Kostis: Tiger, Please Talk To Me

Okay he didn't write that, but Peter Kostis' subliminal attempt to reach out to good ole buddy Tiger contains just the kind of raw emotional soul-bearing that will keep Kleenex in business (and maybe cost Mike Hulbert a job...if Tiger were to be as moved as I was).

Well it wasn't that moving. And Kostis won't win the GS.com promised award to the first golf writer daring thinking to suggest that the new TV deal was a wake-up call about the "product." However, he gets a big honorable mention for a noble suggestion (and I just know Peter'll be adding it to his resume!).

But first the subliminal message to Tiger:

If the tour and television truly are partners, then the players have to do their part. Tim Finchem evoked the success of NASCAR in creating the FedEx Cup points race, which begins in 2007. But the success of NASCAR isn't only derived from a season-ending points race. It's also from drivers willing to share comments with television viewers while in the final stages of strapping themselves into their seats and risking life and limb at over 200 mph. Most tour players, however, are reluctant to talk to television hours before they play or warm up because it might ruin their mental state! It only takes a matter of seconds to lend some insight, so no more of this "I'm too busy to talk" stuff on the range.

Paging Dr. Freud? Dr. Freud to the CBS compound please.

And here's where Kostis takes himself out of the equation and makes a great point:

Variety is a good thing, whether it's in the form of fast, firm greens, slow, soft greens, long rough, or hardly any rough at all. This would also allow us to return to a time when practice rounds at courses meant something, because you learned about the individual characteristics that made that week's venue different from last week's.

Easy there Peter. If they play more practice rounds, and that means less time on the lesson tee with you! 

The point of these suggestions is not to look back on the way things have been done with a hypercritical eye. It's to point out that golf is an exciting sport for television spectators, and can be made even more so with a few alterations.

Right, it's all good. Oh, but you better take a hard look at the product Mr. Commissioner.