What if we brought a little crazy to professional golf?

How would golf look if we allow tour pros to be themselves on course and on camera?

  • By:
  • Trevor Booth

Watching the recent back and forth between Brooks Koepka and Bryson Dechambau on twitter got me thinking, Golf is a sport full of wonderful people, professionals who do the right things and say the right things, but where are the characters.

Is John Daly the last great golf character

When you think golfing wild child's you inevitably think of John Daly, a larger than life man who drinks and smokes but also is an incredibly gifted golfer whose lifestyle and attitude buck the trend of modern golf.

So why is it, nearly thirty years since John Daly won the British open that we don't have more outrageous characters in our game, is it just that people are afraid of speaking their mind, have we drilled into our kids so much to behave that we've taken the fun away, or is it really just about the money, are people so afraid of doing the wrong thing for fear of losing sponsors that they hide themselves away?

Is John Daly the last great golf character

We only need to look back to the recent controversy surrounding Justin Thomas, he made some comments that his sponsors didn't like and they dropped him, so maybe there is some logic behind it, but on the other hand there is Tiger Woods, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, time and time again he has had off course incidents only to come back more loved than before because it made him human.

I'm not saying for one second that people should be offensive on the golf course, but I do believe that people should be themselves,warts and all, you only need to look at other sports like the NBA or NFL, they are brash and bold, they are confident and they celebrate in a way that inspires people, compare that to a golfer winning a tournament, generally they take the ball from the last hole, raise it in the air and barely crack a smile.

Now granted sport like the NBA and NFL are very different to golf, golf isn't a team sport, it has lofty traditions and customs that some would argue keep people away from the game, but that's a whole different conversation, but in a world where people struggle to get through 30 seconds of a video before changing, maybe we need to embrace different, try new ideas, allow fans to cheers during play, mic up the players and caddies so we hear their thoughts, maybe even let them wear shorts for heavens sake.

I love golf, I will watch it until the day I die and I want the next generations to love it too, and in such a crowded sports market, sports that embrace the next generation are the ones that will win the crowds and with them the sponsors dollars.

About the author:

One of the co-founders of Tredam Golf, Trevor has been playing golf for over 30 years:

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