Golf and Steroids

[Mr_Slice]

This article on ESPN.com is a great read concerning the recent steroid problems of baseball and why golf will never have those same problems. I tend to agree with most everything put out in the article. This game is pure, at least compared to major professional team sports, and honor still has an important place in both professional and recreational golf.

Your thoughts?

[iacas]

  Mr_Slice said:

Your thoughts?

I think Ron Sirak is a dope. He vocalized what everyone knows already - that golfers are some of the most honest, integrity-bound professionals - and worded it badly. The guy's a hack.

Of course I agree with him... and brute strength doesn't mean much in golf anyway. But he could have said it so much better. He didn't. He's Ron Sirak, Hack at Large.

[gas_can]

Sirak also wrote this article with the same title that accuses PGA pros of using "hot drivers" but never mentions the fact hat many of the top players are switching to fades from draws and are valuing accuracy over distance (in some cases).

I'd love to see golf as the gentlemanly game where everyone penlizes themselves and follows the rules to a tee. However, that's rarely the case. The sandtrap reported this story on Gary Player , and there are allegations against Arnold Palmer, and almost every other "great" player. In the TV age, the problem seems to have been corrected, but who's to know just how often cheating occurrs.

Carrying a handicap these days is a waste of time, people all over the country submit false or selective scores and refuse to penalize themselves (even though it only hurts them). One member from my golf club was expelled for getting caught cheating out of a bunker. He'd pick up the ball with his right hand, then swing his club with the left and when the sand splashed out he'd throw the ball close to the hole with his right hand. He'd gotten really good at it too, so good it was hard to detect.

Sadly, it seems like cheating's always been a part of the game and always will.

[iacas]

Cheating, though, is different than using steroids. There's been no evidence that steroids make you perform any better.

They're illegal (in the US and most other countries, anyway), but calling it "cheating" and talking about actual cheats isn't warranted in a steroids discussion when nearly every top golfer feels steroids wouldn't help them do any better and would in fact impair their abilities to play well.

[mikalee]

The thing with Golf is you dont need to be physically strong to compete.

In Football and things, there's the need to be physically stronger than everyone, and some think that steroids give them that advantage.

Quite sad really!

[iacas]

Tom's written up an article for the blog . Check it out.

[Rafcin]

people start talking about it more and more...
http://sports.yahoo.golfserv.com/gdc...O&id;=40307

[DDBowdoin]

I just thought I'd chime in here... completely agree, steroids do not exist on the pga tour

but the comment about no physical strength needed for golf... Tiger Woods is a big man, when he was first on the scene he was a lil kid... for anyone here who doesnt follow Tiger he doesnt just work out as much as he can, he lifts... Tiger's max bench is 300 lbs, it just shows his dedication to everything he does in life...

[iacas]

I said it in the podcast and I'll say it again: the PGA Tour needs to have a drug policy, and the USGA/R&A; may need a rule too.

Why wait until it's too late? Put the rule in, test every player, and show the world that golfers are clean.

Failing to put the rule in and falling back on the "we're an honest sport" only makes you look like you're trying to hide something by not testing...

[allin]

I feel you are being naive if you believe no one is using performance enhancing drugs on the PGA tour. First of all not all strength enhancing drugs result in a bulked up body. Throwing a baseball requires tremendous flexibility as does gymnastics yet athletes in both of these sports have been proven to use steroids. Even with steroids someone with a body frame like Davis Love does not bulk up excessively. You still have to have the genetic potential. Endurance and recovery time can be enhanced as well. Certain drugs may enhance concentration or steadiness of hands. These drugs have side effects which tend to adversely affect mental drive in many people but not all. I have no doubt that professional golfers with the yips may have tried them. They are commonly used in archery and firearms competitions. When you are talking about your ability to make a living and you have almost no chance of getting caught humans have an amazing ability to rationalize such actions. The same person who would not think of an on course rule violation could rationalize these type of actions as alternative medical remedies no different than accupuncture. I have had teen age and college athletes in therapy and they employ just this sort of thought process. My experience tells me that although golf culture is more resistant than most the money and pressure to perform is great enough that some will look for any way they can to enahnce their performance.

[nurseduffer]

In golf you don't have to have juiced up players...when the equipment is already juiced!
Seriously...steroids pump a person up physically and mentally. In golf you need to be calm and relaxed. Unlike footbal and other sports..it is not a game that you can play on with raw emotion or be overly agressivly pumped up. You would not see golfer slapping themselves in the face or jumping up and down before a round and punching the air.....That stuff makes you "jumpy"...and talk about the yips and lack of focus they would cause. However, I am sure it probably is out there but in very limited amounts. With the long drive champion guys...oh I forget that one guys name...Jason something I think...he looks kinda fishy
.....so here I do tend to agree with Erik, why not just mandatory test them for these perfomance enhancing drugs to proove that Golf is, by and large a pretty darn clean sport. That everyone could learn good values from

[rembrandt]

It looks to me like Tiger is on steroids.........hitting irons like he does out to 300 yds and 200 plus yds to greens are all pretty amazing to me with the accuracy he has. I know he works out but his muscles seem to be getting larger each year like some of the baseball playeres we've been watching over the years.

[DDBowdoin]

Tiger is definately not on steriods... personally I couldn't see him doing something like that, as much as winning is important to him he is a class act, always has and always will be...

I'd like to see his driving average over the years, I can't say this for sure but I wouldn't be suprised if there was little change in the numbers.. and any change can be accounted for in the advancement of equipment technology, especially the golf ball... he's also one of the few golfers on tour who weight trains, I read an article in muscle and fitness Tiger maxes out on bench at 300 lbs, he puts the same amount of dedication and focus into everything he does in life... whether golf, training, of his foundation...

[DDBowdoin]

I think the biggest thing to focus isn't the performance of tour players but the future of the game, personally I don't think there's a single tour player using steroids but the real threat is definately in the youth of the game because so much stress is placed on distance that kids without proper oversight are turning to these drugs to look for that strength, even though we have all agreed that steroids don't help golfers perform greater, these young kids have the impression it will help...thats the real danger

[iacas]

  DDBowdoin said:

Tiger is definately not on steriods... personally I couldn't see him doing something like that, as much as winning is important to him he is a class act, always has and always will be...

Indeed. And he's always been long.

  DDBowdoin said:

I'd like to see his driving average over the years...

... so go look.

http://pgatour.com/stats

[rembrandt]

Your probably right about Tiger, I said he looks like he uses them cause of his muscular build and the distance he hits the ball. I know he does work out every day and I think more of the players ought to do the same. He is a phenom no doubt about that!

[nurseduffer]

I think the idea that Tiger uses steroids may be a little on the absurd side.

None of us really know for sure....but come on...look at the guy. He is as healthy as they come...he works out every day...built like a brick sh*t house.

When he was talking aboput filling up the Claret Jug with the beverage of his choice it was probably spiked Protien Drink or gatarade!! He does not look like someone who parties that much...geez...I bet I could out drink Tiger!

[DDBowdoin]

makes you think sometimes... is Tiger a boring guy? His wife is so hot is borderline absurd...