What Colour is Santa's Coat- Why Golf Needs More Traditions......Delivered in a Non-Traditional Manner
What Colour is Santa’s Coat?
Why golf needs
more traditions…………..........…….
………..
delivered in a non-traditional manner
S.
Smith, AFBPsS, C.Psychol, CSci, BSc St. Andrews
Chief Psychologist
Sport Psychology Ltd.
Member ‘The College of Experts’: Independent Scientific Advisor to UK
Government
Email: psych@sportpsychology.co.uk
Phone: UK + 44 (0)7806 794 527
Dedicated to the memory of Scott Stewart
1969 -2020
Abstract
Things ain’t
what they used to be- these days children email their wishes to Santa’s online
accounts and watch out for his arrival on their parents iPads. Traditions, like
Santa, always evolve and have to move with the times if they are to survive.
The traditions may evolve but the emotional power they have over us remains as
strong as ever. It is folly to try and stop traditions from evolving or to
throw beloved traditions in the garbage bin to artificially make yourself more
relevant- golf may have achieved both in recent times . Many great empires
(e.g. The Romans) have recognised the importance of traditions to create
certainty in the minds of the populace- particularly in times of great turmoil.
As we continue to deal with the ramifications of the first global pandemic in over 100 years
the need for certainty and confidence has never been greater. As many leisure
activities compete for survival the ones that offer a sense of stability
through modern traditions are those most likely to appeal to the vast majority
of people. Traditions create a sense of belonging that is a fundamental part of
human existence. One of the reasons golf became so popular was that it was
possible to play in the fashion of the day. In the last 60 years golf got stuck when it confused being bureaucratic
with being traditional- particularly around clothing. When golf was at the
heigh of its growth the fashion of the day was the thing to be seen in- it
needs to get this mojo back.
Golf has also
misunderstood that having a unique language/jargon is vital to creating a sense
of belonging to something special. In trying to appeal by getting rid of
traditional language it has only made itself bland and no different from
anything else- will tennis ever decide to swap zero for ‘Love’? It is not the
quirky language that put people off it’s the way that certain individuals
(every club has them) use trivial infringements to embarrass and shame
newcomers. If golf wishes to be the game of the 21st century it
needs to address the culture endemic at most venues. Golf Culture must be
inclusive, supportive and empathetic to give all new participants a special
sense of safety, security and belonging that makes everyone want to stay part
of our tribe
“RED!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I can hear the howls of
shock as I imagine the natural response that most readers will have to my,
ludicrous, question, “Santa’s coat is red – it
has always been red”. Aye, but there’s the rub- it hasn’t, in
fact it has only been completely red for less than a measly 100 years. Before
the late 19th century Santa was almost always dressed in blue or
green and that would have been the image that the original winners of The Open
would have recognised. Then in the 1870s a cartoon was published in Harper’s
Weekly which first showed Santa in a red coat but paired with a green hat, green
trousers and stockings. Over the next 60 years the depiction of Santa gently
evolved through a number of advertising campaigns by various products until the
infamous Coca Cola advertising campaign of 1930. The company hired artist
Haddon Sunbloom to create a characterisation of Santa Claus for use in festive
campaigns. The idea was to ensure people continued to drink Coke during the
winter months, as the drink was associated with warm, summer days. It is the immense
success of this campaign that is credited with cementing the upgraded and
reworked image that we all now love and cherish as part of our standard Christmas
narrative. The style of the tradition may have changed to create a figure that
Allan Robertson and all those famous old Scottish golf Professionals of the 19th
century would not know but Santa remains as strong as ever.
Even today, the way children let Santa know what gifts
they wish for and watch out for his sleigh on Christmas Eve has evolved. Just a
generation ago children wrote handwritten letters whilst now they text or
WhatsApp to Santa’s online accounts. They used to sit by the bedroom window to
scan the sky for Rudolph’s red nose, now they switch on the
laptop/tablet/smartphone to watch him being tracked across the globe by NORAD.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command launches a ‘Santa Tracker’ each Christmas
eve that plots his sleigh as it travels west from the international date line.
This enables many a weary parent to warn their children that they need to get
to bed or Santa will fly right past them. How children interact with this
wonderful tradition is moving with the times but the emotional magic remains as
powerful as it always was.
Traditions do not stand still- they evolve with time
and people love them all the more for that. It is folly to try and stop
traditions from changing or to throw beloved traditions in the garbage bin to
artificially try and make yourself more relevant. Sadly, golf may have
committed both these, cardinal, sins over the last few years.
