Leveling the playing fields

Golf has been greatly enriched by the pandemic-fueled surge of new players. I’ve heard estimates of up to a million “newbies,” and judging by how hard it is to get a tee time almost anywhere, I believe it.

But just as these rookies need to learn how to swing — as well as learn the rules and golf etiquette — they need to understand that one of the game’s greatest features is its infinite variety. Unlike almost every other sport, each of golf’s playing fields is unique, with its own charms and challenges, shapes and sizes, highpoints and hazards.

The more they realize that Baltusrol and Billy Bob’s Goat Track are only similar in that a little white ball can be chased around on both of them, the better it is for all golf course superintendents. Even a smattering of knowledge gained by experiencing different green speeds, mowing patterns, bunker depths, sand textures, rough heights, grass types, native vegetations and everything else that makes courses special should — we hope — make them better stewards of the game and our allies rather than enemies.

Let’s compare golf — which is somewhere way down the top 10 of both spectator and participant sports in this country — with one of the most popular: Basketball, currently the second-most watched and most played. Every basket is 10 feet off the floor and center court is at, well, center court. Whether played on hardwood or asphalt, court dimensions and net height don’t change. It’s little wonder Magic, Michael and Bird could shoot free throw after free throw with their eyes closed whether at the The Forum, The Spectrum, Chicago Stadium, or either of the mythical Gardens — Madison Square and Boston.

The free-throw line is 15 feet from the basket, and not since Rick Barry did it underhand has anyone varied from the standard foul-shot delivery. But 15 feet from the golf hole could call for any number of shots and strategies. If it’s a putt, is it straight or does it break, and if so, right to left or left to right? And by how much? It also could be a chip, a pitch, a shot over a bunker or from a bunker. If it’s just off the green, it could be hit with almost any club in the player’s bag.

And this is exactly what makes golf wonderful: Variety.

A par 3 can be anywhere from about 80 to 250 yards. And even if they’re roughly the same distance, one can be uphill, the other down. Sand and water could be guarding the green on any or every side. The green could be flat or far from it. There could be wind, a surrounding shield of trees, and, at least one week a year, a mob of screaming fans ready to throw beer cans if a shot gets close.

I won’t begin to try to enumerate the differences among par 4s and par 5s. You know them all too well already. And even courses that sit side by side — Winged Foot East and West, Baltusrol Upper and Lower, the many layouts at Pinehurst, Bandon Dunes, and Sand Valley — can be significantly dissimilar.

My point is, from course to course, design, topography, turf and environment vary, so making apples-to-oranges comparisons is not only dumb but insulting to me and you. The new golfer has to learn — or be taught! — that lumping all courses together does not properly represent our game or the hard work you and your crew do.

Comparing conditions, design, North vs. South or East vs. West, sea level to altitude, even carts vs. walking makes no sense — nor do the golfers who arrogantly try to do the same. The challenge of the game is in adapting to these changing conditions, not try to make them all the same from course to course.

Take putting greens. While it might make our lives easier if they were uniform, they should be shaped and sized differently, positioned uniquely, sloping, draining and angling distinctly to affect approach shots and half the score of each hole.

How about bunkers? They’re supposed to be hazards, penalty areas, places where golfers should not be. How they look and how they play are affected by wind, sun, shade, rain. The sand within them varies, shifting and moving with the elements.

Fairways vary in firmness, drainage, lie, drought or moisture, soil and grass types, trees, altitude and inputs. And course to course, fairway condition is not the same — from scheduled times for cultivation, fertilization and cultural practices. And just off the fairways, rough heights depend on microclimate and terrain (and these days, the ability of labor to tend to them).

How about the architect? Think they have anything to do with course creativity? Likewise, the builders and shapers. And when things go really wrong, the greens committees!

But in the end, you, the course superintendent, get to take all the blame, suffer from the sins of others, and do your best to make the best of what you’ve got. When one of your members gets to play that snooty club down the street — or worse, a top-100 track or regular Tour venue — who gets to hear about the putting surfaces like pool tables, the fairways like carpet, the bunkers like sugar? Without any information about budget, equipment, club politics or labor, golfers second-guess their superintendents all the time.

Here’s an idea: Post your annual maintenance budget, and that of any other courses for comparison, on the locker-room bulletin board. Add a note saying you’re more than willing to discuss any line item or expenditure with anyone who asks.

One more problem to be aware of. Much of golf’s recent growth is “off course,” that is Topgolf, simulators and alternative layouts, where the pattern is swing, sip and swing again. That type of play is fun, but it does a disservice to the essence of the game. We all want to move these off-course golfers on course, but we shouldn’t do it without giving them a better, more rounded understanding of what the game is all about. Are you listening, USGA, PGA and GCSAA?

Nothing against basketball, but other than sharing the same basic objective — put a round ball into a round hoop or hole — they can’t be compared. The thrill of golf is conquering the unknowns, the elements, the land, what nature provided, and man produced. The course. Your office, your domain, your responsibility.

And it is your responsibility to make sure every golfer knows just how special each one is.