We’ve heard a lot of comments about “shrinking the game” over the past few years. In short, people think golf’s boom in popularity has gotten a little too involved riffraff.
Everyone’s definition of this is slightly different. We hear “shrink the game” in response to drunken frat brothers, content creators, brand activations, playing music on the course, the Masters Par 3 contest with Jason Kelce, flash mob dances at LIV events, those hats with giant letters, and the general opening of the Phoenix game.
Let’s draw a line in the sand: I despise the “shrink the game” movement more than anything else I just mentioned.
Specifically, I’m disgusted by how “shrink the game” has become the catchphrase for anything in golf that people don’t like.
What “shrinking the game” should really mean.
Here is my definition of “game shrinkage”.
If you are using golf to get drunk, vandalize property, crash carts, make other people’s experience worse by your existence on the golf course, refuse to care about the course you are playing on…we don’t want you in the game.
Yeah, let’s get that part of the game down. Let’s shame people who have absolutely no respect for golf. These are the people who don’t belong.
But if we’re talking about other elements of golf that have come on the scene since the pandemic, it’s super unfair to pick and choose who we’re shaming.
So if someone is really into golf or TGL on YouTube, should we make them feel bad?
If someone wants to play golf in a t-shirt and shorts, should we make them feel bad?
If someone wants to join one of those high-end simulator social clubs, should we make them feel bad?
No, you shouldn’t. Golf should be welcoming to those people. Just because something isn’t for you, doesn’t mean someone else can’t participate in the same way within golf.
I really like the traditional parts of golf. I don’t love them all. I also like some of the modern elements of golf. I don’t love them all. You can pick and choose what you want to do.
The whole conversation reminds me of Nashville, my hometown. There’s a lot of energy spent talking about how Nashville isn’t what it used to be. How it’s completely devolved into commercialized sounds and a wasteland of the meanest people you’ll ever meet.
There is some merit to this. Cities grow and growth has consequences.
Like visiting a city, golf is whatever you want it to be.
You can play golf with music while wearing gym clothes. You might be an architecture nerd who studies old Alister Mackenzie designs.
Hey, I prefer the latter – but neither is wrong.
Save “shrink the game” for the fools
I hope I have been consistent on this point throughout every article I write.
I will talk about there was no golf before the pandemic when the courses weren’t full but will also admit that it is much better than the alternative.
I will talk about Golf traditions you will have to pry from my cold, dead hands but it also means that those traditions are a personal preference that not everyone will want to choose.
I will talk about how I didn’t like Kelce being in the Masters Par 3 contest— Okay, he was an “old man yelling at the cloud” (but seriously, who asked Kelce to be there?).
My final point here is that golf must remain welcoming. Do it your way, but don’t be upset about someone else’s Cheerios. We can all say we don’t like something without saying it should go away completely.
We want participation to be strong. We want innovation to happen. We want new ideas.
Not every trend will be a winner. There will be some tightening. I hate enough of them and will write about how I don’t like them. Some of them I like too, and I’ve written about them too.
Let’s be more selective with our “shrink the game” comments. For him good of the game.
Main photo caption: Tarps at the WM Phoenix Open. (GETTY IMAGES/Alex Goodlett)
