The Sham Revelation

As Issued by the Grand Sham Tournament Players Association

 

In the beginning, there was belief.

Belief in fairness. Belief in improvement. Belief that effort would be rewarded proportionally.

This belief did not survive contact with golf.

After prolonged observation, repeated participation and extensive personal expense, the Grand Sham Tournament Players Association issues the following determination:

Golf is a sham.

This conclusion is not emotional.
It is observational.

And long overdue.

On the Nature of the Game

Golf presents itself as merit-based endeavor governed by skill and patience.
In practice, it operates as a closed psychological system sustained by randomness and selective memory.

Difficulty is mistaken for virtue.
Inconsistency becomes character.
Failure is personalized.
Success is temporary.

Players are told to “trust the process.”
The process offers no timetable and accepts no responsibility.

On Fairness

Golf invokes fairness while providing little evidence of it.

Identical swings produce different outcomes.
Correct decisions are punished.
Improvement arrives irregularly, if at all.

This is not a flaw.
It is the structure.

The promise of fairness sustains participation long after fairness has ceased to appear.

On Hope

Hope persists as golf’s most renewable resource.

Each round begins with renewed confidence unsupported by prior outcomes.
Success is anticipated.
Past regressions are dismissed as anomalies.

Hope is not merely encouraged by the game; it is carefully cultivated.

On Reform

The GSTPA does not seek to fix golf.

Reform would require transparency.
Transparency would reduce participation.

The game persists precisely because it cannot be resolved.

Final Determination

Golf is not unfair by accident.
It is unfair by design.

Those who continue to play do so with varying degrees of awareness.

The Grand Sham Tournament Players Association exists to document this awareness, preserve the record, and issue findings as necessary.

Golf is a sham.

This concludes the current revelation.