Greetings Golfers,

The theme of Matthew McConaughey’s speech to the U of Houston’s graduates was “Life’s not fair – don’t be a victim”. I agree – couldn’t agree more … but some people think that’s a license to not be fair.

We need referees in sports to keep things fair. If the leagues and refs aren’t keeping things fair, the players take matters into their own hands – sort of like vigilantes. And I get that too. But, sports should be a contest of skill, not a battle between thugs.

A few weeks ago, the Wild’s star Zach Parise was hit from behind and was injured. That’s not what hockey’s about. The league and the refs have to stop that stuff to keep the game fair. Hockey teams shouldn’t have to have “enforcers” to keep things fair – that should be the role of the league and referees.

And last Sunday, the Viking’s quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was knocked out while he was sliding … sliding is basically waving the white flag – he shouldn’t have been hit like that. I can see why Coach Zimmer was so mad – that hit wasn’t fair.

People can and should be held accountable. They should play fair in games and in life. Those players weren’t giving clean hits – those were dirty hits trying to injure players.

In golf, lot’s of things aren’t fair – bad bounces, bad lies, etc. But, that’s the game – deal with it.

The golf analogy is different than the football/hockey analogies because the golf situation isn’t about dealing with people … it’s about dealing with outside factors.

Life isn’t fair – deal with it. But, it’s not a license to treat people unfairly.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com