Johnny Miller Comment
South Carolina reader John Gregory Vincent has a problem with Johnny Miller's March Column in which he compares the leaves of absence that tour players take from their families with those of military personnel. Miller wrote:
As a tour player, by far the toughest moment was when I was packing my suitcase to head off to a tournament and my youngest son, Todd, was pulling at my pants leg, pleading, "Daddy, please don't go. Can you stay so we can go fishing?" He followed me to the car, and to this day I can still see him in my rearview mirror trotting after the car, reaching out with his hands, crying. The thought of that still makes me cry.
Many people in different walks of life go through the same thing; the thousands of soldiers in Iraq with families at home come to mind....
John Gregory Vincent thought the comparison was inapt, to say the least.
Johnny Miller's "Lesson Tee" page in the March issue caused me to write my first EVER editorial comment in my 46 years. As a retired Navy Command Master Chief and avid golfer I took exception with Mr. Miller's direct comparison of the impact on the family of the tour player heading out for the week and those of our armed service members ESPECIALLY those today, heading to war. I will concede to a 3 or 4 year-old, gone is gone, but I can assure you that even the little one's quickly learn the difference between 10 days and 10 months. As for the impact on the older children, spouses, friends and family, please. It's golf Mr. Miller. There is ZERO comparison to golf and what our service men and woman and their families are experiencing.
--Bob Carney
I want to echo Master Chief Vincent's statement and add one of my own.
Most of the guys out on the PGA Tour have options. They could work at a club near their home or for a golf academy. It would involve a significant cut in pay for all or most of them, but it is a choice that is available to them.
Also, if you look at the career earnings list for the PGA Tour, you will find a LARGE number of men who have already pocketed tens of millions of dollars in winnings. They do not "need" to be out on Tour in order to support their families. They "CHOOSE" to be out there, and that is completely different.
It appears to me that the harder thing for most of these men would be STAYING home, not LEAVING.
I must confess I agree with the letter sent in to the editor. It is one thing to say that it is hard for players to pack their luggage week in week out. That is understood. After all not just in golf. In almost all other sports, professional sportsmen have to leave their family behind, ply their trade in different parts of the world and come back after a while. Not only is it stressful for youngsters but also for the newly married couples wherein their lifes are upset because of the traveling involved. But there is no way you can compare it with the stress of having your loved one away serving for the country in hostile conditions. I actually don?t think the debate should be centered around the duration fr which they are away. More than that is the fact that there is absolutely nothing to compare the totally different state of the situation. It is quite possible that men serving the country might not be able to drop a line back home for many days whereas even if you are playing in some other corner of the world you can still stay in touch with you family and that reassurance is really what differenciates the two situations.
So I guess I would say the analogy was incorrect.
Andy Brown
http://www.golfswingsecretsrevealed.com/blog/2007/08/15/another-major-season-ends-with-a-minor/