2008 Woodie Awards
Commentary: A tradition unlike any other, and let's keep it that way
Jason Tomassini
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Sports
This is not British Literature; in the words of Shooter McGavin, "This is golf!" If Nantz came out to a local municipal course in Newark, would he still be talking like this?
Charles "Chuckwagon" Bratkowksi steps onto the tee. His polyester polka-dot shorts are interacting beautifully with the brownish-yellow tee box. He's wearing his Sunday red shirt … actually I'm hearing from Lanny it's a spaghetti stain, what a fearless competitor. He addresses his glow-in-the-dark ball at the 98-yard par-3 eighth. He hits a high towering shot - like only Chuckwagon can - heading right for the flagstick … of the 13th hole. Effortless, just like everything else he does, including his job as mall security.
The bottom line is, coverage of The Masters, and golf in general, might be appealing to old farts, but it is alienating the future dads across America.
When the most popular golfer is a young, charismatic black man who appears in Nike commercials, has his own video game and is married to a supermodel, golf should not be restricted to middle-aged executives.
The inability to appeal to a younger audience starts with CBS's broadcast team. None of them are within a John Daly drive of 40 years old, and their inane, technical golf chatter is about as confusing as the IBM business consulting commercials aired during most tournaments. I'm not saying golf coverage should be turned into "Happy Gilmore," but dropping the cheesy puns ("Tiger roars again!") and the goofy jacket ceremonies (sorry, Jacket Ceremonies), would help keep the youth of today from changing the channel.
But possibly the most crucial step - a step that brings up a whole other set of issues in sports - is to add some diversity to golf. A 2003 study by the National Golf Foundation found that 15 percent of white adults were golfers. The NGF also reported that 97 percent of the golf courses that closed last year were public, the only tracks us college kids can afford to play.
These statistics prove the whole focus of golf is based around old, rich, white men. Augusta National's history of not allowing women or African-Americans into its club screams "old rich white men" like the Republican National Convention. The way CBS covers the Masters and the way the PGA and its players market themselves to big name corporations does nothing to alleviate that bias either.
Once golf can get past these cultural boundaries, it can begin to expand its audience to a younger base. I'm a rare, 22-year-old golf fan. I estimate Tiger Woods has about 12 years left of competitive golf. Time is running out.
Jason Tomassini is a Managing Sports Editor at The Review. Send questions, comments and argyle socks to jtom@udel.edu.
Charles "Chuckwagon" Bratkowksi steps onto the tee. His polyester polka-dot shorts are interacting beautifully with the brownish-yellow tee box. He's wearing his Sunday red shirt … actually I'm hearing from Lanny it's a spaghetti stain, what a fearless competitor. He addresses his glow-in-the-dark ball at the 98-yard par-3 eighth. He hits a high towering shot - like only Chuckwagon can - heading right for the flagstick … of the 13th hole. Effortless, just like everything else he does, including his job as mall security.
The bottom line is, coverage of The Masters, and golf in general, might be appealing to old farts, but it is alienating the future dads across America.
When the most popular golfer is a young, charismatic black man who appears in Nike commercials, has his own video game and is married to a supermodel, golf should not be restricted to middle-aged executives.
The inability to appeal to a younger audience starts with CBS's broadcast team. None of them are within a John Daly drive of 40 years old, and their inane, technical golf chatter is about as confusing as the IBM business consulting commercials aired during most tournaments. I'm not saying golf coverage should be turned into "Happy Gilmore," but dropping the cheesy puns ("Tiger roars again!") and the goofy jacket ceremonies (sorry, Jacket Ceremonies), would help keep the youth of today from changing the channel.
But possibly the most crucial step - a step that brings up a whole other set of issues in sports - is to add some diversity to golf. A 2003 study by the National Golf Foundation found that 15 percent of white adults were golfers. The NGF also reported that 97 percent of the golf courses that closed last year were public, the only tracks us college kids can afford to play.
These statistics prove the whole focus of golf is based around old, rich, white men. Augusta National's history of not allowing women or African-Americans into its club screams "old rich white men" like the Republican National Convention. The way CBS covers the Masters and the way the PGA and its players market themselves to big name corporations does nothing to alleviate that bias either.
Once golf can get past these cultural boundaries, it can begin to expand its audience to a younger base. I'm a rare, 22-year-old golf fan. I estimate Tiger Woods has about 12 years left of competitive golf. Time is running out.
Jason Tomassini is a Managing Sports Editor at The Review. Send questions, comments and argyle socks to jtom@udel.edu.
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