I'd like to talk with you about golf.
When one mentions the game of golf, what comes to mind?
Well, it's a few things:
- A great game
- An excellent way to spend the day with family and friends
- A cure for insomnia
- A favored alternative to watching paint dry.
While reactions range from positive to not-so-positive, golf is the most popular participation sport in Hawai‘i.
There are nearly 100,000 "local" golfers playing on 75 public and private courses, according to the Aloha Section PGA.
I suggest that other individual "ball" sports, such as tennis and pickleball, would fall short of these numbers.
Golf is a game of economic impact.
The Hawai‘i golf industry has a direct/indirect economic impact of $3.4 billion on the state's economy, per the Hawai‘i Golf Industry – 2023 Economic Report Summary.
A celebrated sub-section of Oahu golf is the Honolulu Municipal Golf Courses.
The six muni courses include Ala Wai, Ted Makalena, ‘Ewa Villages, The Pali, West Loch, and Kahuku.
The attractions include the cost value, online tee times, promotion of walking the courses, and accessibility to the entire island.
Golf is a game that teaches life lessons.
Junior golf programs are excellent in introducing the game to our local youth.
The teachings of discipline, commitment, goal setting, and respect are invaluable and are at the center of perpetuating the game for generations.
Golf is a game of integrity.
It's the only sport that relies on self-policing.
You call rule violations on yourself, you enter your own score, and you play the game without referees and judges.
Those who subscribe to these principles respect the game and remain stewards for others to follow.
Golf is a game of sportsmanship.
The concept of sportsmanship has long been associated with golf.
You can learn a great deal about a person by playing a round of golf together, based on how they play the game and how they treat others on the course.
However, there are some players who show no respect, integrity, or sportsmanship at all. You may even find them in your own groups.
But sportsmanship is not only on the course but with those who are fans.
Case in point.
Ryder Cup 2025
The recently completed Ryder Cup 2025 will go down in history as the most embarrassing and vitriolic event in golf's storied history.
In 1927, British businessman Samuel Ryder established a British vs. American golf competition.
For years, and indeed, decades, America dominated.
To increase competition, the field expanded from simply the British to all of Europe.
It worked, and the biennial, three-day event has become one of the most watched and celebrated competitions worldwide.
And that is why what transpired at Bethpage Black, New York, will forever be a stain.
At the core, players are playing for pride and country.
But this time, the American team was promised more than honor and bragging rights. Only they were promised money.
A protest by one American player then led other players to demand compensation.
Should they have demanded monetary compensation for playing the Ryder Cup? No.
Qualifying to be on a Ryder Cup team is the literal dream of an American golfer. To play for your country on the world stage exceeds any compensation.
Two U.S. players refused the personal payment, but 10 more appeared to have accepted it.
However, it was not just the American players putting on a show.
In fact, it was the American spectators who truly betrayed the Ryder Cup by acting like buffoons.
During what was supposed to be an honorable and civil game of golf, the spectators hurled profane and personal insults at the European players. The unfair impeding of play and abysmal conduct was utterly disgusting and unilaterally unacceptable.
This boorish behavior escalated when, after the Europeans won the cup, a twisted idiot tried to hit European player Rory McIlroy as he was leaving the course with his wife.
Instead, whatever the spectator threw struck his wife.
According to an online sports website, The Cut, it was a beer can that struck the woman.
Ironically, Erica, McIlroy's wife, is American, as is their young daughter. McIlroy has repeatedly sung his praises for America, which he calls home.
Is this how he and his family deserve to be treated?
U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley never issued an apology for the abhorrent way our people acted.
It took PGA Hall of Fame member and former Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson to step up when Bradley did not.
The scurrilous conduct of so many angered the legendary Tiger Woods, while others in the game denounced the play of the drunken and unruly "fans".
How do you fix this?
You can never put the toothpaste back in the tube again.
However, the brutish atmosphere at Bethpage Black can never be allowed again. Clearly stated rules of conduct, with violations resulting in immediate discharge from the next Ryder Cup tournament grounds in four years, would be a start.
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