skydog

Not tired of hearing about it because it's a huge issue and the reason I typically refuse to play public golf courses during the weekends. To me it's a catch 22 for golf though- Golf needs new players but new entrants to the game are typically terrible and cause pace of play issues. 15-20 years ago (before Tiger brought millions into the game) pace of play wasn't nearly as much of an issue because golf was still primarily played by people who grew up playing and had decent games. Today, a lot more people play (which of course is good) but golf is an incredibly tough game to get good at if you don't start young, so many of the relatively new entrants to the game are pretty bad and contribute to pace of play issues. Unfortunately I don't have a solution to this conondrum, but thought it was worth pointing out.

I'm pretty sure your typical collegiate golf coach wouldn't even begin to know where to start in giving Bubba a swing lesson. I'm quite confident his coach tried to work on his maturity and course management while at UGA but completely left that ugly beautiful swing untouched so it could keep doing its thing.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and carve out 3 hours this week and sit down to watch it. You won't regret it. There will never be another Arnie. What an incredible guy and an incredible life he has lived. Without naming any names, it just makes me wish that certain players of this generation would take a que from Arnie and be more gracious to the game that has given them so much.

Couple of thoughts... Everyone is operating under the assumption that Tiger's overall presence and impact on the game can never be duplicated...that is probably true. But his Popularity can easily be matched or exceeded as his popularity is very polarized and in a way, limited now (i.e. far from everyone likes him). Arnie was infinitely more popular and charismatic than Tiger and actually probably did a lot more for the game (just on a different scale) than Tiger. I guess my point is that in some ways there will 'never' be another Tiger in terms of skill, etc. but I do believe in the next 10-20 years we could see someone come along who is more universally popular than Tiger.

This thread hits on a lot of the issues the game is going to face over the next 20+ years. The baby boomers were the most successful generation of all time with more disposable income and free time to spend on golf than any generation to follow them. I'm in my late 20s and of my 10 or so buddies who play golf, I'm the only one who has the work flexibility to play during the week. It's sad how little say people have over their lives/work now.

I stronly dislike Ryan Burr and Todd Lewis. Something about both those guys just makes me want to break my tv. Other than them, I'm fine with most of the other people. I do like Nobilo, Faldo and don't mind Chamblee nearly as much as most people.

OK, if you want to nitpick Phil is one short of 6 right now (but will likely pick up another before it's said and done). If he doesn't the Tiger/Phil generation would be the exception not the norm; all other generations have had at least two guys with 6+.

Making general comments about country clubs or their members is a waste of time. It largely depends on where you live- in some parts of the country there are so many quality public options there's no need for a private club. In other parts, the public options may be terrible and full of hackers and joining a priavte club is the only way to enjoy the game for a somewhat 'serious' player. I have been a member at several and had the privelage of playing at some very nice clubs throughout my life and almost never have I come across any 'snobbish' attitude that some anti-CC folks tend to think is prevalent.

Yes, but each generation has had a couple of guys go for 6+ over the last 75 years so it's likely this generation will as well. Do you have a better guess at to who it might be other than Rors and Spieth?? Rory already has two so if he only finishes with 6, that would be somewhat underwhelming. The jury is still somehwat out for me on Spieth but I think he's going to at least win a handful of majors.

I've had mixed/indifferent feeelings about Bubba for several years for all the reasons already pointed out. But, I'm wiling to give him the benefit of the doubt because despite some of his outburts, I like watching him play, I think he's decently good for the game, and I think he's a good guy deep down. I think he's clearly battled anxiety and immaturity issues with being in the spotlight but I think he's getting better at it...and if he keeps winning, well that seems to fix everythig.