Well, at least the weather has a sense of humour I do wonder if I should apologise for previously pontificating on the bizarre state of affairs that prevail in NZ, with golf being considered a winter sport. Having argued (with exceptional eloquence, I thought), that golf is actually a summer sport, I had believed that I had convinced the majority. The climate, it appears, had other ideas. While Tuesday was a belter, the rest of the week must be considered to be very much sub par, and not in a good way. In other words, we enjoyed our first winter roast dinner this weekend, a lot earlier than I would have considered appropriate. To add insult to injury, work has had the temerity to intervene and meant that the combination of rubbish weather and work has meant that the course has been something I have been driving passed rather than stopping off at. Fortunately, I am part of the team playing in the annual Waitangi tournament tomorrow (today, depending on when you read this; Monday, it's on Monday) up at the Rakaia GC, assuming that the weather does not mean that the Rakaia River decides to intervene and create a water hazard of the region. Or of the route up come to think of it. Last year, I played in this tournament at Tinwald, and I ended up playing out of a water hazard, having removed one sock and shoe and stepped into the race, not entirely expecting the reality of sinking into the silty soft muddy bottom; but definitely expecting the resulting explosion of water and mud that I had to complete my round covered in. Still, it was one of my more memorable recovery shots as I did manage to land on the green Anyway, all things considered, it was one of the worst rounds of golf I have ever played in New Zealand, so I am hoping that the performance tomorrow (today ya-dah, ya-dah) will be an improvement on last year. At least this is a course I like, and will forever remember as the one where Shrades took out a boundary peg from over 200 yards, the ball bouncing back in bounds from inevitable doom (maybe it should be the Schrader Bounce, rather than the Dexter? Oh well, too late now, I don't think I could cope with the fall out, and Dave already has the title of club fashionista, he doesn't need another one). In view of my lack of interaction with the members this week, I have looked outside our little corner of golfing nirvana and cast an eye over the international arena, and it may not have escaped your notice that there is an effort to shake up the world of golf, led by Australia's iconic Greg "The Great White Shark" Norman. Funded by the Saudi's, the plan is to effectively create a tour of the top 100 players (men only so far, I believe) away from the US PGA and the European Tours. The amounts of money being offered to players is staggering - Bryson DeChambeau has allegedly been offered $135 million dollars, while it seems to have been confirmed that Ian Poulter (not our erstwhile former secretary, the other one that plays in the Ryder Cup) has been offered over $20 million. Human rights advocates have voiced their disconcertion at the news, believing that the Saudis are trying to use their cash and sport to gloss over some of the more heinous humanitarian crimes that they are alleged to have carried out over the years, as well as their ongoing subjugation of women (who still aren't allowed a bank account, or even a joint bank account amongst other restrictions/customs that seem alien to our eyes). It does put the players in a bit of a ethical bind (by the way, I am not feeling sorry for the multi-millionaire golfers), as they have to decide between the cash and their conscience. Of course, as professional sportsmen, they will appreciate that they have selected careers that are one injury away from ending - indeed Bryson is out injured at the moment, and longevity amongst golfers is declining, so there is a feeling that they need to cash in quick. The standard argument is that like oil and water, politics and sport should not mix. Of course this is codswallop, at the moment, China are using the Winter Olympics (congrats to Zoe for her outstanding performance of falling down a hill on a plank with style) as a flagship of their political structure and prowess, the use of a Uhyger athlete to light the flame was not accidental, nor was Vlad's turning up to give the Chinese President his/Russia's support. To my mind though, this is not a difficult decision, creating a super-league of top level golfers is not the way I want to see the game progress - we already have established tours for that, and it smacks of the wealthy looking to get even wealthier. While the game has grown during the pandemic, my personal feeling is that we need to integrate the game more to appeal to the widest possible audience. One bugbear I have with the new tour is that one of it's events is taking place at the same time as another of the rare mixed events taking place on the European tour - events I would like to see more of so that they lead by example and we can see more of them taking place in clubs around the world We play a game that has been designed, with the handicap system and the tees, to be played by anyone at any level and they can still compete - why don't we let that happen more often? Rant over, I will endeavour to get out this week to see what is happening locally, the international stuff is obviously not good for me. Wish us luck at Rakaia, I am off to get my wellies (gumboots for the uninitiated). Stay safe and play well Steve |