Perhaps it's Covid

[OldCuss]

Sorry fellow linksters, perhaps it's the isolation to avoid coronavirus, but reading an article from a golf site has me 'sqirmin' in my chair to the point I have my drawers in a wad and I ain't sure what to do first, straighten 'em or vent. 

Never been to Pebble Beach, Seminole, or any of the top 10 or 100 courses but it pleases me that others have and have been able to support such and have had enjoyable, meaningful experiences at these venues. If I have an opportunity and the means for such, count me in, too. 

But if such is not afforded me but it is for a friend and he or she brings me a bag tag, well, that would be meaningful to me and yes I'll put it on my bag in humility and pride and with appreciation that another wished to share with me a symbol of something that he or she found enjoyment and/or meaning. 

Yeah, the sophmoric norm suggested in the article was galling ... and it immediately worsened. 

"If you have a bag tag from the local scholarship association’s annual scramble event, rip it off immediately."

I am golfing to raise money and awareness about the importance of education and doing something that might change people's lives for the better in ways that are beyond their means and I am supposed to belittle the symbols of that event? Am I supposed to think less of this event given it is not a part of the pro circuit and that my experience with the game of golf inherently has less meaning because it is played on courses of little note by players of even less?  Those players and I, from different aspects of life with varying perspectives on approaching the good, are joined for a common cause for the good of others and in the process are becoming better persons and better at being a community. And golf is at the center of it all.

My local tournament may only support one person and perhaps not completely over, say, a four-year college degree, whereas another will raise millions and impact hundreds, perhaps thousands and more for some time. It is not that one does more - but clearly one may have a more broad-based, immediate impact - it's that both are doing what they can. Faithful is faithful; it's not a contest. A shared labor of love seeking to employ as many as it can at all levels of the country and the game for as long as there is human need. If the bag tag at the local level has no meaning and does not deserve to be displayed, neither does the one at the national level. This, of course, makes no sense and to suggest that one or the other is deserving and the other is not is to demonstrate ignorance of one of the most remarkable things about golfers and golf: a desire that the experience of golf and the game of golf bring meaning into their lives and that of other people, too, and a desire to keep the memories of those significant events fresh so that they may teach, be shared in conversation and that similar events be repeated and different expressions of good be developed. To diminish the symbols of those experiences at any level of the game is to diminish golfers and the game as well.

To the writer: Be better, for heaven's sake, you are a golfer.

If you will excuse me, I have a task to complete.

Old Cuss

[Golferchris2019]

Commendable!

[Hawkeye77]

The article was satire and obviously so. It was kind of dumb and not all that funny but you are taking it way too seriously.

[Bonneville85308]

What article are we talking about?

[jholz]

Satire is a refuge of the lazy and weak-minded writer.

[OldCuss]

Greetings, Hawkeye77. I gave that consideration before I posted and decided apart from the author trying to be light at points, the article was not satire. I am open to being wrong and reacting too strongly, however.

Old Cuss

 

[Hawkeye77]

I think this is it? No right or wrong, I just think it was partly some lame attempts at humor by the author vs. taking shots at charity, for example, but if you took it that way it's on him for being a dork. 10 things wrong with your golf bag

[klebs01]

No idea what article you are referencing, but its probably just a dig at Bag Tag Barrys.

[dlygrisse]

A poor attempt at snark. They used to say "the smaller the ball, the better the writing" but sadly while it may still be true the bar has been lowered considerably.

[Hawkeye77]

Appears to have been the case at one time! RING OF BRIGHT MARBLES

[Bonneville85308]

Just read it now. Ehhh. Can't say I agree with the author. Back when one of my many teenage golf course jobs at a private club involved staging the carts and bags for member-guest tournaments and Monday charity outings, it was very helpful if a guest's bag had a tattered 10 year old nametag on it from the Oldsmobile Scramble or some PBA tournament. One of the things that drove my boss the caddiemaster completely nuts was when a guest's bag had no name on it and we couldn't figure out who it belonged to when it was sitting in a sea of 60 guest bags. He liked giving advice (most of which was really good), and told us we should always have our name on a tag on our own bags for identification purposes, he even made us our own engraved member bag tags from the club even though we weren't members. Not everyone has the luxury of having received a tag from a top 100 public course or as a member of a club.

I don't think the author was taking a dig at charity tournaments, he just thinks using a bag tag from one is tacky for whatever reason. He should do what he wants with his own bag and not judge others for something so petty.

[dlygrisse]

Well, it does seem the world has lost it's collective marbles. :)

[klebs01]

I think he was pretty spot on. You get one tag with your name. Just like your boss wanted. The issue is the guys that have 100 meaningless tags on their bag. Take them off and just go with your home tag.

[Ferguson]

If you're wondering why they caution folks not to eat "unopened cooked clams and mussels", look no further than the post that started this thread.

 

 

[GeorgeHWB]

The article was not satire. It was crap. I regret having read it since most of the advice was stupid.

 

I say put in and on your bag whatever in the hell you want.

[SnapHooker_307]

Phew, at least they didn't reference having 4-5 towels hanging on my bag.

[OldCuss]

Greetings, Ferguson. I am open to critique if you care to provide one. Whereas I assume you disagree, which is certainly fine, I can learn nothing from you at this point without a bit more information. Would you say more?