The great PGA vs LIV battle rages on with both parties trying to one-up the other for supremacy of the professional game. Top players are selling their talents to the highest bidder, and as of this writing, that bidding war favors LIV by a wide margin. There is simply no way any PGA sponsor can match the vast sums being offered by the wealthy Saudis. The outcome of this duel of the professional titans will certainly change the face of professional golf.
However, there are really two very different forces at work here. The Professional game, which represents less than half of one percent of all golfers, and the other 99.5% who play the game for recreation and local competition. I make this distinction because frankly, I have grown tired of the media taking the liberty to refer to the good of the game. If we understand the difference in the two games as explained above, they clearly are two separate entities and need to be addressed accordingly. The battle raging between the professional tours will have a monumental effect on the .5%, but does it really make any difference to the recreational player? I think not.
Will there be fewer rounds played, fewer clubs sold, a drop in memberships; will teachers give fewer lessons if the PGA joins or does not join LIV? Those who entertain us on the television on the weekends play golf for a living and are clearly in a state of flux. But “the recreational game” has never done better. Since the Covid pandemic, our game has seen a meteoric rise in rounds, memberships, golf shop sales, new players and lessons. I, for one, hear the talking heads on television, in print media, and even the touring pros continually referring to what happens at the elite, professional level as good or bad “for the game.” My belief (and I’m a player of the game for 60 years and a PGA Teaching Professional for 40) is that yes, the stars set trends because there is such a media frenzy around and about them, but they are not “the game.”
What IS “the game” is the 25+ million Americans who have golf as a hobby and who support the golf courses, fees, equipment sales etc. through their love of playing and enjoying the game. It is those golfers who get off work at four or five PM and run over to get in as many holes as they can before dark or form leagues, play in charity events, and support their local pro who make the real core of what golf is today. Ask yourself this: if suddenly the professionals stopped playing, say on strike for some unknown reason, and you didn’t have golf to watch, would you quit playing or practicing? I tend to doubt it. Golf is pure, unadulterated FUN, and will go on regardless of what the elite level players do. Granted, it would be far less fun should we NOT have great golf to watch on the weekends (and this is a hypothetical, because there always will be – $$$ talks) but they don’t have the same impact on golf. If you have thoughts on this, I’d be glad to hear them. There is a comment section in the Coastal Breeze online edition, so please drop a line.
Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional and seven-time PGA award winner, including Teacher of the Year and Golf Professional of the Year. Dennis is available for private instruction at Eagle Lakes Golf Club. He can be reached at 239-777-6043 or dennisclarkgolf@gmail.com.
