drug testing on tour

[flash]

Since the commissioner of the tour announced the boards' plan to incorporate random drug testing,I sure hope his probably soon-to-be elected DRUGSQUAD( the whole situation turns my stomach) is prepared to hand down the same penalty to EVERY guilty player. My gut feeling is it will totally depend on the value that particular player has on the tour. Now that golf has been included to be using enhanced sport aids,can't put it any better, don't be the least bit surprised to read about some players going to an official who has an empty bottle in his/her pocket and giving it to said player on the tenth tee,'hey, do me a favor while your in the next potty'.We are living in a time where once the players name is released in the press, and it will 'cause ya gotta sell the paper, that player won't be able to get a 8pm. teetime on the North Pole,and it won't matter if he/she is innocent because it will be too late. Cheers Flash ps.what do you think the penalty will be.If proven guilty I feel the player should lose his card,forever,PERIOD!!

[Zakko]

How amazing would it be if Tiger was guilty of juicing?

[Norm66]

Man, get a paragraph or two, I could hardly make out your points.

I too agree that a positive test (double and triple checked of course) should result in a permanent loss of Tour priveleges.

[flash]

hey,sorry about my writing style. get carried away some times. Cheers Flash

[PhilGood]

How amazing would it be if Tiger was guilty of juicing?

It's funny that you should equate drug use with steroids (juice). From what I hear or have been reading, beta blockers seems to be the drug of choice. This is a drug that is used to calm nerves. Apparently, most golfers are smart people who realize that steroid use has harmful effects that could do just as much damage to their game as help it.

Beta blockers, on the other hand, have not been shown to have harmful effects as of yet. They are merely being used to calm nerves. The reason they are being objected to is because they provide an artificial advantage to those who use them, as opposed to a natural advantage. Think of it as using hypnosis or valium to calm your nerves. Right now, they're not banned. But once they are, is it reasonable to demand that a golfer caught cheating with regards to the use of drugs deserves a lifetime ban? Even if it was through the use of steroids, should the penalty be that severe? While golfers are supposed to observe a certain code of ethics and conduct, it should be noted that many golfers have been caught cheating in the past. Cheating regards to scores, equipment, etc. Were those golfers banned for life? Should cheating of one form be more preferable than another? The PGA is looking towards developing a drug policy and that is a good thing. Along that line, I believe that they will also develop a reasonable policy with regards to violators of that policy. One that will be harsh enough towards violators, but fair enough to give them a chance to reform.

[flash]

This is a very old problem with athletes.It's brand new to be addressing it on tour. lets start off on the right path and send message out that it will 'never' be tolerated.settling for anything less will surely allow for grey areas.Cheers,Flash

[Jeepthrills]

Performance enhancing drugs go a lot further than just steroids. Even then there are a lot of misconceptions about them. You don't get huge just by doing steroids and lifting weights. Big muscles don't benefit a golfer, but strength and power do. It is still a matter of how a guy trains. Look at some of the other sports where guys have been caught. Floyd Landis won the Tour De France in 2006. He had a positive drug test that showed abnormally high levels of testosterone. He is by no means a big muscular guy. In fact he is smaller than some of the guys on Tour.

Steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) will allow guys to work harder and recover faster. It can reduce down time from injuries and help to give them more energy during and after a round with less recovery time.

All of these things can give a golfer an unfair edge. It won't put the ball in the hole, but if a short hitter who is great with his short irons can add 15-25 yards off the tee, he becomes a bigger threat. Remember, we are talking about guys playing for millions of dollars. What would keep a guy at 175 on the money list from trying to do something to get himself to 100. At the end of the day, it is a job and they are playing for their pay.

[JaY_B]

What annoys me about the drug testing is its come about not through evidence or physical behaviour resembling drug usage from players (and i mean sudden growth or distance improvement etc not being spaced out) but from a golf 'legend' who has said that he "knows" for a fact drugs are being used and that people have told him, how ever no other pro has heard or seen anything to do with drug usage on tour.
What makes Gary Players claim more intresting is that at the same time as the announcement of drug usage was made, he was releasing a book.
Now, he has provided no evidence to back up his claims in terms of names of the players involved etc but what he has done is created publicity for himself and his new book.

sorry but Gary Players claims mean nothing to me without hard evidence and the fact that this coincided with his book being released makes me think he's chatting out his a*s

[flash]

Gary Player has always craved the spotlight and his newest antics don't surprise me one bit

[SubPar]

I can't figure out what drugs could possibly be a significant help to a golfer. It is a game that requires as much mental ability and toughness as physical, maybe more. Unlike a lot of sports that require momentary bursts of energy or physical strength, golf requires a cool head and delicate touch over days of competition.

Most drugs we normally think of as "performance enhancing" mess with your head and juice up the body. Maybe some kind of mental relaxer is in play, but most of those also take down energy and sharpness. Gary Player probably thinks anything but a multivitamin is over the line.

On the other hand, roid-rage might explain Pat Perez!

SubPar

[flash]

I got to see Ian Leggat hit 2 irons beside Perezs' drivers for 2 days in a Canadian Tour Event back in 1997 and it was priceless because he is so low class ,the little temper tantems he threw made the whole gallery(50 or so) love to dislike the guy.Cheers Flash

[Jeepthrills]

Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs will not make an average guy into a tour player. However if you take a Tour quality player and improve his endurance, strength, speed, etc. he can become a better player. Steroids alone DON'T BUILD BIG MUSCLES. You need to train with a program designed to build big muscles. If you take them and still train with a golf specific program you can improve your fitness levels drastically.

[JaY_B]

No tour player really comes to mind when you look for the obvious drug taking signs, no one has suddenly got huge and no one is suddenly hitting the ball an extra 20 yards, as i said earlier Gary Player only bought this up too publicise his book being released and he has actually heard nothing about drugs, and the Tours are only doing it too look responsible, being realistic we can all safely say there are no drugs being taken to give an unfair advantage to individual tour players, agree? disagree? opinions on subject anyone lol

[Jeepthrills]

No tour player really comes to mind when you look for the obvious drug taking signs, no one has suddenly got huge and no one is suddenly hitting the ball an extra 20 yards, as i said earlier Gary Player only bought this up too publicise his book being released and he has actually heard nothing about drugs, and the Tours are only doing it too look responsible, being realistic we can all safely say there are no drugs being taken to give an unfair advantage to individual tour players, agree? disagree? opinions on subject anyone lol

The other thing to look at is quantity. Barry Bonds was "allegedly" doing large amounts of the stuff. He got big, fast. Body builders and football players that take drugs are also using mega doses of the stuff. There have been other guys in baseball that have tested positive and people have looked at them and said "How could he be using?"

I have had the pleasure of meeting Gary Player and watching him workout. He has always been know to speak his mind. However, I don't see him as the kind of guy to lie about something this big. In fact, I don't doubt that there are guys using. When you are talking about guys who are only paid when the perform and when $10,000 can be the difference between playing on the PGA Tour with courtesy cars, big money tourneys and plush accomidations vs. living out of motels and your car, trying to make enough money to get up to the big time playing every week in tournaments where the whole purse is less than the winner's check on the PGA. It's silly to think some guys would not try to get any edge they could.

[JaY_B]

Fair points matey