Running in place
These are wonderful times for Philippine golf.
At no time in the history of the sport of golf in our country are so many good things happening at practically the same time.
We have the recently launched Grassroots Golf Development Program of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
We have a sudden surge in the number of Junior Golf tournaments.
And then we also have the formal establishment of College Golf in the UAAP and the NCAA.
All major positives for the development of golf in the Philippines and all these we had often wished we had in the past.
If you are wondering what changed or why all of a sudden, we have come to this, I can confidently say that it is because we now have a Chairman in the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) who knows what he is doing, who knows what needs to be done.
Anyone who reads my column knows I do not throw out compliments and acknowledgements like this unless I really mean it. I call things as I see things and do not mince words when I say it. Pato Gregorio deserves the recognition and everyone in Philippine sports knows it.
The short time that he has been at the helm of the PSC has seen a lot of changes in the way things are done at the PSC and our athletes and officials have indeed begun to feel the difference.
This then is a cautionary column about the directions we are taking in developing local golf and what may lie ahead of us. I am concerned that we are starting to run fast but we just might be running in place.
Real development doesn’t start out with a sprint. Real development is a process that builds piece upon piece even when no one is watching. Real development keeps one eye to the future and the other to the present.
Look, the Philippines has a long list of Junior World champions in the 10 and under Division. The Philippines also has a long list of Junior World champions in the 10 and under Division who simply disappeared after that short career.
At some point we will need to rationalize what we are doing. When development comes too early and too fast, it can become counter-productive and cause burn-out and create undue expectations both with the child and the public.
Like, glorifying a second-place finish with a meme in Facebook when there were only 2 competitors in the Division would be an example of that. And perhaps, with the number of junior golf tournaments today, choosing tournaments where your kid can handle the competition while evading the real competition will lead to a warped sense of accomplishment.
With social media so prevalent these days, it is very easy to build up the golfing prowess of our kids. We should use this tool with caution as the accolades can go to the child’s head and once he/she is exposed to the real competition, the effect can be devastating.
This is not a knock on what we are doing. It is simply a cautionary reminder that we are building something in our children and we have to be careful with what the future may bring. There is so much support available for golf development today that we need to take proper advantage of it.
Golf development will always be a learning process. We learn as we move along. But when all is said and done, everything should end up with this question: Who is really happy the way things are going: is it the parent or the child? If it is only the parent who is happy, then we will really need to rethink this whole thing.
Not every kid is Tiger Woods.
