A Misbegotten Golf ‘Rule’

At a time when professional golf is supposedly opening its arms to larger and more diverse groups of players, the PGA has hung a “not welcome” sign out for Casey Martin. Martin is a 25-year old Stanford graduate who suffers from a circulatory disorder that makes walking difficult. The PGA Tour requires golfers to walk the course. Martin cannot. The PGA said sorry, the rules say you have to walk. Incredibly, Martin now has had to sue in hopes of forcing the tour to allow him to ride in a cart.

The rules. Didn’t the PGA learn something about the limitations of rules? Weren’t there PGA official rules that at one time allowed whites only? Aren’t these the sorts of “rules” that modern professional golf says it wants no part of?

The PGA seems unfamiliar with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability. Martin’s congenital ailment reduces the blood flow to his right leg, causing shin bone deterioration.

Under a temporary court injunction, he has been allowed to use a cart at the first two events of the Nike Tour, which is overseen by the PGA. He won the season-opening Lakeland Classic in Florida last weekend and plays this week in Pompano Beach.

The PGA, citing among other defenses a player’s presumed advantage in using a cart in hot weather, says the injunction will be challenged next month. PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem claims the issue is who makes the rules of the game, the courts or the PGA’s governing board. And he said the matter involves “the extent that walking is part of the tradition of the game.”

Yes, there was the inspiration provided by Ben Hogan, still recovering from a near fatal car crash, as he walked 36 holes to win the 1950 U.S. Open on the last day. But Martin’s efforts also inspire us. Honoring the “tradition of the game” should not mean casting out a good player because he has a birth defect. Surely professional golf can learn from its past.