Wrapping Up

'Tis the season to sum up, and up we shall sum....

Shack has a year-end post that lays out his thoughts and provides a multitude of links, so we'll allow him to do the heavy lifting....  First with his own conclusions:

2016 lived up to its billing: a stellar-but-bloated schedule, plenty of sensational 

A little self-absorbed, Geoff, no?

tournament venues and a continued refinement of course architectural tastes skewing toward the natural. But the sadness of Arnold Palmer's passing, which I'm not sure we got to completely take in quietly, just reinforced the sense that there is too much golf and it all went on way too long.

Eh, it should have been a better year than that, no?  I have no clue what he means by sensational tournament venues, do you?  Troon and Baltusrol are kind of a yawn, as is Hazeltine.... I'm happy to celebrate the refinement in architectural tastes, but that's been a multi-year process and Mike Davis and the architects themselves deserve the credit there.  Not only are we blessed with a fine gaggle of talent in that field (think Doak, Coore, Hanse and others), but they're also wonderfully articulate about their concepts and great ambassadors for the game.

Go on, Geoff:

In spite of the pitiful WD's by Spieth, McIlroy and friends, The Olympics exceeded expectations while The Open Championship will go down as a classic (John Huggan and Dave Shedloski have put together a truncated oral history of Troon 2016).

Our game dodged a bullet in Rio, methinks, as a dreadful format and the scheduling fights of the five families were covered by the enthusiasm of a small number of players.  It boggles the mind to recall that our Commissioner Ratched was preening in Rio while holding an event that competed with the Olympics.

As for Troon, that was the single best day of golf in 2016, everything that make sour game great.  Do read the linked piece which has some great reflections, including this early call:

PREDICTION AT OAKMONT 

HENRIK STENSON, who was paired with Mickelson in the first two rounds of the U.S. Open: On the third hole of the second round at Oakmont, we were waiting. Phil turned to me and said I had the game for the majors. Then he said he really hoped that I would win one.

PHIL MICKELSON: I said, "Listen, you're one of the best long-iron and middle-iron players in the game, which is what you have to do to win major championships." I said, "You're going to win your major championship. Just keep doing what you're doing."

HENRIK STENSON: My reply was, while that was all very well, it would be great as long as he wasn't on the receiving end of it.

The obvious negative is that our finest day drew the smallest audience, mostly because of the time of day of the broadcast.  

It's a great piece and you'd be foolish to miss any of it, but I'll just leave you with this silly bit form the victor that's just such a quintessential 21st century moment:

HENRIK STENSON: When I put my U.S. phone back on at midnight, the text message starting stacking up. The phone beeped for ages. I tried to use my Swedish phone to take a video of the American one. It was almost spinning.

Good stuff.... what else you got, Geoff:

The women's side keeps producing young talent but now even Lydia Ko is showing signs of impatience that either could propel her to another level, or rapidly add her to a list of almost-legend status. This overall impatience by and for the youth to take center stage should be a more disconcerting sign for golf given how much damage its done in tennis, but the desperation to ride some under 25-year-old coattails ignores that the average age of the men's major winners in 2016 was..34.

I'm not sure I'd have mixed the men's and women's games, as the latter tend to peak far earlier, but I think the Lydia story should be on our radar for 2017.  Things seemed to go pear-shaped for her the back half of the year, but I find two aspects of it interesting:

1.  The world seems awfully quick to jump on her parents from my vantage point.  They are, after all, the ones that raised her and devoted themselves to her career, and I would presume that they have her best interests at heart.  It may well be that Lydia needs to take greater control of things, or that might be sour grapes from a certain Englishman who got his ass fired.  But they raised a wonderful child even is she never wins again, so how about we cut them some slack?
2. there was the typical criticism of her attempts to change her swing to increase distance, along the lines of "Why change a winning formula?"  But to me the problem was quite real, and Ariya Jutanagarn is a clear and present danger to her continued success.  You know my riff, Ariya could be the love child of Lydia and Lexi Thompson, combining distance with a first class short game.  We've seen this movie before (Luke Donald, call your office) and the results haven't been pretty, but if she doesn't hit it further she'd likely to end up as road kill.  That process to me is very interesting and well worth watching.....

