Your View

THE GAME

YOUR VIEW

The pick of the letters and emails to hit the Golf Monthly offices this month

For young and old While we are all focused on how to speed up play and attract young players to the game, we should also be mindful of the positive impact the game has on the older generation. Our seniors’ section at the Wychwood Golf Club in West Oxfordshire is large and thriving. We have many in their 70s and 80s who relish regular competition and we recently celebrated the 90th birthday of one of our most enthusiastic golfers. We raise money for good causes and invest heavily in our excellent pro and his team. Golf remains a very popular and healthy pursuit for many of advancing seniority. Let’s celebrate its longevity! Peter Hilling, via email

Golf brings numerous benefits to seniors

Standing the test of time While cleaning my golf shoes the other day, it occurred to me that I have been doing the same thing on a regular basis for the last 12 years! Twelve years ago I bought my first pair of FootJoy Contour golf shoes and, to this day, they remain my go-to pair during the winter months. Twelve years! Having been a football player all my life, I’m one of those middle-aged dads who’s always insisted on buying black leather boots –much to my son’s bemusement, who always insists on the brightly coloured boots that seem to be all the rage these days, and last for all of three months before falling apart! The Contours remain the most comfortable shoes I have, and always

keep my feet warm and dry. The moral of the story? You get what you pay for, and you can’t put a price on real quality. As for the golf, I might not have won bragging rights in the Christmas duel, but I was the only one without trench foot afterwards! Colin Brunton, Nottingham

An unfair advantage? Without doubt, the pros can hit the ball further and better than we can manage as amateurs. The equipment, training and practice are certainly instrumental in this, and good for them. However, instead of making the courses longer and more difficult, or making them use different equipment and golf balls, might there not be a simpler way to make them rein it in a bit? I certainly have the ability to hit the ball further than I do when I’m out playing, but that runs the risk of losing the ball left or right. I don’t have the luxury of ball spotters or members of the public helping me find the errant ball –just my playing partners and three minutes. So why not simply say that only the players and their caddies can look for a ball in three minutes? I know some will say that you can’t stop the spectators from pointing where the ball has landed

Letter of the Month

in association with

With the recent passing of golf course architect Pete Dye at the age of 94, it struck me how designers in the game of golf are underappreciated for the job they do. They create the canvasses for us to play on and yet all too often their names are relegated to obscurity. Dye, of course, was one of the exceptions to this common trend, thanks to several incredible designs that have hosted some of the biggest events in the game. Kiawah Island, Harbour Town and TPC Sawgrass often frequent our television screens and usually create mesmeric entertainment. Indeed, it is fitting that the Ryder Cup in 2020 will head to another of his famous designs, Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. I can only hope the powers that be acknowledge the genius of his design career at some stage during the event.

Steve Sinclair, Berkshire

The iconic 17th at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass

LETTERS

Pros have ample help when they hit a wayward drive

300-plus yards from the tee, but surely this is an option worth exploring? If not, the pros will continue hitting it further and further into the distance, almost totally assured that someone else will find it for them if it’s off line somewhere in the cabbage patch. There’s nothing worse than the walk of shame back to the tee for a reload. Just a thought… Peter Adams, Norfolk

Trolley folly A bemused smile usually accompanies me as I arrive at the golf club car park and once again survey a bizarre and all too familiar scene. There they are,

Trolleys aren’t for everyone

opening their boots to reveal all manner of paraphernalia appertaining to that complicated and totally confusing piece of equipment they call the golf trolley. Eventually, when they are all set up, they venture out on to the golf course, whereupon they are subsequently the subject of direction signs, designated pathways and certain directives as legislated by the club committee. My bemused smile broadens into one of enthusiasm and anticipation as, within a matter of a few seconds, I open my boot, yank out my stand bag and close the boot again. Job done. Now, with a perfectly balanced bag, the weight of which is hardly noticeable, slung over my shoulders, I’m off to the course on which I’m permitted to roam wherever I choose, speeding up play in the process in an era where slow play is a contentious issue. I’m 72 and will carry until I die! Paul Smith, via email

Win!

OUR VIEW

Will we see progress on slow play in the pro game this year?

Both the European and PGA Tours have announced new tougher measures to combat slow play this season, so will we see a real diff erence in 2020? The subject has been causing headlines for years, but seemed to come to a head last season when Bryson DeChambeau was recorded taking over two minutes to line up an eight-foot putt. This looks to have jolted both tours into action, with the European Tour vowing to rigorously enforce its new timing guidelines –50 seconds if first to play and 40 seconds for the next players in the group – with an

Yes 30% No 70%

Photography: Getty Images, Tom Miles

immediate one-shot penalty for players recording two ‘bad times’ during a tournament. But haven’t we been here before? Both tours have had the power to dock shots up until now, but this has rarely been enforced. These new measures seem to be upping the ante, but there is an air of ambiguity about some of the smallprint which will set off alarm bells in some quarters. While these sound like quite drastic measures, it will all come down to how strictly they are implemented. Let’s hope these headlines are not just window dressing and we finally see some progress being made.