Coming To Grips with An Outdated Golf Tradition
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2020-04-22
By DAN O’NEILL, Morning Read
Things will be different when we get back to normal, if you will.
Already trending in the direction, the new normal will be even more impersonal, advanced by the social-distancing mitigation that the coronavirus pandemic has produced. The residue will affect a number of behaviors, to varying degrees, on numerous levels. But one thing seems certain: the handshake is about to become a thing of the past.
Culturally speaking, in households where the handshake has been taught, nurtured and celebrated as character-defining, it will not go quietly. Understandable. There’s nothing wrong with traditional values.
But my father had health issues as a child, which rendered his right arm and hand essentially inoperable. He was left-handed by default. I am right-handed, as is an estimated 90 percent of the world’s population.
In my house, the handshake was about as important as accordion licks and juggling tricks. I don’t remember ever shaking hands with my dad. So, either the moral reputation of the handshake is BS, or that makes me eligible for handicap parking.