Last weekend, The Times (London) asked the question, Is Wood v McIlroy on a Simulator the Future of Golf.
Students of Betteridge’s Law could have told you the answer without seeing so much as a warm up swing. This law states that ‘no’ is an automatic and invariably correct answer to any headline that ends in a question mark.
And you should have seen the reader comments… naysayers who were, well, properly teed off.
Why so down on simulator golf before it had started?
As a truly awful golfer myself, I am indebted to the myriad of technology that tells me just how badly I play. Yet I love the game. My first taste of what a simulator could do for fans was courtesy of Sky Sports, who had installed a very nifty moving green in their studio. This enabled pundits to recreate putts on air. It was technically very impressive and great fun. The audience loved it.
So why are so many fans closed to TGL’s potential?
A glance at the readers’ comments showed the same old story; established fans hate change, connoisseurs of anything largely get a bit snooty when it becomes more accessible to the masses.
However, the point is that TGL probably isn’t for them. The great thing about modern sport is that, increasingly, there are two codes; one for the cognoscenti and then shorter forms that are fun, more social, cheaper and enjoyable to watch with the kids.
Everyone knows that younger audiences like their gratification quicker and their events glitzy. You know something has succeeded when it makes its way onto their bucket list, complete with some ‘I was there’ ‘gram-bragging. Good for them and good for those who meet this need.
Having watched the first round of TGL I think it is great fun. Maybe the golf wasn’t a masterclass and the team walkouts seemed old hat but otherwise the imagination and innovation on display was brilliant. I fully intend to watch the series and thoroughly enjoy it for what it is.
Is simulator golf the future of golf – of course not …but I’d be amazed if it wasn’t part of golf’s future.
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