Greg Norman and The tall poppy syndrome

Tall Poppy Syndrome is a strange antipodean phenomenon that I encountered during my challenge on a number of occasions. Basically it’s a term used to describe a condition where someone, who does something great or indeed many great things, is criticised and resented because they have become a “tall poppy” and have risen above their peers.

I blogged much of my challenge on an Australasian golf forum and came across this several times. At the beginning I was criticised for even attempting the challenge and several times during the year, when things were going badly, I was met with a chrous of “I told you so” and “no chance mate, you should give up now” comments.

And even when I finished it I was grilled extensively about who was with me, what type of course it was on and had I really been as bad at the start as I said. Those who had told me it was impossible tried to find ways to explain how it had been easy for me due to external factors of their own invention.

It was an illuminating process since it taught me a lot about exactly why it is easy for most of us to stay within our golfing comfort zones and just play with the same folk we’ve played for years with and keep our golf at the same level so as not to “rock the boat”.

It’s worth bearing in mind I also got a lot of support from some people on this forum so I’m not in any way tarring all Australasians with the same brush (particularly since the phenomenon is rife here in the UK too). But it was with some trepidation that I took a quick look on the forum to see what the reaction to Greg Norman’s attempt to win the British Open had been.

There was lots of support for the great man but dotted in and amongst the support was some fairly hefty evidence of “Tall poppy”. This comment below really said it all for me though.

“After 25 or so years of dealing with Norman-related early morning and late-night disappointment, I thought the torture was finally over. The 2 Open victories were great – but the pain of the losses always seemed to outweigh them.

The ‘96 Masters was the last straw for me and I officially gave up on him after that…

But what does he do?? He goes and gets us all involved again!! The scars of disappointment had faded away and he has the hide to get our hopes up yet again!! I actually had the ridiculous notion in my head that he might be a different player this time.

But you never forget how to choke…

I’m off for more therapy (wonder if they remember me from April ‘96).”

I love how he’s actually blaming Norman for his own unhappiness! I also love the concept of Norman jumping on his private jet with his new wife and perhaps checking his bank account or doing a couple of deals to make himself a few million while this sad little man sits muttering about how Norman has choked and let him down.

It’s the most preposterous thing I’ve read on the internet in a long time but you must realise that this exists to a lesser level everywhere. So if, and hopefully when, you finally make a decision to get much better at golf one of the absolutely key skills to learn is how to avoid all this type of criticism. Generally your friends and family want you stay exactly where you are because you can’t expose any weaknesses in their own lives that way. If you make a big improvement (in anything) it opens you up for criticism and you need to be aware of it.

Tagged as: British open, Greg Norman, Tall Poppy Syndrome