Steroids in Golf?

By now you are probably tired of reading and hearing about the Bonds indictment and his possible suspension by MLB. But you might not have read or heard about the latest in the "war on steroids": Testing for steroid use has officially begun within the sport of golf ("Golf Tournament Doing Drug Testing"). According to the press release, testing will be administered at the World Amateur Team championship in South Africa at the end of October. What's amazing is that the tournament directors don't even think at the moment that there is much use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. They support drug testing in golf "to put the sport into line with the World Anti-Doping Agency's code governing all sports, and to stop performance-enhancing substances from creeping into the game."

Will somebody please STOP THE MADNESS! First and foremost, why test for steroids when there is no evidence whatsoever of any steroid use in the game of golf? Secondly, why would they think that such use would "creep" into the game? Are they afraid that golfers are going to start bulking up in order to give them more distance on their drives? Is "muscle recovery time" a big issue among golfers these days? Basically, it's complete speculation!

I came across an interesting article on this subject written by Matthew Rudy of Golf Digest ("Steroids: How real a threat?"). Rudy notes that no professional tour has specific language in its rules prohibiting performance enhancing substances. The PGA and LPGA tours' professional conduct rules prohibit players from using or selling illegal substances, but neither tour has a testing procedure in place to detect any kind of illegal drug, recreational or otherwise. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says the tour would not hesitate to incorporate a random drug-testing program IF it had evidence of a pattern of use by players:

"I don't think it is naive to think our players follow the rules. Maybe there are doctors who would say that steroids would help a player hit a golf ball farther. We could debate that, and we could debate that the side effects might hurt a player other ways. I don't go there. We have a rule, and we expect players to follow it. If we have credible evidence to think that a player was taking them, we would consider taking other measures. The speculation about steroids in golf isn't surprising. There is so much focus on steroids in other sports. There's an influx of more athleticism in our sport, and the workout regimens our players are undergoing. And there's a focus on the increased distance players are hitting the ball. That's what it is -- speculation. We rely on our athletes to call the rules on themselves. We have a long tradition of players following the rules, even when some of the rules are odd."

I suppose that if you believe that steroid use would help a hitter drive a baseball farther, then to be consistent you must also believe that steroid use would help a golfer drive a golf ball farther. All this time, I suspected that the reason professional golfers have been driving the ball better over the years was mostly attributed to technological advancements in golf clubs, golf balls, and training equipment.

Tiger, you're next....

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