Life Unscripted - The Real Rookies of the PGA Tour

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One of the more talked tweeted about off-the-course golf stories of the past week was the strategically placed rumor? report that a group of PGA Tour wives were pitching a reality show.  The topic was timely and the packaging was perfect. It came just as our voyeuristic hunger for the unscripted adventures of attractive people reached new heights. Thank you Charlie Sheen.

Various elements of the PGA Tour wives reality show story have since been denied, and the golf talk on Twitter has reverted back to its default: Tiger Woods. Though he's not playing this weekend Tiger was being talked about... a lot... by fans and detractors, by fellow tour players and golf icons of the past.  And by many writers, bloggers and journalists who are as fascinated as his fans and who know the value of his name in a headline.

Tiger was omnipresent on Twitter this weekend where tweets like "I keep thinking of Tiger Woods whenever someone mentions #tigerblood" were popular.  Once again, thank you Charlie Sheen.

When you look at who's commanding attention in today's fragmented, pop-culture obsessed, search-engine-optimised media landscape there's a pretty good chance it won't be the one with the most relevant message... or the most important story.  Kelly McParland addressed this idea today in a pensive piece for Canada.com's National Post. Seeking anonymity? Join the PGA Tour. is the sobering title and in it he ruefully declares, "Golf needs Tiger like a politician needs votes".

A couple of days ago I finally got a chance to check out  Chief Executive Golfer,  a blog written by PGA Tour rookie, Scott Stallings, for BNET, the CBS interactive business network.  The PGA Reshuffle: What Happens When You're Not Making Money was the post that caught my eye.  It was Scott's most recent post, and as I read it... then read his previous posts... I was captivated by the narrative.  It's Scott's personal story and it brings to life his dreams... and his disappointments... many of which are certainly shared by touring pros everywhere as they attempt to build sustainable golf careers.

I'd first heard about Scott and his blog via an interview he did for The Grill Room, the with Golf Magazine senior editor Alan Bastable (who, by the way, also introduced the wives reality show story). Scott started the blog a couple of years ago and writes regularly.  His early posts find him grinding along on the Nationwide Tour his describes the frustration when he narrowly missed getting on the PGA Tour in 2009 and the joy of making it in 2010.  He talks about the crazy travel schedule, the relationships with his caddy and swing coach, the money issues and missed cuts and the sheer unpredictability of it all.   For the casual golf fan... and even for avid fans... I suspect many of the stories in Scott's blog would be a revelation.

Scott is a preachers son, raised in Oak Ridge, TN.  His quintessential Middle American innocence and unaffected enthusiasm come through clearly in his writing.   He travels 300 days a year with Jennifer who he first met when they were both... in kindergarten. They started dating in seventh grade and she's now his wife.  Though she's as beautiful as any of the PGA Tour wives mentioned in the reality show story,  her look is decidedly more "winsome, storybook princess" than "fierce bad girl glamazon".

Jennifer manages the couple's complicated, constantly changing itinerary and acts as devil's advocate for her sometimes overly optimistic husband.  She's also a talented photographer... and a prolific blogger in her own right.  Life on the Road is where Jennifer chronicles the unconventional touring pro lifestyle from a partner's point of view.  Like her husband she describes the hardships as well as the joys and paints an engaging, eye-opening picture.

Scott missed the cut for the Honda Classic so right now he and Jennifer are in rain soaked Bogota, Colombia for the Nationwide Tour's Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open. Scott's currently in a tie for 22nd as the last group finishes their second round and the third round gets underway. Rules don't allow for play on Monday so the the tournament... and the next move for Mr. and Mrs. Stallings... will be decided this afternoon, on the completion, it's hoped, of 54 holes.  Theirs is far cry from the lifestyle of the top players.

For Scott Stallings and other PGA Tour rookies... and for all of those trying to reach the PGA Tour through the Nationwide Tour or regional and developmental tours... the stakes, week-in and week-out, are arguably far greater than they are at the top, where players have status that allows them to worry much less about keeping their jobs.  To my mind, these rookies... and aspiring rookies... have a far more dramatic story to tell.  A good showing has got to mean more... and a heart break must be far more heartbreaking... when the specter of starting over at Q-school is hanging over one's head.  If these stories can be heard over the cacophony that's created around the glamorous lives of top players, I'm sure they'll find an enthusiastic audience... even in this fragmented golf media landscape. 

With the huge proliferation of new online golf platforms and multimedia golf entertainment networks, a well produced web series starring Scott and Jennifer Stallings might not be that much of a stretch.  In the meantime check out Chief Executive Golfer and Life on the Road for an ultra-engaging glimpse into the lives of the real rookies of the PGA Tour.

The Discrepant Lives of PGA Tour Wives

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In the past PGA Tour wives tended to live their lives out of the public eye and under-the-radar.

When they did appear... a few times each year... it would be in feature stories or sidebars, where they'd be shown collectively raising funds for children's charities or visiting flood-ravaged neighborhoods. They were always giving back and they were always in a group.

Only when the Ryder Cup came around, every two years, did the story get blatantly glamorous, as WAGs appeared in evening gowns on their husband's arms at glittery galas.  There they became an integral part of the US-Europe rivalry and individual wives were featured in the press... if only for a fortnight.

When Elin Nordegren appeared on the scene in 2002  she quite naturally became the main focus among the golf wives.  For most of the remainder of the decade she set a standard defined by discretion and an extreme desire for privacy... so fans were left to speculate about what life was like for a PGA Tour wife, and many went with the simple assumption that all such women were uber-wealthy and leading highly cloistered luxury lives.

When, at the end of the decade, things fell apart at Chez Woods, the effect was that golf suddenly became fair game for tabloids. Privacy/discretion became a thing of the past. So I wasn't surprised yesterday to see that a group of PGA Tour wives purportedly shopping around a reality show.

The ladies involved seemed to be interesting, uninhibited and anxious to establish their personal brands and they were the kind of wives we never got to see in the past.  Their husbands are extraordinarily talented, but none of them are currently in the the top 10 or the top 50... or the top 100.  Only one of the guys has won and only one has ever made a Ryder Cup team.  I thought the show sounded promising, however, real-time reaction... courtesy of Twitter... was mainly negative, and the chief complaint appeared to be that because the husbands aren't top golfers the show would be boring and no one would watch.  I'm quite convinced that just opposite is true.  A story about women whose husbands were not at the top would almost certainly be more compelling.  Their lives would be less insular and more entangled... and the weekly specter of missed cuts and the looming possibility of a lost card would add a continuing element of suspense.

 Since rumors of the prospective program first broke, a couple of the women involved have denied they ever intended to do a reality show, so who knows if it'll ever see the light of day.  The one think I think we can be sure of is that we'll now be seeing more of the wives of PGA Tour players than we ever did in the past.

Photos

PGA Tour wives - Chase Hattan, Reverb Collective via GOLF.com
Elin Nordegren - via ShavarRoss.com