How Green is Golf, cont'd

Letters and posts continue on our Green story. You seem more anxious to talk about this than John Daly's personal life, Tiger's knee surgery or even the question of whether the Masters has lost its roar. Right now, comments against our story, by John Barton in the May issue, are running well ahead of those in support. Here are two letters that represent the ends of the spectrum:

Dave Wall of Rome, Georgia:

I was disgusted to see that with the May issue my favorite publication has gone p.c. by endorsing the unproven myth of man-made global warming. What's next? Will the PGA now require all the pros to see Al Gore's hysterical move, drive electric cars and picket the White House to demand our signing of the Kyoto Treaty? Please cancel my subscription.

Dr. Stephen Goldberger, Farmville, Virginia:

I have been a subscriber since before Tiger Woods was born and, to my (increasingly weaning) memory the May 2008 issue was the strongest ever. You addressed two key issue--self-improvement and the environment--in very substantive, informative depth. It was also refreshing to see a golf-oriented magazine take the Bush Administration to task....on their dismantling of the EPA. If you put equal effort into growing the game, you should be in line for the Nobel Prize for golf. Thanks for a great issue.>

Did you know that when Alfred Nobel proposed the idea of the Peace Prizes he was ridiculed by King Olaf II of Sweden and attacked by his relatives who challenged his will? And now Al Gore has one of those prizes.

Call me a radical, but here's one view: Whether you believe that human beings influence global climate change or not, you ought to be concerned that we're using water and pesticides wisely, and golf, as an industry, ought to be concerned that we're doing that on golf courses. That's why John Barton did the story and why the various experts--of wildly different opinions, by the way--cooperated.

Meanwhile, President Bush will today "lay out specific goals for limiting greenhouse gases that scientists say are responsible for warming the planet," according to the New York Times.

--Bob Carney