The importance of maintaining and evolving traditions
was recognised by the mighty Roman Empire hundreds of years before the first
Christian missionaries moved into northern Europe and St Regulus brought the
bones of St Andrew to a small town on the eastern coast of Fife in Scotland.
The Romans understood that their very invasion of a territory caused immense emotional
anguish, fear and stress. This drove people to seek psychological sanctuary in
their local deities and the religious ceremony and traditions that were
associated with them. In torrid times people turned to the ‘old ways’ that had
always given them security and soothed ragged nerves. No amount of military
might or threat could challenge these emotions and the empire knew this would
lead to rebellion as the locals failed to integrate into ‘The Roman Way’. The
solution was to update the tradition and give them a modern makeover. Just as
Santa was reworked 2000 years later so were all the pagan ceremonies and
traditions of the invaded regions with Roman gods/ceremonies being matched up
in calendar time and content. This created a whole suite of Version 2.0
traditions that paid homage to the old pagan heritage to give continuity and
security but moved the locals psychologically away from the past. Now they
would see Rome as the new centre of their universe and the foundation stone of
safety and security.
Hollywood has tended to show the Romans as ‘The
Baddies’ and the locals rejoicing as the conquerors are pushed back to Rome
only to watch The Eternal City being sacked. The reality is that the loss of
Roman rule and the stability the empire provided was as psychologically
terrifying for most people as the original invasion. The original Christian church had to step
into this void and grew as The Roman Empire failed. The leaders of this new
faith may not have had any love for the old empire but they were smart enough
to learn their tricks to convert the masses. The church noted the power of
traditions and also upgraded them to ensure they attracted new converts from
diverse walks of life.
If the Romans created Pagan Version 2.0 then the
Christian church stepped into create Version 3.0. Long before Coca Cola existed
the church was already merging the Greek/Christian tradition of gift giving to
children in the name of St Nicholas on his birthday with the Roman/ Pagan
tradition of celebrating the winter solstice.
St Nicholas was born on the 19th December and the winter
solstice was the 21st of that month. Low and behold we now have
Christmas on the 25th December a time where we merge the Christian
gift tradition with the pagan/druidic reverence of mistletoe as we kiss under
it (or did before COVID19).
That most experts conclude that it is likely Jesus was
born in Springtime or that the high priests of the old druids are turning in
their graves as they watch what we do with their beloved mistletoe does not
diminish our love of these ceremonies in the slightest. Our winter ceremonies may have moved a million miles away from the
original meaning and content – as have Halloween, Easter etc- but we love them
none the less. Deep in the human psyche we perceive our version of the
tradition as timeless and it links us back to both our ancestors and all the
other members of society around us. As
the Romans and the early Christians understood this creates an extremely
powerful ‘Sense of Belonging’ that is fundamental to human existence. Humans
are the most advanced of primates but all primates live in groups and the need
to feel part of the community is deeply written into the core of our DNA-
taking part in communal behaviours and undergoing a shared experience is the
key to fulfilling that emotional need.
Moving forward through time we find ourselves in
Augusta in 1934 as Horton Smith holes the final putt to win the first ever
Masters. No doubt you will imagine him going to The Butler Cabin to slip on The
Green Jacket but that tradition did not start until 1949. There was no Amen
Corner as the name had yet to be coined by Journalist Herbert Warren Wind and
Smith did not have to worry about what menu to offer at the champions’ dinner
the following year as that tradition would not emerge for another quarter of a
century. From naming spectators ‘Patrons’ to encouraging players to skip balls
across the pond in the par 3 pre-tournament competition the denizens of The
Augusta National Golf Club have been ruthless in their creation of traditions.
Like their Roman and early Christian predecessors they are deeply aware that
people adore traditions and relentlessly investigate how to create more and/or
update the current ones. At the side of their wonderful food and drink
amenities their ‘Patrons’ are encouraged complete surveys on the latest tablets
and I-Pads which ask about their feelings on these very topics. The good and
the great at Augusta know that the key to success is understanding human
feelings and emotions and building or evolving traditions to meet those
emotional drivers- particularly in times of great upheaval.
The world is facing a level of global upheaval and
insecurity that we have not seen since world war two- only this time no country
can claim to be neutral and excuse themselves from the conflagration. The
invader may be a tiny virus rather than an armour clad legionary or modern tank
but the anxiety it creates in all of us is even higher as we fear this
invisible enemy. Across the globe people are desperately seeking psychological
safety and are finding that in activities that offer a combination of
traditions, shared experiences, and social interaction in a socially distant
and outdoor environment. Golf ticks all the boxes on this emotional checklist and
we have seen a sudden upsurge in demand for our sport that has taken many by
surprise- but this bounty may not be permanent and golf should not take it for
granted.
