Youth movement? What youth movement?
Reports of a changing-of-the-guard on the LPGA Tour are, it is safe to say, greatly exaggerated. Despite the influx of teenage phenoms, young Korean stars, and new talent from every quarter, the three major championships contested so far this year have all gone to veterans: Karrie Webb won the Kraft-Nabisco (the event most of us still refer to as the Dinah Shore) in March, Se Ri Pak won the LPGA Championship a few weeks ago, and today, Annika Sorenstam took the US Open title.
Those of us who have had about enough of the overkill publicity surrounding certain young stars take a certain amount of satisfaction that experience still counts for something out there. Photogenic teenagers with game certainly make for good TV -- and good publicity for the tour -- but it would be a shame if the sport turned into tennis, where you're washed up and put out to pasture by 30, for the most part. In golf, this is not likely to happen, simply because the game is not suited to people who are young, impatient, and of poor judgment. I keep thinking back to some words of wisdom from an early golf mentor of mine: "Golf is a game of patience," he told me. Having grown up in Jamaica, where cricket is a popular sport and six-hour rounds of golf are not unheard of, this guy knew a thing or two about patience -- but in any setting, his point was well taken. To put a good round or tournament together, you have to play one shot at a time, forget the bad shot you just made, and don't try to make up a whole bunch of strokes at once. Keep grinding until you've got a good score on the card, is what my mentor was getting at. And even at my humble bogey-golf station in life, I'm finding that although my swing hasn't changed much in the past 10 years, my game is getting better gradually over time.
As far as the tour is concerned, it's always been true that players tend to peak in their 30s. This will undoubtedly prove the case with most of today's teenage phenoms on the LPGA Tour. It's certainly been the case with Webb and Sorenstam, and may turn out that way with Pak, who is only 28, despite having been on tour since 1998. In any case, the veterans have shown that they can still teach the kids a thing or two.
Urb's Blog
Those of us who have had about enough of the overkill publicity surrounding certain young stars take a certain amount of satisfaction that experience still counts for something out there. Photogenic teenagers with game certainly make for good TV -- and good publicity for the tour -- but it would be a shame if the sport turned into tennis, where you're washed up and put out to pasture by 30, for the most part. In golf, this is not likely to happen, simply because the game is not suited to people who are young, impatient, and of poor judgment. I keep thinking back to some words of wisdom from an early golf mentor of mine: "Golf is a game of patience," he told me. Having grown up in Jamaica, where cricket is a popular sport and six-hour rounds of golf are not unheard of, this guy knew a thing or two about patience -- but in any setting, his point was well taken. To put a good round or tournament together, you have to play one shot at a time, forget the bad shot you just made, and don't try to make up a whole bunch of strokes at once. Keep grinding until you've got a good score on the card, is what my mentor was getting at. And even at my humble bogey-golf station in life, I'm finding that although my swing hasn't changed much in the past 10 years, my game is getting better gradually over time.
As far as the tour is concerned, it's always been true that players tend to peak in their 30s. This will undoubtedly prove the case with most of today's teenage phenoms on the LPGA Tour. It's certainly been the case with Webb and Sorenstam, and may turn out that way with Pak, who is only 28, despite having been on tour since 1998. In any case, the veterans have shown that they can still teach the kids a thing or two.
Urb's Blog
posted by Urbie at 7:43 PM
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