I ONCE explained to someone that rice can be cooked in the fridge. Now I’m far from a culinary genius but I know it’s eminently do-able. The usual reaction is a bemused look because we instinctively associate cooking with heat, but it’s more a process.
What do rice and fridges have to do with golf, you ask? As an illustration of how what we perceive often varies from reality.
In recent times we’ve heard the now-hackneyed phrase ‘Grow the game’ emanating from golf administrators. The perception is that the sport needs growth in a fiscal sense in order to survive.
The idea is noble but the thinking is flawed … because the reality is different. ‘Growing the game’ carries the implication of newcomers being dragged into the sport almost against their will. You don’t sell people on golf like it’s some sort of commodity; you let them want it like they’ve never wanted anything in their lives.
Rory McIlroy was the first person to speak out against the ‘Grow the game’ concept. When explaining his decision to forgo playing in the Rio Olympics, he touched several nerves despite being infinitely correct.
“I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all. I didn’t get into golf to try and grow the game,” McIlroy said at the British Open just weeks before the Games. “I got into golf to win championships and all of a sudden you get to this point and there is a responsibility on you to grow the game, and I get that. But at the same time that’s not the reason that I got into golf. I got into golf to win. I didn’t get into golf to get other people into the game.”
Such candour is increasingly rare in modern professional golfers and the Northern Irishman later clarified his comments, yet didn’t retract them – a decision I applaud.
More recently, LPGA Tour star-turned TV commentator Dottie Pepper helped re-light the fuse. Speaking as a guest on the excellent ‘State of the Game’ podcast in January, Pepper declared her aversion for the ‘Grow the Game’ phrase.
“I hate that term,” Pepper said. “For me it just says ‘monetise’. I want to make people fall in love with the game not grow the game, because if we fall in love with it, we’re going to grab everybody along … If you get stuck on the game, you’re going to make other people love it just by your enthusiasm.
“I get what he’s (McIlroy) saying,” Pepper added. “It becomes part of that jargon of the boardroom.”
It was refreshing to hear more candidness from another knowledgeable figure. She was a firebrand in her playing days and while some of that fire still exists, the Dottie Pepper providing analysis on the fairways today is rich in golf acumen.
My favourite insight of hers was the infectious nature of the sport. And that should be the way forward from here. Taking golf to juniors and into primary schools is a logical step, but nothing replaces the simplicity of letting your obsession permeate into another person.
So the overriding message to those in charge of navigating a path for our fair game should be to utilise the existing pool of passionate golfers because we’re not going anywhere.
