Was Woods Good for Golf?

[jsherm45]

Tiger has been golf for a decade.

False. Golf is Golf. No one is above the game, not Jack, not Eldrick, no one.

Edit: Did not vote. "Good" is subjective.

[RocketSauce]

This question depends on your point of view.

i agree (with the bold).

[DBeane]

...and still is good for golf. This little hick up in his career 20 years from now will amount to nothing more than a small paragraph in his "wiki". People that pick at Tiger for his activities off the course are no different than people that vote for politicians based on their religious beleifs.

Tiger was is and will always be a great player, thats where he should be kept, on the golf course. What he does off the golf course amounts to nothing but useless information, that, in reality means nothing to anyone except that it gives idiots like John Feinstein something to talk about.

-Beane

[denver_nuggs_15]

I'm 19 years old. Golf, as I remember it in my lifetime so far, IS Tiger Woods. He brought golf to people who knew nothing about golf, people who didn't care about golf, people like my 80 year old grandmother. My grandmother watched golf only because of Tiger. There's no way he was bad for golf.

[Grndslmhttr3]

It's hard to argue against him being good for golf. The amount of publicity and interest he brought to golf is unbelievable.

[ControlJunkie]

As much as I really tried to avoid replying to this question, I just couldn't resist. I'm honestly shocked anyone would even ask this. I can all but guarantee that if you ask any Tour player that question, I dont think there would be a single one say that he's not good for the game. He's made very rich men out of a number of them.

In 1996, the year Tiger turned pro, the total purse for the entire season was $65 million. This year, it was $275 million. More people pay more money to see him play, and more people tune in to see him play. It's plain and simple.

What about the actual competition? Well, do you honestly think the mass majority of tour veterans haven't stepped up their game, solely because of Tiger? He has made the other players better golfers, and because they've gotten better, we as spectators watch better competition on TV or at the actual event. Oh wait, sorry, I'd rather see shitty golf, not good golf...

I guess I'm missing any point where he's not good for the game.

[raycharles]

This is a dumb question.

Agreed. Before Woods came on tour he was impacting golf! His influence has

1. Increased fans
2. Increased Play
3. Increased Payouts
4. Increased Marketing
5. Increased Revenues

Not to mention that he broke the racial divide in golf. Now kids of color are wanting to play this great game. Really, it would be impossible to list all of Wood's impacts on this game. He is an amazing asset to the game, regardless of what happened in his personal life.

[Chas]

Of course he is. He has dedicated his life to the game and respects and values its history and traditions perhaps more than any other contemporary player. IMO he wants more than anything else to secure a place in the all-time golfing pantheon and I expect he will achieve that in a few years. Everything else is secondary.

The money, the endorsements, the hype ...... none of that really matters to him IMO. I think it's clear that he wants to be a key figure in golf texts 50 years from now - a latterday Hogan.

I agree that he has raised the competitive standard of the game, which has to be the biggest legacy a sportsman can have.

[Zeph]

This question depends on your point of view. If you evaluate everything in terms of money, then yes, T. Woods brought more money, advertising, to the professional golf tour. However, I have many times turned off golf coverage because it was all about TW. I don't like the guy. I think he is an arrogant SOB, and the last month has proved it. I'm interested in many players on the tour, but not TW. Not everyone is a TW fan.

He's not the only one to swear and throw clubs on the tour. The problem is that whenever he is playing, he gets huge amounts of air-time. So we see every single shot from him. They cut in other players with a random good shot. I'm not defending his tantrums, but he's not the only one.

When it comes to the air-time he gets, that is the fault of the television networks. I don't see that as something that has been bad for golf.

[RocketSauce]

in 1996, the year tiger turned pro, the total purse for the entire season was $65 million. This year, it was $275 million

wow!!!

.

[flopdarock]

when you ask a non golfer to name a golfer... what do you think would be the response?
i am not a tiger fan in the least... but out of their respective sports... tiger has put golf on the planet in this decade single handedly...
just like jordan did for basketball...
can you name another dominant player in another sport as famous as tiger?
if i threw the name of kelly slater in the mix here... hardly anyone would know him without googling him... he dominated professional surfing... he dated pam anderson... he was on bay watch...
yet outside of the surf industry... you've never heard of him...
ask another pro athlete in any sport besides golf... and they even mention tiger... a bunch of pro's respect tigers game cuz alot of them play golf and realize how difficult it is to play even though they themselves have tremendous athletic ability...
hell ask id even be bold enough to say ask a 3rd world person who has never seen a golf ball and id bet they know of tiger... lol j/k

[RocketSauce]

when you ask a non golfer to name a golfer... what do you think would be the response?

i actually knew Kelly Slater before he became famous when a bunch of us used to surf out at Sebastian Inlet and near the AFB there in Cocoa Beach many years ago.

[bogeyhitter25]

I'm sorry, but this is a pretty dumb poll. Of course he was good for golf.

[Elsfan]

Depends who you ask. For me no. He has raised the price of tickets, brought every hack and there brother on every course in America causing me to wait ten minutes on every shot, set a bad example to children in both pro and personal life, and made it virtually impossible to go to a PGA event and be able to see somewhat what is going on. He has made the players richer, but I don't understand my direct benefit from that. I can't watch the PGA tour because they only show his every shot. Like most things bigger isn't better and that is what Tiger has made golf.

[flopdarock]

kelly is pretty good at golf... i think he's a 3hcp

[woodzie264]

This is a dumb question.

agreed...not really worth a thread; how can the world's long standing No.1, who brought a multitude of people (spectators) to the sport, and almost single-handedly elevated prize purses, be bad for the sport?

[JetFan1983]

Yea this is one of the stupidest threads I've seen on the forum of recent. Ole_Tom_Morris should change his screen name to Ole_Closet_Racist_Guy.

[MI Rob]

I'm sorry, but this is a pretty dumb poll. Of course he was good for golf.

Couldnt agree more.

No need for this poll/thread.