By Nick Neumayer
Medill Reports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — One of the earliest mentions of golf etiquette came in the Aberdeen Code of 1783 in Scotland, which stated, “while a stroke is playing, none of the party should walk about, make any motion or attempt to take off the player’s attention, by speaking or otherwise.”
For centuries, these regulations have been observed across the world, leading to golf being known as the “gentleman’s game” made up of a series of longstanding regulations, both written and unwritten, creating a calm environment that became synonymous with the game itself.
Yet for one tournament, no, one singular hole at the WM Phoenix Open, the golf world agrees to toss them aside.
“This is Coachella for guys over 30,” said Colin Glennon, 35, who has traveled from Chicago to Scottsdale each year for the past 11 years.
Nicknamed the Coliseum, hole 16 at TPC Scottsdale more closely resembles a music festival rather than a golf tournament. Fans pack the temporary grandstands each day, drinking and cheering to create one of the most unique stops on the PGA Tour.
For five years, Lemont, Ill., native Mark Menconi, 70 has worked what he believes to be one of the most coveted jobs on the golf course, serving as the captain of hole 16. His task as a marshal involves making sure the crowd behaves while the golfers are hitting their shots. But do fans listen?
“No, and I don’t expect them to,” he said.
The roars of 16 can he heard around the course but for the most part, the general rowdiness stays confined to the Coliseum, with many golfers observing a quieter atmosphere on the front nine, which allows them much more room to concentrate.
“You actually have freedom to watch people,” Akshay Bhatia, ranked 48th in the World Golf Rankings, said after the tournament’s second round. “It’s way more tame on that side.”
Near the green on the first hole, Bob Cook, 71, from Puyallup, Wash., has held the quiet sign just as long as Menconi, but with a much higher success rate, he says.
Still, some of the craziness of 16 always finds a way to the front nine at some point.
“It’s mostly the younger generation who doesn’t play golf,” Cook said. “They just want to be out here because it’s the cool thing to do, which is great because you can always learn something out here.”
Each year, the Phoenix Open naturally reignites the debate between golf purists, both players and spectators, on the decline of golf etiquette.
“I think it’s been completely fine. It’s nice to have,” Viktor Hovland said after shooting a six-under 65 on Saturday. “Every tournament is a little bit different. This is definitely a unique tournament and it’s not overboard, so I like it.”
Braden Guerrero, 21, flew in from Long Beach, Calif., to experience the 16th hole firsthand and couldn’t help but marvel at an atmosphere that features spectators in costumes, boos for mediocre shots and the infamous beer shower that rewards holes-in-ones.
“It’s a dream,” Guerrero said. “We have people wearing the same outfits, we have people from Europe and everywhere just all coming together to be as loud as we can.”
But not everyone is pleased, with Tom Moore, 68, from Spotsylvania, Va., struggling to see the appeal in the party atmosphere.
“We’ve been here over nine years and ever since then, it’s really gotten a lot worse,” he said.
Moore and his wife, Lynn, 70, were seated on 16 on Friday, but said they needed to observe from the front nine if they wanted to see a real golf tournament.
“This is the way a golf tournament should be over here versus 16, which is kind of out of control,” he said.
Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to ignore the 16th hole’s impact on the growth of the PGA Tour’s popularity.
“I think it’s great because it brings people that usually don’t watch golf into the game,” 92nd ranked Sahith Theegala said the day before the tournament began. “I have a lot of friends that could care less about golf that ask me for tickets for this event. That shows something for sure.”
Theegala’s words rang true on 16, with many fans admitting the atmosphere was a larger draw for them than the actual golf tournament they paid to attend.
“This is the only time we watch golf,” said Audrey Little, 28, from Denver. “We all travel from Denver for this because we know that we will have a good time together.”
As the day went on, Little and her friends talked to several fellow spectators, eventually crossing paths with Glennon and his friends. For Glennon’s wife, Samantha, 35, the friends they make on the 16th hole add a more wholesome aspect to the game of golf, traditionally known as more of an individual sport.
“It brings a social atmosphere to a game that doesn’t usually allow for social settings,” she said.
Rickie Fowler, the 2019 Phoenix Open champion, said he always enjoyed returning to TPC Scottsdale, crediting the event’s sustained growth in making it one of the premier stops on the PGA Tour.
“That’s what make this event unique and special,” Fowler said. “The Thunderbirds and WM have done a great job over the years. It’s grown organically. It wasn’t like they just built it and then tried to fill as years went on. All this added on because the demand was there.
“This has been 30-plus years in the making.”
Nick Neumayer is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.