Real test in golf isn't from drugs
By Scott Michaux | Columnist
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Admittedly, it's been hard mustering the outrage.
The indignation which comes so easily in sports such as baseball, football, track and field, cycling or swimming doesn't register so much as a blip on the heart-rate monitor when it comes to golf. It must be all the beta blockers keeping the blood pressure down.
Even so, golf's governing bodies threw their unsettled weight and considerable resources behind the announcement of a new anti-doping policy that will go into effect in 2008. They acted out of a sense of obligation as opposed to a sense of need. It garnered the muted polite golf applause for being preemptive and making sure that golf remains clean and free of cheaters.
In short, golf was forced to act like every other sport in the modern era.
One simple question - why?
It doesn't make much sense. The sport that already lost complete control of the equipment manufacturers who have juiced the tools and taken a certain element of skill out of the game is now trying to regulate what its performers put into their bodies.
If this was just about illegal steroids, it would be understandable. The whole idea of creating artificial strength - at a potential cost to personal health - is unseemly. Since other sports are failing every day to try to regulate that brand of performance enhancers, why not join the club for appearances sake.
But golf is stepping into an even murkier realm trying to regulate drugs that decrease heart rate, sharpen attention or increase stamina - basically all the things the pharmaceutical companies have trained us to do in our everyday lives. This is where the whole system leaves the rails.
How is the PGA Tour going to tell 2003 PGA winner Shaun Micheel, who suffers from low testosterone at the level of someone in their 70s, that he can't use the cream he rubs on his shoulders to elevate his levels to that of a normal 38-year-old man?
How is the tour going to tell someone suffering from high blood pressure that he can't take his beta blockers because it could eliminate his yips?
How can it tell some moody player who benefits from taking anti-depressants that he can't use them because it could unfairly help him control his emotions during a critical round?
Is Rich Beem not going to be allowed to swig his Pepto Bismol before rounds to sooth his nervous stomach?
What is so wrong with a perfectly acceptable and regulated prescription or over-the-counter drug having a side effect that benefits the taker in some other way? Isn't take that what doctors and lawyers and writers and construction workers do every day?
The point is, golf is not like the other sports where tainted players either tarnish the historical records or endanger opponents with unbridled strength. Golf success is not measured in time or speed or distance. It's holiest records are based on victories, not scores and yardages. Show me the pill that can break Jack Nicklaus' major records or outduel Tiger Woods down the stretch, and I'll change my mind.
If golf revered the longest drive as much as baseball does the home run, it would be different. If golfers were trying to break some speed or distance records such as track and field, it would be different. If golfers engaged in hand-to-hand combat and started hurting each other like in football, it would be different.
But golf is different. It measures greatness in different ways. You still have to get a stationary ball from point A to point B in the fewest number of strokes. The strongest guy doesn't always do that. Bubba Watson hits it farther than everyone, but he still hasn't won anything since he was a junior golfer. Many of these young guns can bomb it, but most of them still can't putt.
There is no doubt that taking steroids could make golfers stronger and make their careers longer. And if they find something that can be taken legally and safely, they should have that right. If drinking caffeine or ingesting nicotine or taking a prescription for Valium or Prozac helps your nerves, so what. There are plenty of weekend hacks who say the same thing about beer, and they've been experimenting in cooperation with beverage cart vendors for years to perfect just the right personal blend to maintain the proper level of buzz to keep the nerves down without losing control.
Golf didn't really need to draw any lines. If everyone started taking steroids and beta blockers, that relative historical standard defining good golfers would not change. You can do whatever it takes to be as strong as Tiger Woods, but beating him is another story. The same players who are good now would probably remain incrementally better than the same players if they were all juiced. The same courses would be getting altered to keep up just as they have been for the past century to keep up with technology.
Golf would survive even if a few players made some questionable personal choices that clouded their own long-term survival. There would be no Barry Bonds* or Marion Jones* or Floyd Landis* ruining the historical perspective by suddenly becoming a perfect specimen who hit every fairway or drove every green and made every putt.
Arnie Palmer would still be the King. Jack Nicklaus will still be the greatest Golden oldie. And Tiger Woods will still be on a path to be the best of all time.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or
scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
From the Sunday, October 07, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
