In the rough: How golf’s surprising power now reaches from the fairway to the White House

My brother-in-law is obsessed.

No more obsessed than I am with my preferred hobby: jamming Assassin’s Creed on my Xbox, or musing about the importance of sport – like which angle to pursue on Mamelodi Sundowns’ upcoming CAF Champions League final against Pyramids, or how critical to be about my local rugby team’s recent performances – but obsessed nonetheless.

The other day, he whipped out a newly acquired driver – I forget its name, but I do recall slick black lines and red trim – cradling it like a new-born.

With that driver, he assured me, his game would be taken up a notch to the next level, in pursuit of the perfect round or perhaps a lower handicap.

I stared blankly at the piece of, admittedly, impressive engineered equipment. I have always said my biggest handicap in golf is golf.

As I get older, however, golf seems to be leaking more and more into my life.

You’d be surprised how many legendary hacks are hacking away on the fairways of South Africa in their advancing age, experiencing mostly frustration as they shank the ball this way and that, or misread a short putt to record an over-par score.

Every so often, it does come right: the drive lands where it needs to, the following iron is sweet and true, the wedge shot flops onto the green, and the two-putt rolls into the hole for a satisfying par.

Of course, just like a Grey College old boy proudly telling you he is from Grey College – “Bloemfontein, not the other one” – you get to hear about it afterwards, regardless of whether you are invested or not.

Legendary golf reporter Grant Winter, who regaled Independent Media readers with his fine reporting on the game for decades, always said there was no other sport like it before he retired from the grind.

He had a mean game, too, in his younger years, having played all over the world on the greatest courses.

It was rare to see him flustered, and seldom did he lose his temper.

He wore his golf cap proudly to the office every day, his face sun-baked, relaxed and merry, having just walked off the golf course.

I guess, if you know what you’re doing, golf can be a joy to play.

Other sports journalists and production editors looked upon his beat with envious, covetous eyes as he returned from yet another trip abroad, having just covered – and played – some prestigious venue.

Back in the day, being a golf reporter was the “worst”.

Of course, I’ve been mostly facetious about it all above.

Poking golfers is something of a naughty pleasure of mine, but I cannot deny the prestige, the money, the skill and the rabid support the sport enjoys.

It’s a $220 billion enterprise annually, when you consider all the socio-economic nooks and crannies it touches.

An estimated 450 million people worldwide will admit to being golfing fans.

The participation of that all-important demographic – the 18-35-year-olds – is reportedly only increasing year on year, a trend that even Covid could not stifle.

Watching the professionals play in the majors is exhilarating, while the fervent rivalry encouraged by the Ryder Cup is intoxicating.

Golf might seem trivial – but in strange times, it has surprising political significance.

It, therefore, was jarring to see Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in the White House on Wednesday, surrounded by truly powerful men, representing South Africa regarding the very serious — and widely debunked — allegation by the US that there is a “white genocide” occurring in the country.

This is no slight on the pair at all.

After all, ‘The Big Easy’ and ‘The Goose’ are South African sporting greats, and their agreeing to participate in such a consequential moment in US-SA relations should be commended.

Their presence in the Oval Office, alongside US President Donald Trump and SA President Cyril Ramaphosa – in my humblest of opinion – says more about the state of US politics than it does about golf.

Somewhere in a government office here, a decision was made that, to impress Trump – a massive enthusiast of the game – taking two golfers was the correct strategy; a tactic that would force him to reconsider his misinformed stance.

If that is truly the power of golf on the man with the nuclear briefcase an arm’s length away, then geopolitically, we are all truly deep in the rough.