Golf and performance enhancing drugs

I was thinking about this earlier today when reading Golf Plus in SI.

I agree that there should be some sort of drug testing in golf, if only to be proactive before anything becomes a problem. But here's the thing: Will steroids, HGH, etc., etc. actually help golfers? There are plenty of people out there (J.B. Holmes, Brett Wetterich, etc.) who can bomb the ball but when it comes to hitting precise approaches, they stink. I can't imagine how steroids (i.e. extra strength) would help in that area. Same with putting and short game.

Some of the longer hitters on the LPGA (Paula Creamer comes to mind) aren't really big, beastly women either. So strength only carries you so far.

My bigger concern would be the drug baseball had a problem with -- amphetamines.

The schedule these golfers keep is insane. I remember covering an LPGA event earlier this year and Cristie Kerr couldn't stick around for a final-round interview because she had to hop a plane to Korea for a tournament. You get into the grind, especially for the middlers on the money lists, and you're playing in the pro-am, practice rounds, etc., etc. It can get exhausting.

Wouldn't greenies be a bigger problem than steroids? More energy equals better mental focus and results, right?

 

If cheating in golf is your goal, there are lots of more effective ways than steroids.

 

The PEDs golfers would be taking would be for shorter recovery times from injuries or overuse of muscles, not to get Ahhnold-like bodies.

 

Playing winter rules enhances anyone's performance on the golf course.

Putting ... Putting at night ... with the president's daughter also enhances one's performance.

 

That would be the 17-year-old daughter of the dean.

 

My mistake ... that shot went right in the lumberyard.

 

Greenies? Hell no ... unless you want golfers ricocheting balls off the clubhouse from the tee. The shit pumps you up, but it also gives you the yips.

The PGA should instead make beta blockers illegal. That's the stuff that calms you down and keeps you from Vandevelding on 18. (You can tell when Lefty is off his meds.)

HGH? Check the Champions Tour.

 

Golf has always been a self-policed sport, for the most part. If a golfer wants to use 'roids the best he/she can hope for is ending up on a Pinnacle commercial, anyway.

 

Viagara? Check the Champions Tour.

 

Tiger Woods says, "Bring it on."

Is it that hard?

 

at first i thought the title of this thread was "Gold and performance enhancing drugs." i'm glad to see SportsJournalists.com's own gold isn't juicing.