After watching the drama of the final round of the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, it's hard to imagine that some think the sport of golf itself is in trouble.
The crowds at the event were enormous: more than 11 million people watched the final round on American TV and millions more watched around the globe.
To understand the dilemma, however, we must separate golf as participated in as a sport from that which is played at the highest level. From a public participation standpoint, the number of people taking up the game has slowed, and many who do try it decide not to carry on.
One theory is that in our fullyconnected, 24-7 world, few people (particularly the younger ones) have time for a game that takes a lifetime to learn, more than four hours to play, and can often be humbling and maddeningly frustrating.
Another explanation is that the sport itself remains too hard for the novice recreational player to become competent enough at to want to play on a regular basis, and regular play is one of the most important keys to getting better.
I think it is true that in a society that seems determined to childproof every experience the idea of embracing a challenge has been thrown out with the bathwater in our zeal to remove all peril from everything. For many people, golfing is much more difficult than not golfing, so they choose the latter.
While I don't share the sentiment, I understand it. Daily life has many torments that beset us before we even get out of bed, so there's little point looking for more of them in your scarce leisure time.
Yet that misses the point. Unlike almost any other pursuit, golf is about process more than result. It is about patience, learning from mistakes, forgetting the bad and carrying on. It can reveal life lessons to comfort you long after the last double bogie or three-putt has faded in the rear-view mirror.
For me, the greatest truth revealed is this: you do not play golf to relax, you must relax in order to play golf. Each round after that discovery has been a welcome opportunity to let go of my precious worries and enjoy the serenity of being with friends in a beautiful setting, regardless of scorecard result.
The more relaxed I become, the better I play. The more I practise relaxing on the course, the better I am at relaxing off the course. Close friends, colleagues and even my cat appreciated the transformation.
Yet the question remains: how do we get people who do not golf to participate in the sport we treasure?
Some have suggested shorter courses. Jack Nicklaus has advocated 12-hole courses for the last several years and Greg Norman is pressing for six.
There may be a simpler answer: people like having fun, and for many people golf as it exists today is not the kind of fun they like to have. There is now a move afoot to add more fun for more people to this ancient pastime. To this end, the idea of enlarging the hole itself is gaining traction.
For purists, this is out and out heresy, the sporting equivalent of questioning the divinity of Justin Trudeau's hair. I must admit that when I first learned of the concept, I too was taken aback. That would mean people actually enjoying themselves. On a golf course? Unheard of.
Redwoods Golf Course in Langley was the first local facility to break the taboo this spring with their "eight-inch Tuesdays." On June 13, the Vancouver Parks Board took the plunge with a day of eight-inch play at their McCleery Golf Course in Vancouver's Southlands neighbourhood.
There would also be regular 4½ inch-sized cups on every green, as well as prize draws, a photo contest, and food and beverage specials. It was time to give it a try. The spectacular weather we have been enjoying was in its full glory that morning and I was joined by friends David Hanley, Dan Rothenbush and Les Gaspar. We assembled, laughing nervously at the prospect of experiencing something so familiar, yet so foreign.
To make it a bit more interesting, we decided to split into two teams (Hanley and Rothenbush versus me and Gaspar), and alternate between playing the regular cups and playing the eight-inch cups.
The ninth green was up by the clubhouse so we got a glimpse at the set-up in advance. There were two flags on the putting surface: white for the regulation 4½-inch cups and red for the eight-inch cups.
Hanley and Rothenbush were given the honour of going for the large cups on the opening hole. There was a festive atmosphere about the course and on the first hole there were complimentary snacks and beverages. Joan Probert from the Vancouver Parks Board was on hand to greet us, give us maps with the locations of each pin on each hole, and encourage us to just have fun.
The first hole, at 493 yards from the back tees, was a relatively straightforward par 5. As we worked our way toward the green, the flags came into sight. The white pin was on the left front, about seven yards in and the red was about 25 yards in on the right side.
Hanley was on in three. A decent putter, he was close enough with his first attempt to make the second easily.
That was the first thing we noticed about the larger cups: they probably removed on average about half a stroke per hole. Putting was still a test of skill, but the eight-foot knee-knockers tended to go in more often than not, though not always. You still had to get it there.
Another effect of the larger cups was improved pace of play. There was less time fussing over putts and, in our case because we alternated between the two teams, two people could putt at the same time so we spent half the usual time on the green.
What the dual cup choice also did was introduce a new element to the game and it was up to us what we did with it. We chose to alternate, others probably made other choices. Some may have played the enlarged cups all the way around, some may have chosen to ignore them. It was an open invitation to play however you wanted and really play, as in amusing ourselves. Having fun.
Working our way around the course that day, we could hear groups cheering and laughing. We cheered and laughed as well. We also completed our round, on a busy Saturday on a public course in exactly four hours. We seldom waited to tee off and were never rushed by the group behind. Perhaps because of how we chose to play, our scores were lower than usual, but not by an enormous amount.
It didn't matter. What did matter was that it was enjoyable. Golf has great traditions and the rules of play are there for a reason. Some golfers take it all far too seriously, and I think that can also be one of the things that puts off people looking at taking up the game.
I must admit that playing the larger cups actually opened my mind to the possibility. Perhaps having the option of playing the larger cups would help new or infrequent players become more interested in getting out for the occasional round with friends.
It is, after all, only a game. It should be fun.
