NOW this… by Spence
NOW this… by Spence
When it’s breezy, swing easy. Golf is back.
Describing the past 15 months as “breezy” might not be the best way to put it. If we’re speaking metaphorically, “gale force winds” or “hurricane” fits the bill far better. The pandemic’s effects will be felt far beyond this year or even next as we collectively attempt to right the ship and get society back on course.
But the age-old saying in golf rings true when applied to how we’ve dealt with COVID from a recreational and mental health standpoint. After the initial lockdowns began to ease and we realized we could stay safe if distanced outside, golf became a bastion. Participation soared. The Gentleman’s Game became The People’s Game, providing an out from the hellscape of the pandemic’s early days.
The game looked different. Pins stayed in holes, carts had single riders and post-round handshakes turned into fist bumps or nods. Bunkers, unable to be raked, stayed unkempt.
Professional golf changed dramatically. There was no roar from the gallery when superstar in the making Colin Morikawa drove the 293-yard Par 4 No. 16 at TPC Harding Park en route to his first PGA Championship win. The Masters — “A Tradition Unlike Any Other” — moved from April to November, and the only ones to see Dustin Johnson don his first Green Jacket were the select few at Augusta and those watching from home. Professionals played at empty courses, producing silent rounds and eerie scenes for the cameras.
Despite these pandemic-induced restrictions, it didn’t stop the people from discovering — or rediscovering — the beauty of the game. According to the National Golf Foundation’s 2020 report, golf experienced a record surge. Golf lost 20 million rounds in the spring due to closings and restrictions, only to record 61 million more than 2019 through the summer and fall of 2020. The last time the game saw such an uptick was after Tiger Woods’ legendary 1997 Masters win. (Writer’s note: besides my dad, Tiger Woods is the primary reason for my love of the game.)
Every PGA Professional you speak with says the same thing: that last summer shattered records. Local courses like Randolph’s Cardinal Hills and Ellicottville’s Holiday Valley booked seemingly endless tee times. If there’s a silver lining of the pandemic, it’s the staggering number of people that embraced outdoor activities for the first time. Skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking and the like all saw similar increases.
Golf’s resurgence, in part, can be attested to those who champion the game for everyday people. Sam “Riggs” Bozoian, a Barstool Sports personality, cultivates golf through things like the Barstool Classic and the Foreplay Podcast — Barstool’s golf pod — that help break the stereotype golf is strictly for the affluent. Brands like Uncommon Golf vie for a different feel to the game, encouraging golfers to play their own way.
For too long, PGA professionals and golf’s leadership stayed locked in the ways things had always been done, which stigmatized golf as stuffy and boring. But in recent years, we’ve seen courses adapt to what people want — including allowing music in golf carts (at a respectable level, people!) allowing professionals to wear shorts during practice rounds and embracing new ways to grow the game.
An entire generation that looked up to Tiger during his dominance became the new faces of golf. His impact on the game’s growth can’t be understated, and it coincided with the surge during the summer of 2020. Tiger’s miraculous 2019 Masters win reinvigorated the game’s popularity. The field is wide open in any given tournament or Major because of the vast talent the game now boasts, and the PGA began offering incentives for professionals with the most social media interactions. The Brooks Koepka-Bryson DeChambeau feud is the best (and to be completely honest, hilariously petty) rivalry in sports, offering endless meme-worthy content and video clips.
As more of the population became vaccinated and restrictions began to ease, spectators showed up and showed out at professional tournaments. It culminated in last month’s PGA Championship at the Ocean Course on South Carolina’s Kiawah Island. Phil Mickelson — the People’s Champion, Lefty, Mr. Calves — became the oldest player to win a Major at 50 years, 11 months and 7 days. While this feat would have been incredible unto itself, the coronation happened while he walked down the 18th fairway with a (borderline out of control) mob of people behind him. At that moment, you could feel it.
Golf is both gloriously elating and maddeningly difficult. You can’t out hustle a golf course, instead relying on a mixture of mental toughness and inner Zen to play at your best. You are competing with others but mainly yourself. There’s nothing like it.
A lot of factors played into golf’s recent ascendence, but at the end of the day it is the people that played the biggest role. It gave us an escape during the one of the toughest times we’ve seen, and it’s being rewarded with staggering numbers on courses nationwide. It’s now apparent that golf isn’t going anywhere. Golf is back.
An avid golfer and lover of the game, Spencer Timkey unsuccessfully drives for show and putts for dough. He continues to chase the dream of consistently being a single digit handicap. Tiger Woods will win again.
