“I was hired to elevate this tour…”

So says Rick George, president of the Champions Tour. “… to look at everything critically. We looked at [changing] the minimum age. We looked at carts. How do we make this product better?”

When you think Champions Tour, do you still mentally substitute “Seniors Tour”? Do you think of players who’ve started to decline in their physical abilities, but who still both love to compete and are fun to watch as athletes and personalities?

Do you think to yourself, “Those old bums should be walking, not loafing about in their golf carts!”

Evidently, the Champions Tour board seems to think that’s exactly what we think, and they’re out to change our minds.

In what could best be called a counter-intuitive decision, Champions Tour president Rick George is moving forward with the decision to ban golf carts during Champions Tour events. He’s nice enough to ‘accomodate’ golfers like Casey Martin who must ride in a cart due to physical disability.

In what could best be called a counter-intuitive decision, Champions Tour president Rick George is moving forward with the decision to ban golf carts during Champions Tour events. He’s nice enough to ‘accomodate’ golfers like Casey Martin who must ride in a cart due to physical disability.

For all the other golfers on the Champions Tour, however, the days of having carts available are soon coming to an end. When asked about the requests of Tour golfers to keep their carts, George said:

I’m sympathetic to some of the guys because of the nature of their injuries, but at some point you’ve got to look at the whole. That’s what my job is, to look at the whole and make decisions that are best for the tour.

What’s best for the tour? Eighty percent of the players want to keep carts on the Tour, and last I checked, there’s not a vocal majority of viewers who look at the Tour and think that the Champions Tour should get rid of carts.

In the Casey Martin case, it was argued that having the advantage of a cart at that level of play gave Martin an unfair advantage. Let’s face it: golf isn’t a terribly taxing sport, but there’s a difference between walking four rounds and riding four rounds.

But, this isn’t the PGA Tour. It’s the Champions Tour, and there’s a significant difference – all the golfers on the Tour have access to a cart if they want one.

So, why ban carts to begin with? Where’s this coming from?

How do we make this product better? How do we make it more saleable? How do we get more people watching?

I understand the sentiment – Tours need advertisers, and advertisers want viewers. If the perception is that viewers aren’t watching because because the players on the Champions Tour get to ride in a cart, then it makes sense to ban carts.

I don’t think that’s the reason people don’t watch the Champions Tour. I think it’s something else – something about the natural progression of a sport, and fans having interest in the old greats only in reference to the greats of today. But, that’s another discussion for another day.

How about you? Do you watch the Champions Tour, and if not, why? Better yet, do you think that letting the Tour players ride on carts detracts from the events, or do you think it’s just one more concession to allow the great players of old to play just that much longer?