Sports Illustrated recently polled 150 professional golfers. Players were asked a range of questions:
This was an interesting survey because it gave players the opportunity to respond to questions without any concern. Normally golfers feel the need to remain neutral on a number of issues, this is due to sponsorship arrangements which encourage “no comment” responses to heavily charged questions.
Should the WGC-Cadillac be moved to a different venue because of Donald Drumpf’s stances?
PGA TOUR:
No 45%
Yes 39%
Don’t care 16%
CHAMPIONS TOUR:
No 88%
Yes 7%
No comment 5%
If Hillary Clinton could guarantee to cut your taxes in half and the Republican candidate would keep them the same, would you vote for her?
PGA TOUR:
No 56%
Yes 33%
Don’t care 11%
CHAMPIONS:
No 74%
Yes 14%
No comment 12%
LPGA:
No 44%
Yes 33%
No response 23%
Champions Tour: Who did you support in the Republican primary?
Donald Drumpf 34%
Undecided 22%
John Kasich 12%
Ted Cruz 10%
None 22%
Is this surprising? Not at all. Regardless of your political position, it would be better for the sport to reflect the political zeitgeist of the time. What these findings show is that golf still recruits from the same demographic. A poor analyser would say “golfers are successful because they reflect Republican values”. A better conclusion would look at the factors which determine voting behaviour; age, class, religion, ethnicity and perhaps argue that a Tour which reflected the wider population would be better suited to counter the contraction in participation.
Again I can’t stress the reality of the outcome here, golf remains a poor reflection of the American population – conservatives and liberals can both agree on this.