Do you consider Olympic Gold to be as important as a Major?

[Domenic]

In a word: HEll NAW! Yes I know that was two. Fact is you can't chig beer out of your medal, or wear it to church or take pcitures of you raising it up.

[WUTiger]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

I mean, who is going to represent a country like Russia in golf?  What about China?  These are typically dominant countries in the Olympics... But in golf?  Not so much.

Find a DVD of the movie Cool Running . It's about the Jamaican bobsledding team from the Winter Olympics past (really!!)  Teams have to start somewhere.

BTW, Russia now has five 18-hole and three 9-hole courses, plus two training facilities. Also, ten golf courses are under construction. Russia had its first national golf championships or men and women in 1992.

Wikipedia has some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_in_Russia

China has lots of golf courses, including a couple of 10-course resorts. The Chinese government banned construction of new golf courses in 2004 amid allegations course developers were conducting illegal land grabs. There's also concern over loss of farmland, and the amount of water golf courses consume. Despite this, hundreds of new courses have emerged under the auspices of sports clubs or leisure clubs.

Story with graphics from ChinaDaily USA: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-10/06/content_13840918.htm

Basically, it will take developing nations without a traditional golf presence a generation or so to become competitive in the Olympics.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

Find a DVD of the movie Cool Running. It's about the Jamaican bobsledding team from the Winter Olympics past (really!!)  Teams have to start somewhere.

BTW, Russia now has five 18-hole and three 9-hole courses, plus two training facilities. Also, ten golf courses are under construction. Russia had its first national golf championships or men and women in 1992.

Wikipedia has some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_in_Russia

China has lots of golf courses, including a couple of 10-course resorts. The Chinese government banned construction of new golf courses in 2004 amid allegations course developers were conducting illegal land grabs. There's also concern over loss of farmland, and the amount of water golf courses consume. Despite this, hundreds of new courses have emerged under the auspices of sports clubs or leisure clubs.

Story with graphics from ChinaDaily USA: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-10/06/content_13840918.htm

Basically, it will take developing nations without a traditional golf presence a generation or so to become competitive in the Olympics.

I'm sure many countries will start grooming their children to become golfers - to help represent their beloved country.  The problem is... There are thousands of premier players here in the US - and I'm sure as many in Europe.  I just think the sport of Golf within the Olympics will be dominated by a select few countries for a LONG - LONG time.

[uttexas]

Pretty Simple Question. Say Tiger won four more majors, tying him with Nicklaus, but also won Olympic Gold, would it be enough to be considered the best ever? How important do you consider the Olympics to be?

1st question: If Tiger ties Nicklaus in pro majors it would be enough to be considered the best ever with or without Olympic Gold--Tiger already has more amateur majors and pro wins. 2nd question: Olympic Golf gold in golf would rank somewhere after the Players and World Tour Championship and ahead of the NCAA individual title.

[jamo]

BTW, Russia now has five 18-hole and three 9-hole courses, plus two training facilities. Also, ten golf courses are under construction. Russia had its first national golf championships or men and women in 1992. Wikipedia has some links: [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_in_Russia]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_in_Russia[/URL]

I hear Rhode Island is also entering The Games with their own team. :-D

[SamCreamer]

The olympics are great... not for golf tho unfortunately. When I think of the Olympics I think of Ancient Greece and track and field events! @ OP a gold in hockey is far more significant than a gold in golf because the olympics is arguably the highest stage for hockey players. I live in Canada, love hockey, don't love the NHL though.

But to answer the question, I would take making a cut in a major over a gold at the olympics and I'm not even exaggerating

[Shorty]

Golfers have the Olympics four times a year. They ared called Majors.

So do tennis players.

The only reasons for the Olympics to have golf are to "grow the game" and so that professionals can compete for Olympic gold  - the pinnacle of most (not all) sports.

A TdF, Vuelta or Giro victory trumps an Olympic gold.

But...for all we know, it might end up being an under 23 amateur event.

[newtogolf]

No, Olympics field will be watered down compared to competition in Majors.  I'm sure it will be a great honor to win gold for their country, but it's not a Major.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Shorty

But...for all we know, it might end up being an under 23 amateur event.

If they did this, I think I might be more inclined to watch it.

Then again, what difference does it make?  If it's not Gymnastics, Swimming, or Track & Field, NBC ain't showing it anyways.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

If they did this, I think I might be more inclined to watch it.

