The Grand Sham Tournament Players Association (GSTPA) is a non-instructional body dedicated to the observation and documentation of recreational golf as it is experienced, rather than as it is described.

The Association does not teach.
It does not correct.
It does not offer solutions.

Golf presents itself as a merit-based activity governed by fairness, patience, and skill. The Association’s work suggests that these qualities function more as narratives than guarantees.

The GSTPA conducts ongoing observation of competitive events, informal play, and participant behavior. Its focus is not performance at the highest levels, but experience across the broad population of players for whom improvement is expected and rarely realized.

The GSTPA Tour operates in affiliation with the Association and conducts a series of tournaments aligned with golf’s major championships. These events serve as the primary environment in which the Association’s observations are formed, producing consistent patterns of expectation, outcome, and response under competitive conditions.

The Association maintains records in three primary forms:

• Findings — formal clinical studies documenting recurring behavioral patterns
• Observations — brief field notes recorded during or following play
• Field Correspondence — narrative accounts submitted by observers and participants

Materials are reviewed for clarity and institutional tone.
Not all submissions are published.
All are noted.

The GSTPA does not assess correctness.
It records recurrence.

Participation in golf is voluntary.
The conditions it produces are not.