"Who Is Hall Of Fame Worthy?"
The induction of Davis Love and Ian Woosnam raised the question from some: who is World Golf Hall Of Fame worthy?
Jaime Diaz of Golf World praises the hall for its new criteria and opening the door to worthy players based on the way the game has changed.
There is no doubt the WGHOF has set minimum victory requirement that is lower than what had unofficially been imposed. But it had to. While 15 lifetime victories seemed like a pittance when the game’s giants—several with more than 60 victories and in some cases double-digit majors—were being inducted, it’s also become clear that winning 15 times in the post-1975 era is a greater achievement than it would have been before, much like a .280 lifetime batting average is now more worthy of a spot in Cooperstown.
Recognizing the greatness in players who were stalwarts but didn’t win as much as the very best helps one understand the immense challenge of the game. Lowering standards increases appreciation, and keeps up the supply of candidates. It’s all good.
The hall continues to struggle with people who made contributions to the game in areas other than competitively. Tom Weiskopf was hugely influential as a television commentator and architect. And we know architects have struggled to gain respect from the hall, with people who made great contributions having not been recognized while Robert Trent Jones, whose positive impact becomes less understandable by the year, is in.
Also disconcerting is the even more backroom, old boys vibe to the selection process that only has two media members and decides who is HOF worthy in secrecy. Other sports HOF's succeed in part because the public knows who is eligible and even debates the merits of candidates.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at 11:43 PM 39 Comments
Reader Comments (39)
The one I always loved was Eddie Murray. Was always thought of as an a$$, jerk, etc. Then Cal Ripken says he learned more about baseball from Murray than from any other player. All of a sudden, Murray becomes just a guy who "you left alone, he left you alone." Murray didn't do a thing differently, but all of a sudden Saint Cal's blessing requires a change in the narrative. And Ripken is another example of their voting issues. Alan Trammell barely stays on the ballot, even though he had very much the numbers Ripken did. Yet Ripken was never a question.
Sorry for the sidetrack. It's tough to have much of a public ballot in golf though, because really, who is left? Woods, and maybe Harrington of the current "active" players(on the assumption Mickelson and Els are already in-too lazy to verify). And while superintendents, teachers, etc., belong in there, no one goes to a HoF to see them. This isn't a sport that lends itself to a HoF like people know them. There isn't a critical mass off competitors for it to really allow for annual inductions.
http://bbwaa.com/16-hof-ballots/
I just think we put way too much emphasis on Halls of Fame. If we ignored them, they would go away and not be missed.
I have issues with BBWAA as well, Pat. But a similar voting process would an improvement over the current smoke-filled backroom.
And DL3 and Freddy, as much as I like them, don't make the grade.
Davis a HOF as a person and in reputation but if anything most would say he underachieved with his skill.
And golf doesn't have any living, retired hall of famers left so we get these guys.
Baseball has 750 players a season, not counting call-ups and injured players. Golf has 150-200.
Odds on Shackelford allowing this post to be kept up: 5-10%...which simply proves my primary point.
I had forgotten that they raised the age when making my previous post. So, "never mind"
"Robert Trent Jones, whose positive impact becomes less understandable by the year"
The current thinking by architecture snobs is that RTJ and Dick Wilson are the paragons of the "Dark Ages" of golf course architecture, which lasted from about the Great Depression to whenever Tom Doak built Stonewall, if you ask them.
But of course, more courses that have played a historical role in American Golf have been touched or retouched by RTJ than by Doak, C and C and Gil Hanse, combined. That's not to say that there isn't an argument that RTJ and Dick Wilson were boring architects, or that it's more fun to play Pacific Dunes or Sand Hills than it is to play Firestone, but to argue that somehow RTJ isn't somehow historically significant enough to warrant the HOF while Tom Weiskopf, whose best known course is the incredibly mediocre TPC Scottsdale and whose best course is a non-links course in Scotland, is worthy, is pretty silly.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_golfers_with_most_LPGA_Tour_wins
she has not a leg to stand on in her complaint, which would have probably excluded everyone below Betsy Rawls, or maybe Karrie Webb, since the latter gets Babe Zaharias in.
Why do we keep hashing this?
I agree with some of the above comments in that Hall of Fames in general have lost their luster. I've never visited one and don't have any plans to. When they start putting PED users in any HoF they should just shut it down. I'll check back in a few years on that one.
On a related note when will Tiger be eligible?
The WGHOF is a joke.
Ok, maybe I'm kidding.
I may not agree with Geoff taking shots at RTJ but I agree with his sentiments. He made golf harder for the average player and I have never been impressed with any course of his I have played. The courses test the pros but I have never seen a great layout, use of land or design. Example, Kannanaskis near Calgary, one of the most beautiful settings any man can be given to design a golf course. Two memorable holes, one good, the other terrible. He put an island green on the course. Really?
His redesign work made a lot of classic courses worse to play every day. The clubs accept that but many a member will tell you they don't enjoy playing every day as much when RTJ was done. I have been fortunate enough to have played with members at several of these clubs and the regular players don't love what he did to those courses.
ADG: When you let Casper in your HoF, we'll ALL shut up. Promise!
Anyway, regression to the mean, she is a bitch. The late, great Stephen Jay Gould explained that long, long ago in his Natural History column about Joe DiMaggio.
Won't argue with you that RTJ isn't the greatest architect of all time, and I absolutely would rather play a Doak, Hanse, C/C course. But he was a monumental figure in the history of American golf, and, more practically, was admitted to the HOF in 1987, which was before the most recent Renaissance in golf course design shed a different light on his work. Either way, saying that Weiskopf should be in for his design work over RTJ is still silly.
And it won't get much better until Tiger gets in 5 elections from now. The candidates that will become eligible when they turn 50 will be Retief Goosen (2 Majors, 7 PGA total, 24 others), Jim Furyk (1 Major, 17 PGA total), Padraig Harrington (3 majors, 6 PGA, 15 Euro), Zach Johnson (2 and 12 PGA), and Angel Cabrera (2 majors, lots in Latin America). David Duval, Justin Leonard, Darren Clarke will also qualify (barely). Hal Sutton, Mark Calceveccia, Jerry Pate, Craig Stadler, Steve Elkington, Ian Baker-Finch are other recent players that are currently eligible through worldwide 15 wins or Players Championship wins to go with their 1 major.
All of these golfer had great careers, but maybe not HOF worthy. I am a big tent HOF guy so I would say Retief, Furyk, Padraig, Zach Johnson (who will add to his total) are in with Farrell, McFarlane, JIm Ferrier, Revolta and MacDonald Smith from old-timers. I would also add more amateur players (e.g. Jay Sigel) and architects.
Of course there are others who can be put in through Veterans categories (Calvin Peete, Tony Lema, Max Faulkner), but if the HOF puts in 2 men golfers a year for next 4 years prior to Tiger, you are going to see most of these even borderline candidates go in.
But I like Abu Dhabi's "inner circle" HOF, although he badly missed by not including Seve in his 25. I would add him Vijay, Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, and Francis Ouimet to make it an even 30.
(sorry for long post)