This entry strays a bit from the normal it’s obviously about golf tack of this writer’s routes. I receive a blog from Seth Godin on a daily basis and enjoy it for its quick-hit consistency. To his credit, Godin always makes me think. In a recent toss, he put down these words: The media would prefer the former, of course. It’s more fun to cover a fight than it is to report on progress.

I was equal parts embittered, frustrated, angered and bemused. The song Dirty Laundry by Don Henley came to mind and I wondered if this was really the case, or was it based on the age of the writer or the listener (I was in my late teens when Henley released his pessimistic rant.) My evolution turned to golf, to local golf, to some of what comes across BuffaloGolfer.Com. Is it more fun for a writer to cover the fight or the progress? Would we prefer one over the other? What does it say about the writer’s self? I’ve attempted to answer some of my questions, if only for me.

I prefer the progress, although I don’t avoid the fight. The nature of BuffaloGolfer is to promote or advance golf and all its trappings. We like to look at equipment, area courses, tournaments, personalities, with an optimistic eye. When this gets too sugary, we set Rico’s Rants loose on the neighborhood. Golf is an escape, not a way of life. It is an extra, not a necessity. It doesn’t move the socioeconomic needle unless a people (Bandon, Cabot Links) or a region are being resuscitated by its arrival.

I can’t recall the last “fight” option we covered in golf in western New York. Rico went off one time on a top local player and why he might be better than most. It had a bit to do with socioeconomic advantage. The golfer contacted me and asked what was up. I let him know that he could comment like anyone else, although Rico had already been taken to task by other top players. We haven’t had a great golf scandal, so very little “fight” to address.

I thought, in the late 2000s, that we would see some course compression. I didn’t imagine that the addition of seven (Arrowhead, Diamond Hawk, Harvest Hill, Seneca Hickory Stick, Ironwood, Concord Crest, Buffalo Tournament Club) new courses would not affect our private/public/municipal course structure in some way. I imagined that some private clubs would open their doors and that some might even sell off their land to developers. That didn’t happen, to the credit of the local golf industry.

We’re not building new courses any more. No one is. A healthy diversity exists in the ones we have and the rumor of a nine-hole course, south of the Cobblestone district, on burned-out industrial land, will be forever that (reverse psychology, don’cha know!) Until someone leaks the news of social injustice in area golf, of abuse of privilege, of theft or misappropriation, stories on this site will unavoidably tend toward the progress. The winner of the tournament was … or the restoration at the golf course was carried out by …

There’s little alternative, so I guess I’m happy that I can put this baby to bed and move on to another restless child.