Martin Dempster: Serious golf has no place for DMDs

Distance measuring devices could be doing damage to the long-term health of our game. Picture: Getty

While it was refreshing that not a single player in the 255-strong field for the Scottish Boys’ Championship at Monifieth seemed to have a long putter of any description in his bag, the same, sadly, can’t be said for the lazy man’s yardage book.

All over the Angus links competitors looked as though they were taking part in a  Horatio Nelson impersonation contest as their first instinct with every shot was to reach into their golf bag and stick a DMD to their eye.

It’s almost as though they have become comfort blankets and I really felt myself cringe as one of the leading contenders for the title even felt it was necessary to rely on his measuring device over a shot that looked no more than 75 yards.

Perhaps it’s because I’m old school. Perhaps it’s simply because I’m getting old full stop. But, for my part, there should be no place for these devices in competitive golf. Certainly not in such events as the Scottish Boys or the Scottish Amateur.

For as far back as I can remember, one of the key challenges on a golf course has been trying to work out yardages, either from a book or fairway markers and posts. It doesn’t take long and don’t dare try to say DMDs help speed up pace of play as that’s simply not true.

The standard of golf at Monifieth was excellent. And, in winner Bradley Neil and Ewan Scott, the beaten finalist, Scotland has two talented youngsters who both look to have exciting futures lying ahead of them. But it is not just me who is concerned about the damage DMDs could be having on the long-term health of our game. Just ask Andrew Coltart, the former Ryder Cup player, two-time European Tour winner and now, among other things, a mentor for the Scottish Golf Union.

“At a recent junior event, I saw some good golf and I saw some poor golf,” he said. “But one thing sticks out a mile about our young crop of players. The majority seem to have adopted the new, lazy, easy approach to golf which seems endemic in our overall society these days. They take out their laser and shoot at the pin.

“They have no clue as to exactly how far that pin is from the right edge, left edge, back or front of green. I am witnessing countless times a player shortsides himself and struggles to make bogey. He then puts himself under pressure and shoots at more flags and guess what? He makes even more mistakes.”

According to Coltart, the art of course management is being sacrificed by coaches more interested in trying to mould the perfect swing. Yet, as he rightly points out, even some of the finest players the game has ever produced had swing faults. What set them apart from the rest was an ability to plot their way around the course.

In modern times, one of the best examples of that was surely the 2006 Open Championship at Hoylake, where Tiger Woods used his driver just once – at the 16th hole in the first round – en route to an impressive victory.

“It seems to me we are losing the battle in teaching better golfers,” added Coltart. “Coaches, stop teaching your good players how to swing a club and start thinking about teaching them how to be better at golf.

“There are no marks for artistic impression in this game. If you want that, go and coach ice skating.

“This is golf. The only thing that matters is what score gets on the card. Show your kids how to do their own yardage book. Show them how to read a golf course. Where to hit it. Where not to hit it – ie the sucker places the designer deliberately built to draw you in. Teach them when to attack, when to be patient. How to play with what they have on any given day. How to focus, how to prepare each week.

“We are not going to produce the quality of player without paying attention to these intrinsic steps all the great players possess in abundance.”

Anchoring is an issue that should have been nipped in the bud long ago and I’ve got a feeling that we’ll be saying the same thing about DMDs in the future.

Gallacher makes plans for assistants’ event later this year

While you often hear assistant professionals moaning about “being stuck in the shop selling Mars bars and rarely getting time to practice”, the PGA is doing a fine job with the current batch in Scotland.

As part of his Foundation programme, Stephen Gallacher held a pro-am at Kingsfield Golf Centre outside Linlithgow recently and it involved a trainee professional joining forces with three youngsters.

Communication isn’t a skill too many youngsters seem to posses these days but credit to the PGA and the bosses of the individuals in question here as they made a big impression with the tournament host.

“They were fantastic,” declared Gallacher without any prompting whatsoever.

“In fact, I was so impressed that I’m going to put on an

assistants’ event later in the year.”

Gallacher himself didn’t take the PGA route, earning his place on the European Tour virtually straight after he’d turned professional on the back of a glittering amateur career. But the likes of Paul Lawrie, Ian Poulter and Robert Rock all had spells selling Mars bars and look where they are now.

For all but just a few, if it was a toss up between entering the PGA training programme and playing on the PGA EuroPro Tour, then the former should be the winner every time.