"I have no problem with facial hair, depending on the individual and how it looks."

I finally got around to Tim Rosaforte's "Hairy Situation" story in last week's Golf World (not posted) and while the entire look at the tour and facial hair is great fun, Commissioner Adrian Monk came through with some of his most tortured logic ever.

"I have no problem with facial hair," Finchem said in the TPC clubhouse Saturday, "depending on the individual and how it looks."

There's a policy you can bank on. Go on...

What the commissioner was implying is that being lazy and not shaving in the morning is different from the full-on attempt to grow a beard.

Isn't a full-on attempt to grow a beard the ultimate in laziness? Sorry, there I go again interrupting.

"What I say to the players is no secret," Finchem said. "Look in the mirror and ask yourself or your significant other if [you] look good. If the answer is no, you should shave. Lucas is wearing a beard, that's a given. Not shaving that day is different. You're not wearing a beard. To some people it would connote a lack of respect, so there's a little bit of that concern. On the other hand, some guys, such as Jose Maria Olazabal, show up at a tournament with a three day growth and it looks good. Some guys are like that. There isn't a formula."

Perhaps the Commissioner could draw up his list of Guys Who Look Good With A Three Day Growth?

Comments

[Chuck]

Actually, I need to correct something. Finchem did not suggest asking "significant others." Everyone knows Finchem doesn't talk like that.

What Finchem said to the players was, "If you're going to grow a beard, ask your wife or your girlfriend how they think you look. But don't ask your wife AND your girlfriend, because they are liable to get into a fight, and our clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass is booked for individual news conferences every Wednesday afternoon through Christmas."

Geoff, the notion of a Commissioner's Facial Hair List is a riot. He may reveal it, in an interview with Frank Nobilo on Golf Channel.

I can hear him now....
"If someday it should happen, that a victim must be found, I've got a little list, I've got a little list; Of society offenders who might well be underground, who never would be missed, they never would be missed...."

[g_r_c]

somebody needs to remind me...why is it again that the golf industry is in the tank?...it's right there...just remind me...

[NRH]

Translation: Hunter Mahan has been docked $5k for each cut made this year and Mrs. Finchem meant to say Quiros.

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

Tell me guys ... would you like to kiss a woman with a face covered in hair?

Thought not.

There is NOTHING sexy about facial hair. It's a mano o mano thing, aint it?

[thebigdad]

OMG. Does the czar of Sawgrass have nothing more important on his plate than the facial hair of "independant contractors"? It is to laugh. What about Woody Austin and his brutal shirts? Gawd forbid he take on those with a weight issue. Hey, Stads...you mind tuckin' that shirt in a little better and lay off the horizontal stripes. Makes you look like a bumblebee. Now the real work of rebuilding the image of the PGA post-Tiger starts. Clean shaven of course. This is going to get silly at some point.

[Used to be Former S&T Convert]

Tim is trying to be like Barney Fife and "nip it in the bud" "Nip it" If Barney condones a 3 day beard, then the players will grow a full beard, if he condones a full beard then the players will start showing up will small tattoos, if he gives them small tattoos they will show up looking like Beckham (who can bend it, BTW) or a NBA player. Players will next have face tats like the guy in Hangover II. Barney is trying to Nip It!!!!

[chicago pt]

he REALLY needs to worry about something important....get a freaking life Finchy

[Hodenfield]

The other day the wife tells me we're going to a party at an art gallery and I better get ready. I say yeah, I better go clean up and shave. But when I get my hand on the Gillette, I realize how dated the concept was. Shaving -- to go an art opening? I'd be the only clean-faced guy there.

Just look at the men on any TV show. If the guy is clean-shaven, then he's the host. Otherwise, it's Manly Man Stubble, all the way.
(Or what Hunter Thompson used to call "standard wino trim.")

[Golf Needs Ty Pennington]

I don't like the way Finchem's eyebrows look. He should pluck them.

[LiquidKaos]

@Hodenfield -

"Standard wino trim"...so choice.


-LK

[Ryan]

Geoff, although I don't currently have a beard, it is definitely NOT a sign of laziness. You still have to shave everyday with a beard, whether it's trimming it or shaving around it.

[digsouth]

Hunter Mahan looks fine now that he has grown a full beard....his prior partial look was too spotty and not filled in, and he looked like a stand in for Happy Gilmore's caddy, to the point that I have bad mouthed him in the sacred ''pages'' of the Shackonline..

I have had facial hair since I got out of high school, C&C, and women love it...soft and lovable, I am a damn good lookin' man. :)

[thusgone]

so finchem's point is that if you get in trouble with the tour vps of grooming, all you need is a note from your wife/gf saying you look good and you're golden, right?

