“The greatest game there is…Ask anybody. It’s fun, it’s hard……and you stand on the green grass, and it’s just you and the ball. There ain’t nobody to beat up on but yourself…It’s the only game you can call penalty on yourself. If you’re honest, which most people are. There just ain’t no other game like it…- Yes sir. - The greatest game there will ever be. Just you and the ball. - All by your lonesome.” —Hardy Greaves, the young caddy in “The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Hardy had it right. Golf is truly a unique game. At times when someone like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods plays it almost seems too easy. Effortless.
At other times the game of golf can be truly exasperating. When you see someone like Tiger double bogey a hole you realize just how really difficult the game is. A perfect round of golf can be ruined at any time.
But real golfers are like drug addicts. They know the game will very likely humble them and cause them great grief, but they still come back for more. One great shot can often erase a series of horrible ones.
My late father was a golf addict. A scratch golfer, his favorite joke captured the essence of the game.
“A guy is two under par heading into the 18th hole. He is having the best round of his lifetime,” my father would say for dramatic effect. “He tees off and hits his first shot into the water. Then a second and a third. He is furious.
“After the guy hits a fourth ball into the water he explodes. He starts breaking clubs. He tosses his bag into the pond and goes into the clubhouse. He promptly goes into the shower, slits both wrists and stands there watching the blood flow from his body.
“At that point a guy yells, ‘Fred, are you available to play a round tomorrow?’” Fred promptly puts his wrists together to stop the bleeding and yells out, “What time?’”
All jokes aside, the truly unique thing about golf in this day and age of “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying” is it might be the last bastion of integrity. In other sports many participants cheat until they are caught by officials. In golf, in most circumstances, the golfer is also his or her own referee.
Maybe the great Bobby Jones reflected the integrity in golf in 1925 that exists even today. In the U.S. Open his ball landed in the rough. Before he could hit his next shot his club caused a slight movement of the ball. No one else saw it.
Jones could have hit his shot and no one would have been the wiser. But he didn’t. He immediately called a two-stroke penalty—on himself. He lost the prestigious tournament by ONE stroke.
When folks praised him for the gesture, Jones simply noted, “You might as well praise me for not breaking into banks.”
But honesty and integrity are as much a part of golf today as they were back when Jones played.
Last April little-known Brian Davis accidentally hit a reed on his backswing in sudden death in the Verizon Heritage Classic. He knew he had done it even when instant replay did not show it. He took a two-stroke penalty. That shot alone may have cost Davis $ 2 million. He would have qualified for the Masters. Endorsements would have become a reality.
“But it’s not so important ,” Davis told a reporter afterward, “that you cheat to achieve it. Golfers are expected to police themselves. It’s in the gentleman’s tradition of the game. It’s what makes our sport unique.”
How about Roberto De Vicenzo? He played one of the greatest rounds in Masters history and finished in a tie to force a playoff. De Vicenzo’s partner had written a wrong score on a hole accidentally giving him a 4 instead of a 3, which he deserved. De Vicenzo signed the incorrect scorecard, was penalized and dropped into second place.
“What a stupid I am!” declared De Vicenzo.
When was the last time you ever saw a player in any other sport step forward and admit a mistake? Ever see a wide receiver admitting a ball actually hit the ground first?
Remember how Derek Jeter was lauded for pretending he was hit by a pitch when he wasn’t and being awarded first base? How about soccer players who flop on the field acting like they have been shot when they think the officials are not looking?
Hey, we have seen this close to home. In 1940 undefeated Cornell defeated Dartmouth College 7-3 on a last-second touchdown. However, when the team returned home and reviewed the game film it was discovered the TD was actually scored on a mistaken fifth down. Cornell offered to forfeit the game and the final score was changed to show Dartmouth a 3-0 victor.
Fast forward to 1990 when Colorado beat Missouri 33-31 on the final play when officials mistakenly awarded a fifth down to the Buffaloes. Integrity? No way!! When asked if he was going to do the right thing and forfeit the game Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said Missouri officials allowed a sloppy and slippery field so he was taking the victory. Colorado won the national championship that year.
Maybe all sports should take a cue from the game of golf and make honesty, integrity and sportsmanship an important aspect again. It would be a pleasant change.

KC Sports & Fitness Column
April 2012
By John Landsberg