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 “Love of the Game” resonates with me about the sport I love, golf.

It came to my mind this week for several reasons:

• Golf writer Geoff Shackleford wrote a story bemoaning the sharp infusion of money in the pro golf game, which, at least for some players, means they chase money, not just quality golf.

• Pro golfer Victor Hovland – the only PGA Tour player from my ancestors’ homeland, Norway – was quoted as bemoaning the “loss of golf’s soul,” given the chase after money.

• Every day when I play with my friends, either in Salem, Oregon, my main home, or La Quinta, California where I live in the winter, we decide whether to play for a few bucks or for the love of the game.  Often, it’s the latter.

Part of what has been called “an insane dash for case” arose due to LIV golf, which exists off tainted Saudi money as it challenges the PGA Tour.  And, so, the PGA Tour, while it supposedly is negotiating with LIV, also goes after big money from corporate investors and sponsors.

Here is the way Shackelford put it in the story he wrote:

“A sport played in some form by 70 or so million around the globe does not hinge on the popularity of the few hundred or so professionals who believe they are centers of our universe.

“The numbers do not lie.

“Even with terrible weather in key regions, according to Golf Datatech, U.S. rounds played are up 3 per cent over 2022 with magnificent spikes in female and junior participation.  An unexpected pandemic bump has turned into a steady bounce even with offices demanding that workers return and less time-consuming threats like pickleball competing for recreational time.

“Everyday golf has proved to be resilient, unmoored from the fortunes, grievances, and neuroses of those who play it for a living.”

Now, I add that one perspective needs to be added to what Shackelford wrote.  This:  Be careful about making generalizations.

Some pro golfers still love the game, even with so much money involved.  On the PGA Tour, they compete for the money.  They don’t just get it automatically if they show up – which, by the way, is what happens on LIV.

Consider this from the most recent LIV tournament:

“By late Sunday, Chilean Joaquín Niemann had surged far ahead of the field and would cruise to a four-stroke victory.  But everyone behind him was still vying for their chunk of the $20 million individual pot.  

“Unlike a typical PGA Tour event, where there’s a cut midway through the tournament, even LIV’s worst performers walk away with a decent check.  

“At this event, the last-place finisher was none other than Anthony Kim, who was 16-over par — 11 strokes behind the next player — in his return to pro golf after more than a decade away.  He still got $50,000 for his efforts.”

Where is the love of the game in that result?  Nowhere.

I also talked in the last few days with several of my friends about the love of the game.

Here is what one wrote:

“In short, I’d say my love of the game started long ago when I started caddying at age 12.  At that time, while I had seen both Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer play in a few tournaments on TV, my initial interest was in watching the ‘moves’ of the pros’ caddies.  They were my ‘pros,’ initially.  

“When I started playing the game myself on Mondays (caddies’ day) my interest in the pros, their swings, the rules, etc. really jumped.  In general, through the 1960s, TV golf was nothing as complete and thorough as it is today.

“Heck, back then, TV typically only covered the back nine — it was as if the game was only worth showing after the pros made the turn for home.  

“For me, much of the imagery and magic of the pros and their games was forged by the written word:  Sports Illustrated, Golf Magazine, and the SF Chronicle newspaper.  

“The ‘money’ issue in pro golf seemed mostly unimportant and/or uncovered.  

“There was a ‘big’ story when, for the first time, one of the pros — maybe Palmer — crossed the $100K mark for yearly winnings.   First place winnings then ran between $15K and $20K, pretty much what the last place finishers get today.  

“Back then, it also seemed that the stars of the show, so to speak, were the golf courses, the weather, and the variety of predicaments that the golf gods threw at players in each round.  

“…what is most special about golf for me is striving to play a wonderful (frustrating, challenging, unfair) game outdoors in the fresh (wet, cold, hot, humid, dry, breezy) air with friends who enjoy doing the same thing.  

“The pro game and all its current ongoing money issues and challenges, especially including LIV vs. the PGA tour, mean almost nothing to me anymore.   The game itself is what holds my interest and involvement, not the performance measures (dollars) and, particularly for the LIV tour, the actual performers pursuing those rewards.  

“The game itself is far richer and far more important to me these days.”

Well said, my friend.  You speak for me, too.

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And this footnote:  Out of deference to another friend of mine, I have not spent much time in this space trying to discredit LIV, though that’s what I think it deserves – discredit.  That for another time and place.