To survive in the long-term golf must maintain the
interest of those who have swelled our ranks in recent months. The game must
make itself attractive to others to create a foundation for diverse growth. To
do that it must ensure that it continues to develop traditions to make them
relevant for the 21st century and does not make the mistake of
confusing being traditional with having traditions.
Being traditional actually ends up with faceless
committees trying to stop the game from evolving and creates old fashioned
bureaucratic rules that simply alienate most people. Clothing is a classic
example- look at the pictures in history books and admire Old or Young Tom
Morris or any of the great players of the bygone eras. You will see that they
are all dressed in the fashion of the day. A quick change out of their golf
boots and they were ready to ‘Trip the Light Fantastic’ in the local hotspots
of their time. One of the reasons that golf became popular was that you could
wear the very latest and trendiest of gear – and everyone did as the game cut a
swathe across the world. Then something happened at the very end of the 1950’s
– perhaps a long term reaction to WW2 or the social changes that were beginning
to take shape in the swinging sixties but golf stopped moving with the times.
It failed to allow players to be trendy- on or off the course. As clothing and
fashion sense moved on in the rest of the world golf clubs turned into little
time capsules where style stopped with Ben Hogan. As one golfer said recently
“I can’t wear my (incredibly expensive) designer jeans whilst some of the older
members can turn up in clothing that is only fit for the local farmer’s
scarecrow”. If golf wishes to move itself forward then reviewing dress codes must
be an absolute necessity.
At the moment it seems that many venues in the game
are hiding under the banner of maintaining standards whilst their real objective
is trying to stop progress. In the long term this approach is as likely to be
as successful as King Canute trying to stop the tide coming in. Either the
outdated codes will be washed away by the waves or the whole game will.
For any readers who swear we must maintain a dress
code I would point them to the wonderful book “Four Hundred Years of The
Blackheath Golfer, 1608- 2008”. On Page 17 there is a picture of The Prince of
Wales – ‘The First Blackheath Golfer’- dressed in the clothing of the time that
he would have worn on the heath. On page
18 there is a picture of Mary Queen of Scots playing golf circa 1563. Her male
companions are wearing outfits with frills, ornate trims and shoulder pads that
would not look out of place in the 1980’s series ‘Dynasty’. Puffy sleeves were
all the rage as the style for men at the time and the look was completed with hose
to their knees finished off with stockings and garters. If you really want to
get traditional in your dress code at the golf club why not make this style the
standard attire?
As this wonderful book progresses forward in time it
demonstrates that the clothing worn by golfers always reflected the latest
fashion and styles of the era enabling golf to be remarkably attractive to all.
Golf was hip baby! Being open to the very latest styles from the catwalks and
the high street purveyors of clothing was a key factor in the game’s appeal
when the games growth was at its greatest.
If this game really wishes to get back to its roots
and maintain the standards that catapulted it across the globe it has to return
to that open and inclusive dress culture that welcomed everyone and every
style.
The other cardinal sin that golf has made is to throw
the baby out with the bathwater and get rid of traditions that should have been
allowed to gently evolve- none more so than the area of language.
Language is the one key thing that separates humans
from the rest of the animal kingdom and its power cannot be underestimated.
Long before the people around Bow Bell in London created cockney rhyming slang
to confuse the authorities of the time humans have been developing their own
‘Special’ codes and languages that confirm their membership of a group.
This concept is as powerful in the offices of Google,
Amazon or any of the latest High-Tech start-ups in Silicon Valley as it was
when humans first came down from the trees. Anyone who has started a new job
knows that every organisation has its own jargon and peculiarities of language.
Using that vocabulary tells your colleagues you are ‘one of them’. It reduces
inner anxiety in everyone as you signal to them that you have become part of
the tribe/pack. Humans are primates and
primates live in groups- being outside of the group is a very dangerous place
to be as it makes you an easy target for any predator. Billions of years of
evolution have meant that we are the descendants of those that were driven to
stay within the pack and were able to stay safe and have offspring. We have been infused with their DNA and that
means there are many circuits within our brain design that are evolutionary
hangovers from that past and give us a huge emotional drive to be part of a
tribe.
