Golf and Performance Enhancing Drugs.

[Dave3498]

There has been much discussion lately about whether professional golfers should be subject to routine testing for performance enhancing drugs, which begs the question, is there a drug which will enhance the performance of top golfers?

There are drugs that will enable better muscle accumulation when taken with a workout session, but will extra muscle give anything but more distance? Is there a drug that will give a golfer the necessary beef and also allow him or her to inject the special nuances required for the subtle fade or the high draw. Tiger has now shown us all, (as if we didn’t already know) that the positioning of the ball on the fairway is much more important than distance off the tee. He has won his most recent two Majors by doing just that.

There are drugs that will give a golfer calmness under pressure, but will they really help him to work out exactly where to land the ball when faced with that delicate chip over a bunker? Will they help him to line up the snaking 30 footer on the slippery modern greens? Will there be a down side in that he will get a couldn’t-care-less attitude, instead of the intense concentration needed on the 72nd green of a Major?

I don’t think Golf falls into the same category of say Athletics or Weightlifting et al. We golfers already police ourselves and it is frequently seen that top professionals and journeymen call penalty shots on themselves when only they know that they have infringed the rules. Are such people really likely to cheat in other ways to gain an advantage? I think not. Moreover, what are to be the sanctions? Imagine the scenario where Tiger or Ernie or Phil is found with traces of a banned substance in his sample, which he claims is from a hay-fever remedy. Is he going to be banned for 2 years? Are the sponsers still going to be as interested in coming up with the prize money for the big tournaments without these people playing? Are the TV Networks going to give the same amount of coverage if some of the top performers are banned? Not likely.

Testing for performance enhancing drugs in golf is not necessary, because they don’t exist.

 

[MikeH]

Hi Dave, welcome to the GM forum. what a great post to kick off with

I think you make some really good points and, like you, I'm as sure as I can be that golf is a clean sport becuase there arent any obvious ways drugs could boost performance.

However, I disagree on the point of pressing ahead with testing. Of course the authorities need to let the players know what the banned substances/treatments are but I feel that for the sake of a few random tests at tournaments, golf can demonstrate beyond a shadow of doubt that we are clean - thereby showing the rest of sport that yets again we set the standard in terms of sportsmanhip, intergity and respect for the rules and ethos of the game.



MikeH
(GM editor)

 

[The_Golfer]

Mmm.. is there any such study which can unequivocally demonstrate that your ability to play golf can be significantly improved by the intake of "performance enhancing drugs"? Until such a study is published then there is no real point to the matter and whist remains an interesting debate or topic of conversation nonetheless it is somewhat academic...

 

[PaulOHagan]

I think the drugs that lower heart rate and as a result help performance under pressure are the biggest threat. Golf is so much about the mind and dealing with pressure that these drugs could give a massive advantage, i think it is right and fair that we make sure players are not taking these drugs.

 

[muttleee]

I think golf can't be complacent and just assume that everything's ok. If golfers have nothing to hide then they shouldn't havve any objections to being tested. What would the sport's attitude be to recreational drug use though?

I saw an article entitled Golf tops the drugs leaderboard on another site. Not a headline you would normally expect to see!

 

[Dave3498]

Thanks for your welcoming note Mike, and your comments.

I just think that the whole thing has not been properly thought through. It seems to me that there are only two reasons for drugs testing. The first is that you think players are gaining an unfair advantage by taking them, and you want to stop it, and the second is that you want to show to the world that the sport is clean. In the first case, I and many others feel that there are no drugs currently avaiable that will enhace the perfomance of a golfer. In the second case, I'm just waiting for a superstar like Tiger Woods to test positively for traces of a banned substance, and I emphasise 'traces', before the media start questioning the value of his 12 majors. The sly smiles and winks come into play and we finish up with two record books, one pre-testing, and one clean. We golfers all know it's clean so why do we need to prove it to the non-golfing world? It's not a good idea.

 

[swingstar1]

Dave I think you make a great point about a player unwittingly taking a non enhancing banned substance such an over the counter cold/flu/hay-fever and that providing a positive sample and putting the integrity of the sport at risk

One thing though - I know everyone here is focused on how performace enhancing drugs cant help golfers but surely as the top golfers strive to get bigger and fitter in order to hit the ball further they could be tempted to take soemthing that would mean an hour less in the gym that thye could spend working on thier game at the range

what do other posters think about that?

 

[Shooter_McGavin]

I still don't think golf has reached the point where distance is so important that players will risk their own health in order to hit it further. Steroids are so dangerous and the likes of Furyk and Donald prove that big hitting is not the decisive factor in golf

 

[MikeH]

Last week I was lucky enough to sit in on one of the regular interviews we do with Peter Dawson of the R&A.

He said that the governing bodies were taking the lead to protect the integrity of the game and show sport that golf is clean. They are very much aware of the issues of banned substances that could be contained in cold/flu type remedies and that they would make sure players were aware of what they could and could not take.

I think you can't ask for more than that and I for one feel that at the end of the day it's a player's personal responsibility to be clear on what's legal and what is likely to cause them to fail a drug test. Professional golfers are so scrupulous in their preparations for events and abiding by the rules I'm sure they won't want to risk their careers, earnings and reputation of the game by not doing their homework.

My view is that random drug testing is a further opportunity (not a threat) for golf to send out a message that this is not a sport for cheats and show how everyone involved from the R&A/USGA down to ordinary golfers like us is committed to upholding the spirit of the game.

May the debate rumble on!

MikeH