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@Digs: So you do look like Dorian instead of his picture.

[Mike T.]

Hodenfield–Thanks for invoking the prose of the late Hunter Thompson. Damn, I miss his work.

[PJ]

I would have paid good money to have seen the commissioner tell Craig Stadler to trim up his mustache. Would be like demanding Chuck Norris lose the beard.

[Hodenfield]

What we need to see a return of is the ol' Gigolo Mustache, ala Lloyd Mangrum.

http://voiceofmoorecounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Lloyd-Mangrum-Ad-for-Vitalis.png

[Willie]

Finchy would've hated my Aunt Maria.

[Winston Wolf]

If Lucas Glover is forced to shave, Phil must don a bra or fire Tom Ford.

[digsouth]

Ghost...

I haven't been in that room lately.

BTW, "I'm a damn good lookn' man" is a line from Dabney Coleman, in a Chevy Chase movie called ''Modern Problems''. not a great movie, but worth watching for Dabney's performance.

[AK47]

The 3 day growth is in, Finchy. But while we're on policing behavior, what about PGA Tour members who cheat on their spouses or think that it's acceptable in this day and age to put bullets from high-powered rifles into Bambi and call it a sport.

[A3golfer]

Um... again .. golf reminds me of my a hole junior high vice principal circa 1976. The one who told me my hair was too long thus labeled me troublemaker freak. Yes grow the game gentleman grow the game. Time to fire Timmy.

[Pete the Luddite]

I have a beard, which I keep trimmed and nobody thinks I am lazy.

Is this April 1st and I missed the memo? It is this kind of assinine behavior and response that makes me hate the pro system but love the game.

If your prostrations at the Altar of Golf are affected by facial hair, grow the hell up, or get back to the members only meeting at Burning Tree where you are obviously being missed.

This kind of posturing by Finchey et al, reeks of constipated attitudes of the geriatric set. here's a tip, get your plus fours to the cleaners and get your shave on before they're ready, make sure your metal spikes are sharpened, and your persimmons polished.

I'm a conforming dude, but this boggles the mind. In reaction, I would love to see a golf phenom with a ponytail, beard, and a huge tattoo on his arms that can be seen all summer long on the Tour. Has golf become a fashion show or is still quite possibly a sport?

Sheesh!

[Lex Luthor]

I realize it's part of the culture of this site to pile on when it come to Finchem but I don't think what he's saying is unreasonable. It's really just a dress or appearance code that he's talking about. He wants the players to act, dress and look like professionals. A grown man that doesn't shave for 2 - 3 days doesn't look like a golf professional. I'd be curious to hear from some members of the PGA of America. You don't see too many unkempt golf professionals working at clubs.

[A3golfer]

No. but I see alot of umkempt people on the course and it has nothing to do with facial hair. Come on this is stupid, facial hair, its not jeans and a tshirt walking down the 18th at the PGA Championship.

[A3golfer]

What exactly should a golf professional look like? White upper class? Khakis? White Polo? Drive a Lexus? Maybe a blond trophy wife on his arms? Nice stock Portfolio? 2 houses? I draw the line at jeans and t shirts and cargo shorts. And most men should not wear golf shorts either cause they dont have the legs of Cindy Crawford. Shorts are for basketballl. LOL.

[CharlieG]

A new low for red herrings. Assuming that facial hair is a sign of laziness...WHO GIVES A SHIT?

[BK]

I agree with Lex.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

After Goydos won Arnie's party he asked the King if he would play a practice round with him the next year (I paraphrase). Arnie said yes, if Paul would shave off the beard.

Lex is on to something. But stubble is as fashionable as plain-front golf slacks and tight shirts these days (just stop it, Phil). The look works for some people. But the comparison of the club pro with a tour pro is about the same as comparing Vincent Van Gogh with Ed Dodd (Mark Trail). Both were outstanding artists, but they weren't doing the same thing.

[MG]

I shave once a week and haven't received my citation from Mr Finchem.....yet. And when you have a million dollar smile you don't want to risk a bad shaving incident, what about all those contracts. No its once a week, and only for the pro-am. At least when I don't talk to my pro-am partners they all think I look professional.

[elf]

PGA players should look professional on the golf course, like anyone else at work. But in today's day and age professional doesn't mean you have to have short hair, or be clean shaven, and professionally done tattoos are totally cool.

[LadyH]

C&C I am so with you on this! Most men, IMO, do not look good in a beard. Stubble, sometimes, 5 o'clock shadow is sexy, beard and all else, yuck.

[Who Dat]

And how about you LadyH?

[LadyH]

Me? 5'3" 112, great hair and thankfully none on my face!