As we’ve learned many times over in the last twelve months, everything changes. From bars to beaches, golf courses to garden centers, every business needed to adopt new policies, procedures, staffing levels and or hours of operations just to stay in business.

Those that run Major Championships were no exception.

PGA TOUR and the various other governing bodies scrambled to reschedule tournaments. Augusta cancelled the Drive Chip and Putt and the 2^nd Annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship while postponing The Masters until November.

Given that America was starved for live sports, golf came as welcome relief to COVID fatigue. Seeing the PGA TOUR, even without fans, live every week on TV made many of us feel a sense of normalcy. Golf was the first major sport to get things rolling again after the first series of lockdowns.

Even though the R&A did cancel The Open Championship, the PGA of America, the USGA and the members of Augusta National provided us with major championship golf. Something to look forward to in a time when looking to the future was all we had.

For this, the golfing public should offer more than just a “golf clap” to everyone that made this massive undertaking possible.

Admittedly, over the years I have taken shots from time to time at all of the afore mentioned organizations. While I regret nothing, I have said in the past, I do believe it is also my job as a columnist to give praise when deserved.

So today I proudly say THANK YOU to the USGA, the PGA of America, the PGA TOUR and the Members of Augusta National.

I particularly want to point out that, given Augusta National’s propensity to resist change, their efforts to move the Tournament to November was probably that club’s most shining moment. Very few people understand the logistics involved to run any major golf competition. Moving a Major would make most people’s heads explode. Moving The Masters… that’s on another level.

While the competition is aided by the various governing bodies within golf, it is RUN by the members of the club.

I understand the reasons behind cancelling the Drive, Chip and Putt and the Women’s Amateur and the made-for-TV Par 3 contest. If Augusta was going to pull off the change in dates, they would have to focus on just the one.

Pull it off they did.

The course looked and played different. No patrons were allowed on the grounds. Instead of the usual roars that echo throughout the course on the back 9 on Sunday, birds chirped, wind blew and other than the “whack” of contact… silence.  Tee times were earlier in the day and split tees needed to be used on all 4 rounds.

But the drama was there. The golf was there. The game’s number one player, Dustin Johnson, earned his first Green Jacket.

And for one weekend in November, life seemed a bit more normal.

As the world slowly emerges from the pandemic, golf keeps rolling. The industry as a whole is experiencing a growth like never before. Rounds played are up. Equipment sales are at an all-time high and demand for golf instruction is through the roof.

The new year came. Vaccines arrived. Bars, restaurants, and gyms all slowly started to reopen. The world kept adapting all in an effort to get back to normal.

Once again, golf leads the way in getting back to some sense of normalcy. As the calendar turned, golf fans were among the first let back to the game. While limited, hearing fans cheer or groan for their favorite players was a welcome sound to both players and fans alike.

I never thought I would miss a player pausing and having a caddie yell, “Yurn your phones OFF please!”

And now, just like that, The Masters and the PGA Championship have come and gone. This time the Drive, Chip and Putt AND the Augusta Women’s Amateur were back (we still must wait until 2022 for the Par 3 contest… damn). PATRONS were back, albeit in limited numbers and the magnolias were back as the competition was back in its traditional April spot.

The PGA hosted a magnificent event with all the rowdy fans we could handle (I can safely say I’m back to hating the knuckleheads yelling “Mashed Potatoes!!!!”)

Normalcy, it seems, is closer each day.

The past year has been trying for all of us in one way or another.  For some, it meant the incredible pain of losing loved ones. That tragedy cannot be understated.

But for most, even those that endured the unimaginable, normal is what we strive for.

The Masters was back to NORMAL. The PGA was back to normal. For that, THANK YOU to the Members of Augusta National and the proud Members of the PGA of America.