First the problem. Image.

The game has always suffered from this affliction among non-golfers and little has changed in the more than 30 years I have been around it.

Any spontaneous vox pop of those who don’t play will generally throw up the same pool of words: boring, expensive, stuffy and elitist, or variations thereof.

More interestingly, though, is that many who don’t play are not just indifferent to golf, they actually hate it.

As the war between the existing professional golf establishment and the Saudi backed LIV Series hots up, this image is taking an even bigger beating.

It’s been a long time since golf appeared in the mainstream news media in Australia but in recent weeks it’s been pretty much everywhere.

"Imagination is what’s required to reshape how the game is viewed and trotting out high profile professional players to spruik golf’s virtues shows nothing of the sort, especially in the current environment." - Rod Morri.

The narrative of Saudi Arabian dollars, rebel (and feuding) multi-millionaire golfers and an entrenched, white, rich establishment being disrupted has all the ‘man bites dog’ ingredients required to make good headlines.

Of course, those of us who play know there is much more to the game than what happens in the professional ranks but like it or not, this is what shapes the general public’s opinion of the game and – by default – us.

So, is it finally time for golf to do something about this less than flattering and frankly erroneous image? I would say it’s actually long past time.

And I would also add that professional golf should play no part in that marketing.

Imagination is what’s required to reshape how the game is viewed and trotting out high profile professional players to spruik golf’s virtues shows nothing of the sort, especially in the current environment.

As we golfers know, golf is actually not about majors or professional trophies or people playing the game for a living.

It’s about real people playing real courses for a multitude of reasons as diverse as fingerprints.

Done right, golf is for everyone regardless of social or financial standing, gender or ability level.

The joy of golf is in the playing, not the watching, and what the game really needs is for those in charge to get clubs into the hands of more people who don’t yet play.

Put simply, the more of that we do, the more golfers will be created.

It will take imagination to achieve this result and it won’t happen overnight. In fact, it won’t happen over the course of a year or possibly even a decade.

But it is the only way to ensure the game’s future because if LIV vs PGA Tour is the dominant narrative, then saving the next public course that comes under threat just got that much harder.