I stumbled onto this article and I was pretty taken back at the elitist opinions that this Jay Lawrence guy has about Pro Golf & Twitter.

Here’s the link to Bob Carney’s blog post over at the Golf Digest’s editor blog: Leaning “No” on Twitter.

Here’s his comments.

Dear Editor,
Puhleeze, Twitter on Tour? Just what we need, more people carrying their self-important communication devices to disrupt decorum while they urgently find out what Stewart Cink had for lunch !

In the post-Tiger crush to “grow the game” what has been gained? “New fans” now come to tournaments and think it’s “getting their money’s worth” to shout at the top of their lungs, a nano-second after impact, “get in the hole”, just as some idiot did Sunday at the Player’s just after Tiger struck his tee shot on 18 ! “Get in the hole” on a tee shot ?!

Is the backwards-hat, tattoo crowd really what the game needed? Now Twitter and instantaneous communication about meaningless “factoids” ? Golf used to be different. People behaved themselves, respected etiquette and tradition. Golf brought out the best in people: honesty, work, achievement, consideration for others. One can only hope that we can hold on to that heritage in the face of the “demands” of the public to diminish all that was once good and different about our game.

Jay Lawrence
Ft. Myers, FL

Now, he has some good points, I agree the whole “get in the hole” famine that spread through the Masters this year totally sucks, but come on, “self-important communication devices to disrupt the decorum?” Is he saying that people checking their cell phones during the match disrupts decorum? Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely in favor of banning talking on the cell phone while at the tournaments, but talking and texting or checking messages are two different things.

Twitter has provided many golf fans with an opportunity to get to know these professional golfers on a more personal level. It’s not always about what they had for lunch or the frequency of their BMs, much of the time you can find out what they do in their off time, they’ll discuss how they’ve been playing, what’s been working and what hasn’t, give advice about golf equipment, what projects they’re working on,  etc..

A player’s genuine interaction with their followers can really increase their exposure (especially many of the LPGA players) and build a following that expands beyond the cyber realm.

What really irritated me was his last paragraph though… Seriously, backwards hat, tattoo crowd ruining the game of golf? Really? I’m sure there are some bad ones, but to say this entire demographic is bad for the game is ridiculous.

How many of these ruffians ever cheated fellow golfers out of billions like Bernie Madoff did? One of the “socially acceptable” golfers, a man who was considered part of the golfing elite, member to numerous country clubs, he scammed fellow golfers out of 64.8 billion dollars.

Anyone can be a blight to the game, regardless of demographic..

Your thoughts?

-Dave