The challenge for the game is to ensure that golf is
the tribe that demonstrates that it stands out from the crowd of leisure tribes
out there and attracts more new participants. Maintaining a special language
that is unique is one vital aspect of this strategy – golf needs to pass ‘The
Grim Test’* if it is to succeed.
Davy Grimshaw (‘The Grim’) was one of
life’s great characters and a massive presence at the club I joined as a boy.
He was in his 70’s when I first met him but even at that age most men would not
have taken him on in a fist fight. He grew up on the rough streets of Glasgow but
at the club he was always a gentleman and he loved the game. When other members
might have ignored the juniors he always made time to come out of the bar and
sit with us young boys and and chat about golf. If he saw some juniors on the
course he would ask if he could join us and then share his knowledge and
experience and his the joy in the game. He made it his duty to gently fill us
with a wider knowledge of the language of the game - and we loved him for it.
He made us feel special and he made us feel part of the tribe as we started to
be able to speak in the unique dialect of golf. In recent years – with the best
of intentions- we have seen the leading golf bodies remove this special
language and make it blander in an attempt to make it more inclusive. This may turn
out to be an example of the law of unintended consequences. The very fact that
the changed language is so generic means that it does not stand out from the
crowd and our language is now just like everyone else. Can you imagine if tennis
decided to get rid of its unique language and replace ‘Love’ with nil or zero?
If we want to appeal to the most powerful inner drives that underpin 80% of
human decision making we need to ensure that our language, culture and symbols
are unique. If not our attempt to appeal to everyone will actually appeal to no
one.
It is not the language, rules, history or etiquette
that is the psychological hurdle to attracting new players it is the culture
that has grown up in golf venues which means that many would fail ‘The Grim
Test’ spectacularly. ‘The Grim’ imprinted on all the boys at the ‘Briggs GC’ the
importance of sharing golf knowledge with others in a way that does not shame any individual. He knew that to shout,
embarrass or belittle that person might be the death knell for their love
of the game and last time they ever took part. Yes, there
are layers of complexity in golf but that enables us to use them to create
appropriate introductory materials. ‘The Players Guide to the Rules’ handout
instead of the whole rule book is a brilliant example of this approach. It is
perfect for newcomers to the game and 95% of all who will ever play it. For
those who (like me) want to upgrade their rule knowledge there is a fantastic
online referee/rules course (level 1) on the R&A website which I thoroughly
recommend. This approach utilises the natural layers inherent in the sport and
enables individuals to match their own level of curiosity about the game to the
development options. Like old Davy it sits down with the newcomers and matches
the knowledge sharing to their needs and wants. It gently builds their
knowledge and love for the rules in an inclusive and supportive manner.
The key is not to radically change our game but
radically change the culture- specifically the way some people in our game
behave. Anyone who has been in this sport knows exactly who I am referring to
at their club. We all have a story of that individual/s striding across the
course to loudly and publicly berate some poor newcomer for an innocent and
quite trivial infringement or error. We need to create a culture that promotes gently
informing and educating others – most infringements are simply due to a lack of
knowledge- that is not the new player’s fault that’s ours. Golf needs to drive
a culture that appeals to the deepest part of our inherited DNA that wants us
to feel safe and secure as part of a special tribe- if we get that bit right
growth in the game will look after itself.
* The Grim is a composite of four men who played at Bishopbriggs Golf
Club, near Glasgow in Scotland :
·
Davy Grimshaw
·
Howard Stewart
·
Jim Smith
·
Jimmy Robertson
May they all enjoy the fairways in heaven
SPL
Sport Psychology Limited was formed as the ASPIRE partnership in 1990 and became
SPL in 2000. Its psychologists are founders of the Sport Psychology
Professional Body in the UK and have worked with many elite athletes/teams
including one golf Major winner. For the last few years SPL has specialised in
the psychology of design of sports equipment and sports venues and has worked
with leading golf manufacturers and venues.
Stephen Smith
AFBPsS, C.Psychol, C.Sci, BSc (Hons), University of St Andrews
Stephen was walking golf courses at home in
Scotland with his father from the age of 6 and joined his local club as a
junior member aged 14. He is one of only 4 psychologists in the UK who are
fully qualified as BOTH a sport
psychologist and a business psychologist and is an expert in the psychology of
diversity and inclusion.
He is a member of ‘The College of Experts’: This is
a group of 49 independent scientific advisers to the UK Government. Stephen is
attached to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).
Email: psych@sportpsychology.co.uk
Phone: UK + 44 (0)7806 794 527
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