This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The phrase in this blog headline refers to an unfortunate but understandable status of the game I love – golf.

Rather than admiring all of the top plays and shots in golf, today it’s all about the money.

Global Golf Post founder, editor and writer, Jim Nugent, made that point in a column he wrote for the most recent edition.

I was interested enough in his column that it prompted me to write again a about a subject I detest:  LIV, which is a professional golf tour financed by tainted money from Saudia Arabia.

For his part, Nugent bemoaned that result, but also took time over the holidays to talk to many of his contacts about the state of the golf fame.

What he did, obviously, was not conducting a scientific poll.  Rather, he collected conversations from friends and contacts, then wrote his column. 

The summary:  “I heard time and again,” Nugent wrote, “that many recreational golfers are done with the professional game and are not going to watch television coverage any longer, except, perhaps, for the majors.”

What has created this sullied reputation?

I think it is that various pro golfers – the latest is Jon Rahm who went back on his previous criticisms of LIV to take $600 million in LIV money to bolt from the PGA Tour – won’t admit that they are doing what they are doing “for the money.”

Instead, golfers like Rahm say they are joining LIV “to grow the game.”  It’s as if they are uttering a platitude from a “list of what you should say” to the media and the public when you join LIV.

Balderdash.

There is only pro who joined LIV and told like it was – Harold Varner, Jr.  He said he joined “to take the money” for the good of his family and to assure a bright, monied future for his children.

Good for Varner.

That’s honesty.

I add that, if someone offered me $600 million, I’d take it.  I just hope I would give an honest, solid reason for the action.

Meanwhile, the future of pro golf is uncertain for several reasons:

• LIV and the PGA Tour are still negotiating over a possible alliance.  The deadline to succeed came and went a couple weeks ago, but both sides say they are still talking.

• It also is not clear that two leaders on both sides – Greg Norman for LIV and Jay Monahan for the PGA Tour – have much of a future.  For my part, Norman can go away any time, given all his flamboyance to advance his personal causes.  As for Monahan, Nugent says (a) he deserves to stay because of the good he has done in the past to boost golf (including management of the Covid pandemic), and (b) because his actions in the LIV deal were done in concert with other members of the PGA Tour Board, not just himself.

• The battle over limiting golf ball distance – something not under formal consideration —  also is viewed, Nugent reports, as ignoring the interests of recreational golfers.

Finally, another uncertainty for the PGA Tour is its relationships with current corporate golf sponsors, as well as new sponsors it is trying to recruit. 

Over the last few days, a long-time sponsor, Wells Fargo, said it would continue by paying $20 million to the Tour as a way to stay involved with its sponsorship. 

The Tour said it would settle only for $25 million.  Wells Fargo bolted.

Not a smart move by the PGA Tour.

So, on and on it goes.  Dissension.  Disagreement.  Dishonesty.

For my part, I hope to be able to play the game I love and wait for at least one more pro event, the Masters, my favorite tournament of any year.   I’ll watch that; not sure about others.