Back to Shack:

On a grander entertainment scale, fewer players and even fewer fans are clamoring for tournament officials to humiliate players via course setup to compensate for inadequacies in their own golf games. Woohoo! Yes, we still have too many green speed fiascos to mask the distance issue, but we also have fewer four-inch rough weeks and grind-it-out bogey-fests.

This increased clamoring for player-produced drama leads to a more positive energy when we tune in to watch golf. The effect has to seap down to the everyday game, no?

Consider the incredible outrage over the USGA's difficult-to-rationalize handling of Dustin Johnson and how quickly the public response produced a local rule introduction that will restore some sanity (though it still won't slow down greens). A less cynical, more sensical golfing public should take a bow.

That's a bit of the soft bigotry of low expectations, no?  yes, the USGA deserves credit for avoiding future disasters with their new local rule, though they apparently didn't learn their lesson from the men's Open in sufficient time to avoid stepping on their you-know-what's with Anna Nordqvist.  And, according to Bethany Lang, the train wreck that is Diana "Open Bar" Murphy remains in play for 2017.

What else you got?

The sport saw minor inroads on the pace-of-play plague and with the greatest single roadblock to progress just a few hours from retirement (woohoo 2!), we may see real reform in 2017. I sense an overall shift in values for the sport: golf is no longer seen by its followers as a sport of inevitable punishment separated by bursts of fun, and instead is expected to be one that aspires to be a lifestyle activity that is fun, sensible and responsible to be part of.

Strange, but that's his only reference to the outgoing Commissioner.  I agree that slow play is an issue and that the Commish has been an impediment, I just don't think it's in my top ten gripes about the man.

This linkage seems weak to me, though I heartily agree with his basic point:

Obviously this is generational and the infusion of many "millennial" values has meshed nicely with the "artisanal" trends that had already begun to reimagine design and experiential elements that inspire our passion for the sport. However, I can't help but think of 2016 without thinking of the incessant desperation the sport has shown in trying to appeal to a new generation while ignoring an aging demographic that loves the sport. In trying so pathetically to be cool to the kids the sport so often comes off as pathetic to the kids. If there's one thing we know about millennials, it's that we don't know what they really like. But they have shown a love for pursuits with soul, timelessness and some backbone. Golf should act more comfortable in its shoes.

I particularly love that new age nonsense about artisinal trends and the like.  Yes, golf should be played more quickly, but we're talking about 20-30 minutes difference for an 18-hole fourball.  Golf is still going to take a long time compared to other pursuits, so deal with it.

But he nails it in the back half of the 'graph, as I've never subscribed to the cultural inferiority complex displayed by our game.  We play a timeless game that has found adherents in generation after generation, yet suddenly we think it will all die.  We see celebrities and athletes from other sports become addicted to the unique challenges of our game, yet we think it necessary to fundamentally change our game to appeal to that 25-year old living in his parent's basement.

Here's his conclusion on the subject, which I endorse:

Ultimately the genius of golf is that it can be played and loved by people of all generations. Probably never a huge audience, but one that spans generations. So perhaps the potential for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to duel one more time with a nice mix of young guns and veteran sticks joining the fight, a microcosm of this cross-generational meeting of minds will calm some of this desperation to get younger or die.

Not necessary to hang our hat on Tiger or Phil, not that Geoff's scenario isn't pleasant to ponder, but we're blessed with a wealth of interesting young talent.  We play a niche sport, but one that has a unique hold on us.  

Let's just enjoy what the future brings, work to make the game accessible where possible, but treasure the greatest game known to mankind.

Geoff has many links if you crave more year-end reflections.  He also has a few other posts that might interest you, so scroll down from his homepage.  I don't know if I'll blog much in the next few days, it will depend upon other demands as well as whether anything catches my eye.

But I head back to Utah on Wednesday, where record-breaking lows are forecast, and balls will be in the air from Kapalua, so I expect that we'll get back a normal schedule very quickly in 2017.

The late-2016 traffic spike has been very gratifying to me, so thanks to all that have made these pages a regular stop.  We've had a difficult Fall and early winter here, with loss and illness taking control of things for a bit.  With that foremost in mind, I wish each and every one of you a happy and healthy 2017.