One of the many reasons I support my son’s love of golf is that it’s a screen-free zone for both of us. He just turned 13, and the time we spend on the course feels like the only respite where he isn’t glued to my iPad or begging for his phone. I, too, am enjoying my time without technology.
That’s why I’m so disappointed in the recent trend in junior golf: tournaments that require players as young as 12 to record their scores live on their smartphones.
Seriously?
There is a youth mental health crisis in this country, and some studies convincingly point to the rise of smartphones and social media as the culprit. At last count, 31 states have banned or restricted the use of cell phones by students in school, and a national movement called “Wait Until the 8th” advocates denying children smartphones until at least the end of eighth grade.
But golf, inexplicably, is moving in the opposite direction. Many junior competitors are expected to have their cell phones ready to enter hole-by-hole scores during tournament rounds.
We’ve all experienced how distracting our smartphones can be. And how annoying it is to have a quartet of guys and gals answering text messages, getting sucked into news alerts and Instagram feeds, and checking their next dental appointment. (Many of us have been that man or woman.)
If adults can’t resist the gravity of devices in their pockets, how can children?
Tournament directors say smartphones allow for the live scoring that players and families want. Greg Hubbard, coach and vice president of tournament development for US Kids Golf, the world’s largest junior golf organization, said the live leaderboards “make it feel a little bit like the professional events and the events you see on TV.”
Live scoring also benefits tournament administrators. Spencer Sorensen, director of championships and events for the Oregon Golf Association, said live scoring allows him to monitor the pace of play and nudge slow pokes before they fall too far behind. He recently oversaw a tournament where two players in the penultimate group were tied. He was able to make sure that there was no one in contention in the final group, so he could start the playoffs right away. Wet, tattered, lost, or illegible scorecards become a thing of the past.
However, for players, the use of mobile phones varies. Even 18-year-old Mason Howell, who won the U.S. Amateur Championship earlier this year, got caught up. “That’s what happened,” he told me. “When I look at my phone, I end up looking at social media. I get distracted and my mind isn’t where it should be.”
Alexa Fung, 14, a two-time champion in drive, chip and putt, agrees that cell phone use can be “quite distracting.” She tells her friends and family not to text her because she’s headed to a tournament, but she’s seen her playing partners texting during rounds. How does she know they haven’t entered their score? “It’s their thumb,” she says, waving her thumb in the universal sign for texting. “That’s very clear.”
Sorensen said some players want to know where they are on the leaderboard, and that can be motivating and inform decision-making. “They can say, ‘Okay, now we’re two shots behind. Let’s try and get a birdie here,’ or whatever.”
You get distracted and your mind isn’t where it’s supposed to be.
But Sebastian Martinez, owner of Scout Golf in Beaverton, Oregon, says looking at leaderboards is “the opposite of a performance mindset.” He said that playing aggressively and chasing birdies may have a better chance of leading to doubles than otherwise. In that case, it was enough to make par, as the player you were chasing could have put up a big number. Or even worse, it may turn out that the player’s score was entered incorrectly. Coach Martinez urges his players not to change their decisions based on the actions of others.
Katie Burgoyne, PGA teaching professional at Black Canyon Golf Club in Montrose, Colo., and mother of 10-year-old twin golfers, agrees. “Golf is not a game where you can improve your own game to beat someone else,” she said. She advises her juniors to avoid grading apps. “I want you to keep your head down and think about your next shot. Don’t think about where you’re going to finish or who you’re going to beat,” she said. “Because no matter what, you should try your best every time instead of trying your best to beat John.”
Burgoyne also questions the possibility of foul play. Is anyone watching to see if the scoring app is in tournament mode with the slope feature disabled?Alexa Pun said her father exchanged numbers with another father at the start of a round. Later that day, he received an erroneous text message addressed to his daughter from a new contact. The father called out the location of the hole in the message. Legal? perhaps. i doubt it? absolutely.
When my son and I arrived at the U.S. Kids World Championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in August, we learned that 12-year-old flight competitors were expected to keep their own live scores. US Kids encourages parent caddies who are usually responsible for scorekeeping, so in this case the children were not responsible. But it was still frustrating that instead of watching my son’s group putt and thinking about what to say to him on the way to the next hole, I was fiddling with my phone, opening an app, and entering my score.
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US Kids’ Hubbard told me his organization started phone-based scoring for all tournaments in 2020 during the pandemic. But in 2021, the company began receiving feedback from parents that cell phones were a “distraction” and detracted from an important part of US Kids’ mission to foster family interaction. “When we felt it was taking away from our mission and the experience of our families, we reevaluated,” Hubbard said.
US Kids has reduced live scores for all age groups except 12-year-olds in the most elite 15-20 events (out of 2,500 tournaments held each year). Hubbard said US Kids maintains the policy for that age group because his organization “wants to prepare them for the next level.” That means teen events will almost certainly require you to enter scores on your phone.
There are also alternatives to telephone scoring. Some tournaments assign spectators or volunteers to post their group’s scores. Other events ask the rules official to enter a score. Additionally, some companies offer custom scoring devices, but there are downsides to expecting players to interact with unfamiliar gadgets. However, in all of these cases, a paper scorecard is also kept as a backup.
Golf prides itself on respecting tradition and resisting modern temptations. Like my 83-year-old father, I still have a folder of old scorecards from rounds we played decades ago.
But this isn’t just an appeal to nostalgia. To begin with, requiring children to own a smartphone goes against the spirit of accessibility that many junior golf organizations have passionately promoted. Also, forcing kids to use their phones during a round goes against the great golf skills of concentration and presence.
I started this conversation in a junior golf Facebook group with 30,000 members. Given the enthusiasm that social media alone inspires, some commenters suggested that even if junior golfers are distracted by their phones, phones aren’t the problem. I appreciate that feeling. If I can’t stop eating Oreos, it’s not the Oreo’s fault, it’s me and my willpower. Still, I try not to carry Oreos in my pocket all day.
The rest of the world is also starting to realize the shortcomings and distractions of smartphones. The golf world should follow this pace. In a sport where green blazers and claret-colored Jags remain dominant, paper scorecards may remain supreme as well, especially for the youngest competitors.
;)
