Golf...the only "Pure" game left?

With all the talk in sports lately of game fixing, performance enhancers and cheating in general, I thought this was a good opportunity to shine a spotlight on a sport that has yet to fall victim to these ills.

Golf...

Ah, the game that frustrates us amateurs to the point of wanting to wrap our 3 iron around an oak tree after hitting it "Fat" AGAIN...or to toss our driver in the water after our tee shot just achieved "splash down" in that very same "drink".

So why do we keep coming back? I think there's several reasons...probably different for everybody. Of course there's the obligatory "great shot", that you're always trying to replicate (for me it was the 3 wood from 235 out that stopped 8 inches from the hole for eagle on a Par 5).

For some guys (and gals), it's a chance to take a nice walk on some of God's most beautiful acre-age while playing a game that can be fun no matter how you're scoring. Some people think of it as an excuse to legally drink and drive...playing with those folks makes for a LONG DAY ON THE COURSE!!!

But for me, it's the challenge, accountability and integrity of the game that brings me back. How many times have we heard these gems at a team sport post game "presser"?: "I just didn't get any help from my team mates tonight" or "The calls just didn't go my way".

What do you get from Tiger? "I didn't drive it well"... "I didn't hit enough greens in regulation"..."I didn't make any putts". Individual accountability...PERIOD. It's lacking in society, and it's non-existent in the majority of the sporting world.

Integrity...if the fact that most professional sports are void of this entirely isn't painfully obvious to you by now...you've been in a coma for the last couple years! Steroids, game fixing, questionable officiating, instant replay, vague rules (interpreted differently by officials in the same league)...the list goes on and on.

In golf it's simple...count up the strokes it takes you to get the ball from the tee box into the hole. Fewest strokes wins! Oh, and penalties...yes, you call them on yourself. No need for instant replay, if you chuck one in the drink...penalty. If you bounce one off of a spectators dome past the out of bounds stakes...penalty. There's no officials making bad calls, there's no rules that are up for interpretation. The next time you see Dwayne Wade take 4 steps in the lane without putting the ball on the floor, ask yourself..."Does Phil Mickelson get a mulligan off of every tee box because he's a superstar?" The answer is no in case you were still fuzzy.

The timing of this article also finds us in the midst of US Open week at Torrey Pines in San Diego. One of golf's 4 majors and the one I consider to be the toughest to win. If this article hasn't brought about a new appreciation for the game of golf, do yourself a favor and tune in to some of the US Open coverage this weekend...that should do the trick.

All you'll see is the best players in the world playing in conditions that make 15 handicappers like myself ball up in the fetal position and cry...on my shrink's couch...with my thumb in my mouth!

Eight inch deep rough (and that's the fringe). Fairways that measure 20 yards in width and are so firm that most balls bounce right through them and into the afore-mentioned rough. Greens so fast that trying to stop your ball on them has been likened to putting in a bathtub and trying to stop the ball before it gets to the drain!!!

Bottom line folks, in a world where "Champions" are determined by how much TV revenue can be generated, or how many jersey's the league can sell, or which team can field the most chemically enhanced monsters without getting caught...there are still a select group of athletes who earn their accomplishments on the field, with honor, truth and respect for the game that they love...

...GOLFERS!

-Coop