Then again, what difference does it make?  If it's not Gymnastics, Swimming, or Track & Field, NBC ain't showing it anyways.

So what you're saying is you would like to tune in and watch a 'Walker Cup' like event?  To be honest, I've never watched a Walker Cup in my life...

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

So what you're saying is you would like to tune in and watch a 'Walker Cup' like event?  To be honest, I've never watched a Walker Cup in my life...

Indirectly I guess, yes.  What I'm really saying is that I would not want to watch a random ho-hum tournament without all of the best players in the world, dressed up to seem important because its the Olympics.

I've never watched a Walker Cup either ... are they even televised?

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Indirectly I guess, yes.  What I'm really saying is that I would not want to watch a random ho-hum tournament without all of the best players in the world, dressed up to seem important because its the Olympics.

I've never watched a Walker Cup either ... are they even televised?

I believe they are on the Golf channel and NBC.

[jshots]

I voted yes, because I think the Olympics is supposed to be the toughest test in any sport.

Sadly I doubt many others share that opinion. There are really a lot of sports where the olympics are not the biggest event.

I read that the recommended format for the olympic tournament is 4 day stroke play, and the field will be 60 players chosen from the world golf rankings. The top 15 are in automatically, and then the rest of the spots are filled up to a field of 60 if your country doesn't already have 2 players entered in order to diversify the field. I'm guessing that will end up with 60 players from like 10-15 countries from the top 100 in the world golf rankings. It seems like it could be a pretty good field.

One issue is the caliber of the golf course. Majors are on the most difficult courses. I don't really see the olympic course living up to that for some reason.

[B-Con]

We already have 4 competitions per year where we invite basically the 150 best in the world to compete on the best and hardest courses that exist, and most of them show up. Unless the 2016 Olympics use a different style of play, how exactly are they going to compete with that kind of quality of field? No doubt an Olympic gold would be an honor, but more than a major? I have a hard time seeing that.

[jshots]

Originally Posted by B-Con

We already have 4 competitions per year where we invite basically the 150 best in the world to compete on the best and hardest courses that exist, and most of them show up.

Unless the 2016 Olympics use a different style of play, how exactly are they going to compete with that kind of quality of field?

No doubt an Olympic gold would be an honor, but more than a major? I have a hard time seeing that.

Read what I said above about picking the field. If that is how it works, then there will be 60 people in the field, and they will all be people out of the top 150 in the world golf rankings.

In reality though, it will probably be a competition of the top 15 (sooooo US vs Europe) in the world with a few other notable names thrown in the mix.

That is also assuming all those people picked out of the OWGR accept.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by jshots

I voted yes, because I think the Olympics is supposed to be the toughest test in any sport.

Sadly I doubt many others share that opinion. There are really a lot of sports where the olympics are not the biggest event.

I read that the recommended format for the olympic tournament is 4 day stroke play, and the field will be 60 players chosen from the world golf rankings. The top 15 are in automatically, and then the rest of the spots are filled up to a field of 60 if your country doesn't already have 2 players entered in order to diversify the field. I'm guessing that will end up with 60 players from like 10-15 countries from the top 100 in the world golf rankings. It seems like it could be a pretty good field.

One issue is the caliber of the golf course. Majors are on the most difficult courses. I don't really see the olympic course living up to that for some reason.

Great.  I can't wait to watch Thongchai Jaidee from Thailand compete against Tiger Woods from the US in the Olympics.

[B-Con]

Read what I said above about picking the field. If that is how it works, then there will be 60 people in the field, and they will all be people out of the top 150 in the world golf rankings. In reality though, it will probably be a competition of the top 15 (sooooo US vs Europe) in the world with a few other notable names thrown in the mix. That is also assuming all those people picked out of the OWGR accept.

You're right, the Olympic field won't be able to match the field that we expect of a major. And we have four of those per year. The quality of the prize is typically determined by the quality of the field. So, no, the Olympic prize is very unlikely to match the honor of a major.

[allin]

I voted majors. One week every 4 years doesn't mean much when there are somewhere between 50 and 150 golfers worldwide capable of winning any given week. Plus most of those golfers come from maybe 12 countries, meaning most won't be at the Olympics. Hopefully it helps grow the sport in additional countries,.