One Fan's Perspective on this Week in Golf

I’m not really sure how we got here.

This has been one of the wildest weeks in golf that I can remember, and it has everything to do with the sheer number of golfers affected. News of Jon Rahm, inarguably one of the best golfers on the planet by any measure, signing with LIV Golf was only overshadowed by the golf ball rollback announcement from the game’s governing bodies. While the latter directly affects but one player, the former impacts every golfer. It’s as dramatic a combination of news golf fans have ever seen in seven days.

Change, of course, has not been reserved to only men’s professional golf. It could be argued that 2019 marked the beginning of massive change in every walk of life for reasons completely unrelated to golf. In the years that followed you’ve seen change everywhere you look, including your neighborhood, social media feeds, news broadcasts, family conversations and even in your workplace. Questions previously reserved for water-cooler conversations are now amplified for all to hear, accuracy and legitimacy be damned.

Everyone suddenly had an audience, most of whom were also locked indoors staring at their screens arguing with one another.

During the pandemic everything was up for debate. Questions about every walk of life abounded. What the hell else did we have to do, besides stir up controversy by closely examining mundane aspects of life we previously took for granted? “You know what… why do we do things this way?”

Golf was no different, both professionally and at the recreational level. While conversations about the PGA TOUR’s business dealings and inquiries about how far the golf ball was flying have been around for years, the “cool thing to do” became finally voicing those concerns on a grand scale.

Or, maybe we just had time to finally think about it.

Suddenly, or at least more loudly, we started hearing about unhappy PGA TOUR players. Then we started hearing more. And more. And more. The only show in town was now being questioned by the game’s elites, leaving fans to wonder: what the hell is going on with that joint?

And here we are.

There is nothing wrong with Jon Rahm signing with LIV Golf. He plays golf for a living — despite his insistence he “doesn’t golf for money” — and it’s entirely his right to make as much money as possible. If the argument stops there, we should all agree.

The golf ball, especially at the pro level, is flying farther on average than ever before. Technology has improved, personal fitness has improved, and many courses have been lengthened to account for this change. If we stop the argument there, we should all agree on those facts.

We all know that life doesn’t operate in a vacuum, either.

As such, everything else that creeps in to either conversation leads to my frustration with golf at this moment. Consider the perspective of Rahm. He chose to remain loyal to the PGAT in 2022, literally brushing off LIV talks as rumor, citing legacy and format as reasons for his “pledged fealty.” Then Jay Monahan has a secret meeting, tells no players, enters into a perceived framework agreement to accept money from the same source he told other players to decline, and slaps the likes of Rahm right in the mouth.

Simultaneously, golf’s governing bodies are rolling back a portion of Rahm’s skillset (he is one of the best drivers of the ball in the game), potentially impacting his livelihood. If you’re him, who just saw your Tour’s leadership betray you financially, and are now being told the tools you use to make a living are also changing… well, I can’t fault him.

While the equipment change will still impact players no matter where they play golf, this is all about issues compounding one another. Followers of the game, myself included, are driven to debate in an attempt to make sense of it all. Such is the new routine.

I’ve not been shy to share my opinions on all of the above in the past. It probably aligns with some of yours while conflicting with others. Regardless, we can all agree that this much change at one time leads to an impression of chaos and disorganization. It doesn’t feel like a natural progression that would have happened anyway, but rather drinking from a firehose due to some arbitrary deadline nobody understands.

How we got to this place in the game isn’t as important as where we will end up. I am hopeful the dust will settle and the game will self-correct, offering the mountain of new golfers a reprieve from blustery debate lead by those of us unable to see past our own noses.