best and most featured golfer in the world is doing it, then this encourages or at least makes it acceptable to everyone who looks up to him.

Just look at womens tennis, before Monica Seles tennis was a nice game, now its a grunt-fest. I would argue that if she wasnt #1 it wouldnt have happened.