Amateur Golf: Last Of A Dying Breed

With all the media flocking to see the soap opera that has come from the Woods' family holiday, it got me thinking, professional golf is just not the same. It never will be, it has been changing since Arnold Palmer made it a marketable professional sport. Most players are out there playing more for sponsor's checks than trying to play for themselves.

The only thing remotely pure about professional golf in today's day and age is the Ryder Cup, and we only get that once every two years!

It seems as all the pro golfers have been put onto the same pedestal as athletes from other professional sports. But don't worry; there is one saving grace to the game of golf.

Amateur golf represents golf the way the sport should be. Amateur golf is pure and you get to see guys out there playing simply for the love of the game. Whether it be your "weekend warrior," to those college amateurs racking up wins to progress to the next level.

Golf is not for the weak minded; it’s not just about big checks and uppity country clubs. This is a sport where you have to call your own penalties, there are no referees. There is no one defending you from the hole, unless you count yourself.

Amateur golf represents the sport how it should be portrayed more in the media. Every single touring pro has roots to the amateur ranks, and this (along with junior golf) lit the fire which took them to the highest level.

Unfortunately, it seems as though golf changes when it comes to the professional ranks. On tours that make money everything, how can that love and passion for playing blossom and shine through the corporate sponsors?

It is a shame to see that competitive amateur golf has come down to what it is today, just a stepping stone to the professional ranks.

Never again will there be a Robert Tyre Jones Jr., an amateur who won four U.S. Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three Open Championships and one British Amateur.

Now, if given the opportunity, golfers will jump at the sponsor's checks and opportunity at a big purse tournament. But the heart of golf still beats through those who play for the love of the sport.

You will know when you see these golfers. They are the same people who are hitting balls while this article is being typed, the ones who spend every minute of their free time in a love affair with the game, the people whom others who don't share this passion call "sick."

This is a category I fall into. I inherited this "sickness" from my father, a so called "lifer amateur" with a very successful golf resume, who is a full blown golf addict.

Through my experiences in my short life, golf has always been a constant in a world that never stops changing. Therefore, if I am "sick," I never want to be right.