Some thought-provoking Christmas Wishes

from Alistair Tait of Golfweek.com

Editor's note: Alistair Tait, a good friend of mine, has been making public his Christmas Golfing Wishes on Golfweek.com. I've hand-picked the three most thought-provoking for readers of Kirkwoodgolf.co.uk

7. Acceptance – for women and juniors.
I’ve covered this topic before, but I still can’t believe women and children aren’t accepted at some of the top clubs around the world. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Muirfield and Royal Troon, arguably the three most powerful clubs in the UK, still refuse to let women join and have no junior sections.
You’d think we were still living in the 19th century and not about to enter 2009.

8. Stopwatches – for tournament administrators.
Santa should deliver stopwatches, Swiss made, to every tournament administrator in golf with clear instructions on how to use them. He should fit them with horns that go off loudly when someone breaches their time limit over a shot.
Maybe then we really will stamp out slow play.

9. An appreciation – of good golf writing and reporting.
If I had a magic wand I’d wave it over every newspaper owner, publisher and editor to force them to stop shedding journalists. So many good golf writers have left newspapers in the U.S. that soon media centers at PGA Tour events will take the shape of pup tents.
It’s started over here too, with The Daily Telegraph releasing long-time correspondent Lewine Mair. What a travesty.
Soon there will be no reporters at tournaments, just agency writers and tour communications staff. The former can’t cover everything, while the latter only write good-news stories.
With this situation, tournament coverage will become bland and boring.

If you want to read Alistair Tait's full list of Christmas Wishes, please go to the Golfweek.com website - http://www.golfweek.com/commentaries/tait-121608