Why Golf Seems to Bring Out The Worst in People

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

Temper, temper! What is it about golf that seems to consistently bring out the worst in people?

While The Open Championship at Royal Portrush was another triumph for Northern Ireland, there were some players about whom the same most definitely cannot be said.

If you play links golf you are going to get some bad breaks. It is a fact of life. And if you carve a drive into a bush or knee-high rough then it is nobody’s fault but your own. Period.

Bearing that in mind, am I the only one who was offended by the man-child that is Sergio Garcia smashing his driver to pieces in a fit of temper? 

After a wayward drive at the second hole during the final round, Garcia slammed his driver into the ground with force and it broke. It meant he was without it for the rest of the round. Ironically, he birdied the hole.

And afterwards he was relatively unrepentant. He said: "To be totally honest, the last two or three months have been really tough the way I've played, and I controlled myself very, very well.

"To be totally honest, I didn't feel like I did that much on the 2nd tee. Obviously I didn't hit a good drive, and I kind of - I didn't smack it straight down. I kind of like swiped it back. I've done that 50 times, and I've never broken a club."

I will leave it up to you to decide whether Garcia controls himself "very, very well" and whether his behaviour sets an appropriate example to watching fans, children in particular.

The Spaniard is, of course, a serial offender.

But he was by no means the only one who let things get to them.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Robert MacIntyre is one of my favourite golfers, and not just because he is a fellow Scot. 

I love his work ethic and the way he goes for broke. Little over a year ago he was struggling with life on the PGA Tour. Then came his victory at the Canadian Open, quickly followed by his emotional success at the Scottish Open.

And this season he has taken his game to a whole new level, finishing second at the US Open and contending at Royal Portrush. With those performances comes increased TV exposure. MacIntyre needs to realise he has new responsibilities and has to curb his language. The f-word routinely trips off his tongue, and it is unacceptable.

In one of the more curious decisions made by the R&A, the onus was put on caddies to rake bunkers after their players. This is normally a task undertaken by designated volunteers, who always do a superb job. To my way of thinking, doing away with them at the world’s best major is absurd and smacks of amateurism. It was only a matter of time before it backfired.

And I guarantee that England’s Tommy Fleetwood was not a fan. He found a bunker at the fifth hole during the opening round, only to discover that said trap had not been properly raked. It meant he was left with a horrid lie. Fleetwood is a golfer who normally takes it all in his stride but not this time. His reaction? "For f***'s sake, man. F***."

Rory McIlroy was routinely heard to utter the f-word after hitting wayward drives. Please don’t get me started on Tyrrell Hatton. I am sick and tired of hearing commentators apologise for his appalling language. 

I say again - nobody is responsible for these poor shots other than the players themselves. They know that the TV cameras are focused on their every move and that they are being watched by impressionable young fans. If your young son smashed a £450 driver and threw a temper tantrum, how would you react?

It is time for the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to draw up a strict code of conduct and to start imposing strict penalties on serial offenders. I grew up in Glasgow, where industrial language was part and parcel of everyday life. I am not somebody who is easily offended but there is simply no excuse for excessive use of the f-word by professional sportsmen.

Related Content

The Worst Behaviour I Have Seen on The Golf Course

How NOT to Behave on The Golf Course

What You Can Learn About Someone During a Round of Golf

The Types of Golfers You Want And Do NOT Want to Play With

Which Personality Types Play The Best Golf