"The PGA Tour needs to get real"

Peter Williams, writing in the New Zealand Herald on the need for drug testing in golf:

Golf's attitude to drugs historically has been one of "we don't see it, therefore it's not happening." That's how the cancer spreads through countless other sports.
 
Yet an IOC report which came out last year showed that golf had the highest percentage of anti-doping violations in 2003.
 
The IGF is to be commended for what they're doing in South Africa. The PGA Tour needs to get real.

And this is interesting...

But the testing will be only for substances on the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) banned list. That list does not include, for golf, the drug which many people believe is the game's most effective performance enhancer - the beta blocker. The most common type of this class is propranolol. It's an anti-anxiety drug which slows your heart rate and has virtually no side effects.

 

A golfing anaesthetist, who's been a scratch player, told me that beta blockers are great for golfers who suffer from nerves in pressure situations - and that surely includes everybody who's ever played at a competitive level. He reckons that you become calm and relaxed over important shots and therefore have a better chance of making a smooth swing. He's in no doubt propranolol is a far more effective performance enhancer for golf than any kind of strength-building steroid.