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We, as golfers, are optimists by nature. Each time we tee it up, we envision our drives finding the fairways, our short irons settling near pins and our putts falling into the holes. And we feel sure that the new wedges and woods we buy will lower our scores.
Hope springs eternal for us, and we tend to see the positives in any life situation, even one as difficult and dire as the pandemic. And if we find ourselves in trouble, we simply channel our inner Seve and find a way to blast out of that cavernous pot bunker or hook around that stand of trees.
That mindset has no doubt enabled golf to weather the COVID-19 crisis in pretty good shape. It’s a big reason why rounds played and new equipment sales are up dramatically in 2020. It also helps explain why the leaders of the games’ biggest governing bodies – and Augusta National – came together in unprecedented ways to ensure that professional golf started up again after a nearly three-month layoff. As a result, the best players in the world went back to doing what they truly loved, which was competing against each other in tournaments. And sports fans were once again able to watch otherworldly athletes such as Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson work their magic with their golf clubs.
If we find ourselves in trouble, we simply channel our inner Seve and find a way to blast out of that cavernous pot bunker or hook around that stand of trees.
To be sure, we missed the Open Championship and Ryder Cup almost as desperately as we pined for our good friends and families who wisely and understandably kept their distances. But we also were able to enjoy a PGA Championship and a FedEx Cup playoff. A U.S. Open and the Masters, too. And as an early Christmas present, we recently had the U.S. Women’s Open and the DP World Tour Championship on the same weekend.
Of course, it is hard for even the most sanguine to hang in there after the annus horribilis that was 2020. But the development of what appear to be several very effective vaccines – and their imminent distribution – give us reason to be bullish about 2021. So does the overall state of the game as this year thankfully draws to a close – and as we get ready to ring in a new one.
The golfer in me is very hopeful.
E-MAIL JOHN
John Steinbreder