Before I left for Ireland on Monday, I was taken aback by the extent of the commentary on the Golf Channel regarding fan behavior on US Open Sunday.  We refuse to accept that we’re living in a society whose values have been corrupted by the faceless trolling of social media and new norms that tolerate aberrant behavior.  The Golf Channel commentators wondered openly if this is a geographic phenomenon of Long Island, New York where significant bad fan behavior had been exhibited at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage, but had now been leveled in Shinnecock against Wyndham Clark.  Eyewitnesses and media personnel cited horrible instances of fans cheering against Clark with all types of vitrolic banter and gestures.  I would submit that this behavior is not limited to Long Island  and New Yorkers, but has become a new trademark for American behavior not only in sports but in life.  It emanates from the White House as a new form of beratement as prior presidents in my lifetime had never hurled the degree of insults and a complete lack of decorum when dealing with the public irrespective of political point of view.  The PGA at the Ryder Cup and now the USGA at the US Open has been impacted by terrible fan behavior and its becoming normalized while the governing bodies are victimized with tarnished reputations for these events.  Golf events had traditionally been spared of this type of behavior but the new societal norms have kicked in. It seems that the governing bodies are perplexed as to what to do about this situation as their attitude seems to be clueless without defending the integrity and etiquette that the game of golf has always had and should always have.

There is one organization that is the notable exception to the current chaotic state of things and that is Augusta National Golf Club.  Augusta National runs the Masters in a consistent and disciplined fashion foregoing all of the negative trappings of PGA events.  You won’t find $20 hotdogs and $25 beer at the Masters.  You won’t find any beer.  Augusta National has a zero tolerance standard for bad behavior and it is consistently and uniquely enforced.  There are no cell phones allowed on property and if you are caught with one, you will be automatically evicted from the premises.  There are no “tickets” for the Masters only “badges” that are owned–these “badges” are sold to various ticket agencies for resale to the public or ticket hubs.  If the person holding the “badge” is evicted or disciplined for bad behavior on the grounds, not only is the person holding the badge discliplined but the badge owner may lose the badge forever.  Augusta National’s zero tolerance policy is the only way for the PGA and the USGA to get their collective act together and restore the appropriate measure of decorum that these events deserve.  The question is whether the PGA and the USGA have the intestinal fortitude to take this approach to restore order to fan behavior in the professional game of golf.  The conflict of appropriate behavior versus money has potentially become a big issue at getting to zero tolerance.  Money gets in the way of preserving etiquette as alcohol sales during these events produce millions of dollars of revenue and also can be the source of eventual bad fan behavior.

This type of behavior is completely unacceptable and bad for the game of golf.  If you look at the way amateur competitions are conducted by the USGA and state golf associations, you’ll never see this type of behavior as players are taught when learning the game how to compete and how to conduct themselves on the golf course.  The amateur situation is a great model but difficult to adapt to the professional game when the players are playing for their livelihood and fans have their own favorite players and cheering and raving for them has always been fine.  Today things are different, money is involved–the predictive market has now presented the concept of betting real money on player performance and all kinds of playing performance.  How many birdies will Scheffler make in a round?  How many amateurs will make the cut at a major championship?  The corruption of this betting phenomenon goes behind cheering for your favorite professional.  It is a system that is virtually impossible to deal with and requires regulation by the governing bodies of golf having to deal with the whims of the almighty allure of money and fees.  We have major sports networks such as ESPN espousing their own betting platforms on all matters of sport including golf–Will Tiger Woods ever play on the Senior Tour?  You can wager on this answer.  Bettors that are on the wrong side of their predictive wagers are sending vitriollic and sometimes threatening messages to the professionals that they have bet on.  Many professional players are considering or have already taken themselves off social media platforms to avoid having to deal with this abusive behavior.

It’s all going wrong for me at the moment and the game suffers.  The Ryder Cup will be 100 years old next year and will be played at Adair Manor in Ireland.  The Cup has become the latest event to fall prey to the evils of a society that trashes the etiquette of golf.  It’s been so bad recently that the players finally decided to embrace the noise and now conjure the fans to cheer for bad shots–“hit it in the bunker”  “miss (the short putt)”  Players who for 96 years played for their country are now being paid and it’s more important to make the team than to play in the event.  The noise and bad behavior is loud on both sides depending whether in Europe or the United States and does nothing for the concept of sportsmanship.  It’s time to close the chapter on the Ryder Cup and commit it to the dustbin.  It will never happen in golf’s new found ugly era of money and power and remains to be seen whether the USGA, the Royal and Ancient and the PGA can rectify their sorry situation with etiquette in the game of golf.

I suggest the Augusta National standard.