April 28th, 2010 | 
Author: 
The Modern Tour Golfer
- Lee Westwood
John Huggan makes an excellent case for the modern touring golfer being satisfied with second place and a hefty check versus winning trophies and titles. And he uses Lee Westwood as an example!
He had this from Peter McEvoy, two time British Amateur Champion:
We live in a golfing world that does not breed winners. Part of that is the money, which is the root of all golfing evil. If we created a different competition, one where the pros put their own money in and it was winner-take-all, a very different animal would evolve. He’d be a golfer who took chances and went for his shots. And he wouldn’t be a guy who was happy to churn out yet another eighth place finish and collect a nice cheque. The whole thing is self-perpetuating and has created a system where a high level of mediocrity is over-rewarded
He also had this from Ben Crenshaw on the role of coaching; a man who grew up under the laissez-faire tutelage of famed instructor, the late Harvey Penick:
Ben Crenshaw (Time)
Sometimes I question the teaching of the game. I hate to use the word ’stylised’, but it seems that way to me, everything in the same box. I don’t see some players able to adjust on the course. You have to be able to do that on the course, especially when you are not playing well. It’s no good waiting until you can go back to the range for the answers. They are relying too much on the guys standing behind them.
May I just say that I could not agree more with everything Mr. Huggan presents in his profound article. There is too much money, too much instruction and too much coddling on the major professional golf tours. Touring golfers are becoming “Fat Cats” that can pick and choose where they would like to cash their next $200,000 check. Tim Clark has never won on the PGA Tour, yet has earned almost $15 million! They travel in style with their own entourage from caddie to masseuse and everybody in between. Aaron Oberholser once stated that the last thing a professional needs is a “guru” – true words! They all know how to play golf and beyond another pair of educated eyes, they need to get to the business of playing winning golf.
I’m afraid to say it but all the money has made them soft.
Posted in Commentary, Swing Philosophy | 
Tags: ben crenshaw, harvey penick, john huggan, lee westwood, peter mcevoy, stylised golf instruction, tim clark
I agree with a lot those thoughts but I like the pay for performance aspect on the PGA Tour, the tour members don’t get paid for how they did last season or based on what the other guy received for his contract. If you play well you get a good check and if you don’t you go home with nothing and try again next week. I prefer that to other sports getting money for poor performance now!
Paul,
Thanks for your comment. I agree, I just think there is too much pay for not enough performance and that, to a certain degree, must quell a players desire to win.
Andrew
Golf has a major problem with its current sponsor based model. First, it is not and never will will be a game of the masses and secondly, the economic environment will no longer support a primary sponsor based model as the ROI is increasingly absent.
Very nice post,I completely agree with you its more of play that matters rather than money in this game.Paul i completely agree with you.
Hi Andrew –
Thanks for all of your articles and work to help teach the golfing community.
I have a question UNRELEATED to this specific post, but I wanted to ask you;
What is your opinion of a small press at the beginning of the swing? Setting the left wrist flatter just prior to starting the back-swing? I’ve found that with this move, the club-head is pointing more vertical when I’m half-way back. However, I’m not sure if this is something that I should incorporate or not.
Also, I thought I’d give you a suggestion for a future video: at the start of the down-swing, the body moving before the hands, causing the hands to never catch up, and resulting in a block or slice. I watched a video “Beat the Bogey-Man” and the instructor referred to this as “Slurry”. It’s something that I’m currently working on and was curious to get your opinions and whether you see this as a common problem, and the solution, whether it is just getting better tempo, and slowing down the transition from back-swing to down-swing.
Thanks again for your work.