To Influence, Or Not...

Hill was the lowest-ranked player (according to WAGR) on either team, yet found a way to get up and down to win the Cup and cap an incredible comeback by GB&I.

Much like the US Amateur, the Walker Cup provides a level of access and creates an atmosphere around amateur golf that is not found in the professional game. It’s not just the talent of the players, but the venue, the circumstance, and an implicit love of country which makes the event special.

Editor’s Observation: The most important attribute (quirk?) of the internet is its ability to identify and amplify controversial or popular ideas at scale, instantaneously.

Virality-as-a-Service.

What started as an off-the-cuff post about influencers at the US Open (tennis), turned into a semi-viral quotable. I quickly learned that at least several thousand others share the same viewpoint as I do:

I sure hope influencers don’t turn the Masters into their personal playground.

While I can’t fault creators for making a living online by finding “trendy” sporting events to invade, my issue lies with the inevitable tradeoff: the progressive, steady alienation of the core group of fans who love the sport for what it is. A sport!

We’re witnessing a mass-commercialization of all sports in real time, not just tennis and golf. The soul of the events are sucked away with each passing year.

The beauty of live sporting events lies in the shared community and passion of the people in attendance. Team affiliation doesn’t matter. The shared love and passion for the sport is what has always driven attendance. No longer.

We now see a plethora of events, notably the US Open in Flushing, as a hot spot for content creation. The world-class tennis is a side dish.

Editor’s note: I would accept press credentials to cover the Masters faster than you can say “Influencer”.

Augusta is uniquely positioned to withstand the blitzkrieg of influencers armed with iPhones… because you’ll never see someone holding one at the Masters.

Although this year’s shift in content strategy was contained to the broadcast coverage, it felt like Augusta took a step away from it’s traditions to appease the ever-growing crowd of casual golfers. In a phrase: “culture creep”.

Perhaps it was a trial-and-error run by Chairman Ridley, but perhaps it was a sign of a broader content strategy shift to appease to the burgeoning golf audience.

Augusta has attracted every big name and brand in golf for quite some time. The presence of celebrities among the patrons has never impacted the product on TV. The appearance of Jason Kelce and Kevin Hart on the par 3 broadcast was shocking to say the least. It felt different. It felt forced.

That’s not what the tournament is about. The Masters is tradition.

We know the golf holes, the putts and the announcers. The Masters is beautiful because of its repetitive nature.

Tradition derives beauty from expected repetition. It derives longevity from the loyalty of those who choose to attend because of the expectedness of just about everything on the property.

Selling tradition for cheap attention is a classic case of myopic oversight from people in leadership roles.

I hope it doesn’t spill over into more sporting events.

As promised, the annual Fall Layering Guide will be posted next week. Instead of a traditional buyer’s guide, I’ll be posting layering options and how to think about building a fall wardrobe from the top down.

For now, here are a few items which have caught my eye.

See you next week for the Fall Buyer’s Guide.

Although the monetary values in this article are dated, the premise behind it is directionally correct. The only caveat I’d propose is to understand when you are at a place where tipping is permitted vs. a place where it is frowned upon.

Some clubs do not want the staff to receive tips, as it disrupts the balance (Tarde notes this). Outside staff and locker attendants earning a few hundred extra bucks each day while the dining staff and greens crew get nothing is an invisible problem to the membership, but an important one nonetheless.

Performance based tipping should be the norm at places where it’s acceptable, but it feels as though 10-20% has become table stakes regardless of the level of service.

Heronwood Golf Club is a private 18-hole estate course on the historic Heronwood Farm in Upperville, Virginia, about an hour west of DC.

Developer and philanthropist Robert H. Smith, who built Crystal City and led Charles E. Smith Companies, took up golf after tennis elbow and a trip to Scotland.

He began with a putting green near the manor house, added three holes in 2003, six more in 2005, three in 2006, and finished the last six in 2007. Architect Brian Ault of Ault, Clark & Associates routed the par-71, roughly 6,300-yard layout across 130 acres of former cornfields and pastures. It has a dozen ponds with fountains that run only when someone is playing.

Smith died in 2009. By 2020, farm manager Ben Rogers estimated that fewer than 25 people had played the full 18(!!). The 550-acre estate, protected by a Virginia Outdoors Foundation conservation easement that bars dense development, sold in May 2022 for $23.5 million to Heronwood Holdings LLC.

Today the course remains an ultra-private retreat rather than a club with members or public tee times. It continues as one of America’s least-played and most exclusive 18-hole courses.

Thanks for reading. See you next week for the Fall Buyer’s Guide. You can read last year’s fall guide here.

-BTG