OGILVY: What’s got the pros talking

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to hear that life for professional golfers doesn’t always revolve around playing and practising. Chat, gossip, talk – call it what you will – has forever been a big part of the day-to-day existence on Tour. It certainly has been lately, with three topics dominating conversations in locker rooms and dining areas.

I’m referring to a) the wearing of shorts during tournaments, b) the perennial issue of slow play, and c) the recent resolution of the lawsuit brought by the Caddies Association against the PGA Tour.

Ian Poulter enjoying the freedom of being allowed to wear shorts during a pro-am.
PHOTO: David Cannon/Getty Images.

Let’s take a look at each in turn.

WEARING SHORTS

I must admit to being a bit torn when it comes to us wearing shorts. I can go both ways with it. But speaking, I suspect, for most of my fellow pros, I would much rather wear shorts when it is hot. That almost goes without saying. They are simply more comfortable. Plus, they have the added bonus of making us appear more vigorous, the game looking like less of a stroll and more of an athletic event. There’s obviously more to golf than that – it remains a massive mental exercise – but us wearing shorts does feel more appropriate than it would have done, say, 30 years ago.

Having said that, I’m one spectator who can’t take cricket completely seriously if the players are not wearing whites. Test cricket wouldn’t change if they wore the coloured stuff, but the perception of it would. It would be hard to see it as the real thing. And golfers in shorts would be similar.

Every year when I watch the US Amateur on television, it does look really different and somehow not quite authentic.

I also know that so much of our sponsorship comes from the corporate world, which has always had very strict dress codes. It isn’t quite as stringent as it used to be, but it is still there. And, I must admit to being a bit of a traditionalist – I tend to look back rather than forward – so I am probably one of the last people who think we should change. I’m definitely against anything that would detract from the image we portray to the public.

Having said all that, I do think we need to experiment a little with this. The PGA Tour at the height of summer can be stupidly hot and humid. So in places like Memphis it would be appropriate to see if us wearing shorts makes the product seem better or worse. It would certainly get rid of the horrible sight that is golfers sweating through their trousers. I can’t believe anyone wants to see that.

European Tour chief rules official John Paramor chats with Jordan Spieth after putting him on the clock at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
PHOTO: Scott Halleran/Getty Images.

SLOW PLAY

Like every golfer, I am in favour of any policy that shortens a round. We professionals set a bad example with our pace of play. Everyone watches us and thinks that is the way the game is supposed to be played. So from that perspective I am right behind the European Tour in their efforts to speed things up. Over there, it is no longer enough to be “in position” in relation to the players in front or behind. If you take too long to hit any shot you will be first warned – as Jordan Spieth was in Abu Dhabi – then fined.

While you could write a book on the subject of how to make people get around quicker, that’s all good as far as I am concerned. However, I see this is more of a mental issue. Most golfers fall into one of two groups: those who either want to play fast, or who don’t care about playing fast. On Tour, the guys who don’t want to hold up the field don’t. And the guys who don’t care – those more in to their scores and routines – don’t seem to mind either way. For them, taking five-and-a-half hours to go around is simply what it takes.

And that’s the problem with any slow play policy: identifying the players who are actually slow. If you achieve that, then the policy is working. But if the only guys getting fined or penalised are those who are not slow, then it is clearly failing.

Everyone on Tour knows who the slow players are. And we all know why they play slowly. All too often, it isn’t the actual hitting of the shot that takes too much time; it is getting to that point. Too many guys are not ready to play when it is their turn.

I’m not talking about players taking longer than normal to sum up an especially difficult situation. That is fair enough and part of the game. But when it comes to a routine shot, players have a responsibility to start their preparations while their playing partners are hitting – not after the ball has been struck. That’s where all the time gets wasted.

If that sort of thing was eliminated, we could all take as long as we wanted on shots – and still not hold up the field. I see it when slow players are put “on the clock”. Suddenly, they are always ready to hit because they are experts at not getting penalties. But here’s the point: if they can do that some of the time, why can’t they do it all of the time?

There’s a solution, too. Whatever model they use in Japan, we should all be copying. Over there, slow players are shamed. If they are told to play faster, they literally run up the fairways. All because they are paranoid about being identified as the player holding up everyone else. It’s an honour thing.

To that end, I do think a slow play ‘Order of Merit’ published every Monday would have an effect. We could do it on the PGA Tour. The data is available through ShotLink, which times every shot already. But, as I said, the biggest gains are not to be had during the hitting of shots. It is in between shots where the problem really lies. (Editor’s note: Each of the last four pairings in the final round of the European Tour-sanctioned Perth International played in less than four hours, with the penultimate group taking three hours and 48 minutes.)

CADDIES VERSUS THE TOUR

At least for me, this whole thing started as the caddies pleading for better treatment generally. I know of a couple of situations on the PGA Tour where a lightning storm has stopped play and caddies have been prevented by over-zealous security from reaching a place of safety. On any level, that is clearly unacceptable and inhumane.

PHOTO: Andy Lyons/Getty Images.

Historically too, caddies have been treated horribly, going all the way back to the earliest days of the game in Scotland. Compared to that, they are now treated amazingly well. But things haven’t yet gone far enough, which is all I think they were really saying. All they wanted was more respect and to be treated like human beings a bit more often.

Interestingly, the older caddies seemed to be less engaged by the argument. They have seen so much progress over the course of their careers that the present state of affairs doesn’t seem so bad. But the younger guys, without that frame of reference, were generally more outraged.

Things have changed quickly, too. When I first turned professional, the caddies came out of the car park at events every week. There were 150 players and 150 caddies. Not any more, though. Players come on Tour with friends on the bag. They don’t use the old caddies. And so the relationship between player and caddie has changed. It’s more of a ‘team’ thing than a boss/employee thing. I reckon at least half the guys on Tour are that way now.

Trouble was, this whole situation escalated when the lawsuit was expanded to include a claim that the caddies should be compensated for wearing bibs carrying the name of the tournament sponsors. Caddies are a massive part of professional golf, but I’m not sure of the logic behind that assertion.

The caddies are actually employed by the players, so if anyone ‘owns’ the bibs it is surely the players. Thus, the argument that caddies should benefit financially from wearing bibs falls down for me.

I’m no lawyer, but that was a bit of a reach. If we assume players are paid by sponsors and caddies are paid by players, then the caddies are already – albeit indirectly – paid to wear the bibs.