Golfers of the world speak out

Global survey shows what players think

By Dan Jenkins

September 2000

If a survey is ever taken to determine the best survey ever taken, this one will at least be the leader in the clubhouse for a while. Why? Because it was so strenuously global. About the only thing it doesn't ask of a golfer is, "Since you're known to be a choking dog, what kind of cough drops do you generally carry in your bag?"

Let it be noted that this 50th-anniversary Golf Digest survey was so extensive, it asked questions of more than 11,000 golfers from 19 different countries on both a front nine and back nine of continents. In short, a questionnaire was randomly inserted into issues of Golf Digest and 18 of the magazine's international affiliates, such as Argentina, Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

Now, of course, you can make a survey prove anything you wish by the way you ask the questions. For example, if you want to prove that nobody cheats on a golf course, you simply ask, "Do you cheat on a golf course?" The result will be a self-serving 98 percent no. And the 2 percent who answer yes will represent those in the survey who actually do not cheat and have an exceedingly good sense of humor.

But the results of this survey by and large reflect honest answers to all of the questions. Proof enough was the response to this question: If you saw your boss improve a lie in the rough, would you call him or her on it?

Americans said no, 57 percent to 43 percent. Americans know what they're doing. Rat out your boss, there goes the corner office or the pay raise or both. Americans are way ahead of the curve on this.

Last on this question was Argentina. The Argentines, not too surprisingly, answered they would rat out the boss by an overwhelming 96 percent to 4 percent. After all, a lot of Gestapo agents escaped to Argentina.

It comes as no surprise that Jack Nicklaus was named the greatest golfer of all time by the survey participants in every country. However, it's interesting how the countries differed on who was second.

Arnold Palmer was fancied by Mexico, Russia and Thailand. Meanwhile, Ben Hogan was fancied by the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.

Make of all that what you will. What I make of it is that the people in the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada are more intelligent.

The question of which tour pro would you most like to play a round of golf with brought the most predictable answer of all. Participants in 10 out of 19 countries named Tiger Woods. But the question also produced the most curious result from the U.S. participants Fred Couples! Freddie narrowly nosed out Palmer, Woods and Nicklaus, in that order. How? I don't know. Ask some Nobel guy.

The least surprising result of all was produced by this question: If you could pick only one golf course to play for the rest of your life, which would you pick?

Almost everybody went for Augusta National and Pebble Beach, in that order, obviously because they've appeared on TV more often than Elian Gonzalez. The U.S., however, put Pebble just ahead of Augusta, and the only other courses Americans named were Pinehurst, TPC at Sawgrass, St. Andrews, Valderrama, Royal Melbourne, Portmarnock and Turnberry.

No Goat Hills. Not a single vote.

I'm compelled to take issue with one group on the particular question: How does a bad round of golf affect you? Participants could check one of three boxes: (a) Not at all, (b) I will be irritated for 5 minutes, and (c) I will be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

A stunning 56 percent of Koreans—a far higher percentage than any other country—admitted that a bad round puts them in a bad mood for the rest of the day. This is honesty.