Hall of Fame flaws exposed by Freddie

Couples’ induction highlights the problems with World Golf Hall of Fame

Right said Fred: Was Couples induction to the Hall of Fame based on his likeability first and career second?

Fred Couples is many things. Likeable, talented and cool to name a few. He is also one of my favourite players. But one thing he is not, at least to my mind, is a ‘Hall of Fame’ worthy golfer. Not yet, anyway.

Even so, earlier this week, the smooth-swinging American was voted into that ‘prestigious’ golfing establishment, at the age of 52, with 15 PGA Tour wins and one major victory to his name.

Now, just think about that for a minute. In a professional career spanning 20-plus years, Couples – or ‘Boom Boom’ as some of us have come to acknowledge him – has managed a win every 16 or so months. He ranks joint 57th on the PGA Tour’s all-time winners list and his the 1992 Masters yielded his only major triumph in 88 attempts.

In real terms, that’s not a bad haul. But a great one? A truly, legitimately great one? Not a chance. And that’s the issue with his appointment to the Hall of Fame.

By rights, an institution like that should exist to celebrate phenomenal careers, like Jack’s or Arnold’s and the like. Not ones that are merely good. And that’s what Couples has had up to now: a good career. Nothing more, nothing less.

Frankly, I don’t understand the rush to induct Couples right now. Why not wait ten years by which time he might have added a further dozen Champions Tour titles and maybe two or three more Senior major wins. He could even (although it’s unlikely) have a victorious Ryder Cup captaincy under his belt by that time. Now, that would be something more closely resembling a Hall of Fame career.

The problems with the World Golf Hall of Fame are many and varied, ranging from the age limit from the fact you can become eligible for nomination at 40, which is far too young, to the complicated, convoluted voting system.

However, to my mind, the single biggest issue with the Hall of Fame is this: it has become a popularity contest. Not a reflection of a player’s career, nor a celebration of his achievements. Instead, it has become a way for those with ballot papers to say, ‘I really, really like you.’ How else do you explain Fred Couples’ inclusion, or indeed Phil Mickelson’s getting the nod last year?

The line between great golfers and great people has, to my mind, become muddied with sycophancy and that’s too bad. Sure, talk up the good guys – because goodness knows it’s a world where we’ve become more accustomed to talking about the bad ones – but please, for the good of the game, don’t try and use their endearing personalities as some kind of leverage to turn their career into something it isn’t.

There is such a rush in life, not just golf, to attach labels to people, particularly successful people. Anyone who watched the Olympics in London this year will know that. Our gold medalists are no longer just gold medalists. They’re apparently ‘legends’, ‘inspirations’, ‘heroes’, ‘icons’. Every single last one of them.

The world, and especially the sporting world, can lose itself so easily in a lather of hyperbole that the meanings behind the labels we use get forgotten.

In Fred Couples’ case, it seems that there has been a great hurry to call him a ‘Hall of Famer’ because he’s a top bloke and a cool guy first and foremost that what it actually means to be a ‘Hall of Famer’ has not even featured in the deliberations as so much as an afterthought.

The players already (and justifiably) in the ‘Hall’ deserve better than that and Fred, himself, deserves better than that.

Unless something is done to redress these induction imperfections, the World Golf Hall of Fame’s credibility and prestige will, very quickly, become significantly diminished.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered