USGA Sells Out Once Again !!!

I've been a golf "lifer" ever since I started lying about my age @ 13 so I could caddy (I needed to be 14 !!!) @ the local country club, but my love of the game has never waned, even when the USGA "stole" many aspects of it by selling out to to manufacturers, special interests, and television ...

Please allow me to expand in this ...

PANDERING:

The USGA has consistently pandered to manufacturers who decided that they needed to expand their product lines because they were no longer making enough on certain products ... 

To what am I referring ??? 

Take SOFT SPIKES ... there was nothing wrong with the old cleats but the she manufacturers realized that they were not replacing spikes very often, but plastic spikes which looked like they were more efficient wore out @ least twice as fast as metal, so the USGA, in their wisdom allowed their members courses to outlaw steel spikes with a whole myriad of statistics on how much better it was for the golf course, but they also increased the outlay of of the average golfer threefold !!!

My proof is that to this day, you still see the Tour Players wearing steel spikes if they wish !!!

Take SHIRTS ... remember when they designers wanted to increase market share by expanding their lines to another style of shirt ??? it was the "mock" ... 

My proof is that I spent a year or more playing courses all over ... many of them TPC courses with prominent sign saying "Collared Shirts Only" ... but when I asked if a Tour Player showed up in a"mock" would he be allowed on the course ... and the response was universally the same ... "Absolutely !!!" 

Lastly, my latest "irk" is pandering to TELEVISION & SPONSORS demonstrated by the incredibly unfaire way this year's US Open's first roung was handled ...

Why were the guys who were forced to play on Thursday and finish today not allowed to start over with the rest of the field today when they "cancelled" the Thursday schedule because they got more than 2" of rain @ "Black" ???

In baseball they have a minimum ### of innings which need to be played before the game is official, so, why could that have not been done Thursday ???

So, anyone who could not start Thursday because of the weather got to play Friday, where we saw an incredible and entertaining demonstration of golf ... but @ the same time Friday, each and every player who played their 1st round Thursday and finish Friday got screwed !!!

The USGA sold out golf and some it's own Tour Players today !!!   Have you no sense of faire play ???  Have you no conscience ???  I think not !!!