The game of golf will be just fine

As in, “Joining the Saudi-backed league for millions of dollars is a chance to grow the game.” Or, “the PGA Tour is interested in growing the game.”

I’m not sure at which metrics these organizations are looking, but the game seems to growing just fine — it just needed the nudge of a worldwide pandemic for people to rediscover the joys of the game.

All I have to do is look at the tee sheet at my local muni to know that rounds of golf are up — by a lot — over the last two-plus years. From 2019 to 2021, there was an 18% increase in rounds played and in February 2022, there was an increase of 13% compared to February 2021.

To make a long story short? Golfers are absolutely wearing out courses around the country. I’ve had plenty of discussions with people about the conditions of any given course. While they may grumble about how shaggy a track is, I have to remind them: It’s the middle of winter here in California. This is supposed to be the time of year when course superintendents are prepping the course for the spring. The fact most public courses are not getting any breather, it’s really amazing how good the conditions of golf courses are.

And if the PGA Tour and the United States Golf Association are worried about the college and professional future of the game, I have one word for them: don’t. To expand on that, just look around San Mateo County at what youth golfers are doing.

In high school golf, a team score of 200 is kind of considered the benchmark for a good scoring round. Start going below 200 and it becomes a really good round.

Well, scores in the 190s, which used to be rare, are not anymore. There have been more rounds of high school golf on the Peninsula in the 190s this season than I’ve ever seen in my over 20 years covering the Peninsula.

A couple weeks ago, it was Aragon that put together scores of 190, followed by a 189. The last two weeks has seen the Crystal Springs Uplands School boys’ golf team put together two scores I don’t believe we’ll see duplicated for a while. Last week, the Gryphons posted a score of 181 at Crystal Springs Golf Course. This week, they posted a score of 176, combining to finishing, as a team of five scoring golfers, at 3-under on the day.

CSUS may have the lowest score posted on the Peninsula this season, but Menlo School’s Eric Yun has the best round of the season thus far, as he carded a 6-under 31 at Baylands Golf Links in Palo Alto. Thomas Molumphy of Sacred Heart Prep has a round of 3-under 33 at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, while Serra’s Trevor Moquin shot an even-par 36 at Half Moon Bay and a 2-under 35 at Los Altos Country Club.

And this list doesn’t even include Edan Cui, ranked in the top-100 of the American Junior Golf Association.

As far as “growing the game,” if there was any more golf growth there will be some serious issues about growing pains. No, the game of golf, which was seeing a decline before the pandemic, has shot off like a rocket with more people playing and buying gear than ever before.

So I don’t know why professional golf tours are so concerned about “growing the game” — unless it’s a euphemism to add more money to the pockets of the elite-level pros.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.