So it's finally happened. The PGA will start a drug testing program possibly as early as July of 2008. This has been a while in the making and for a while I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about it, but now that it's here it sort of clarified my thinking on the subject. I love the game of golf and that's the primary basis for how I feel.

In an interesting turn of events, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who stated as late as August 2006 that they would not have a policy, announced that the PGA will begin as early as July 2008 with penalties that range from a one-year suspension from professional golf up to a lifetime ban if a golfer is caught three times.

It appears that many support the change. Tiger Woods was quoted last year as saying "Tomorrow would be fine with me" when asked how soon he would like to see testing put into place. Long time golfer Gary Player has been very vocal about performance enhancing drug use and is in favor of this policy.

Player education will begin next month and all golfers will receive a manual as part of that program. Under the program, the golfers can be tested anytime, anywhere without notice and there is no limit on the number of times that they can be tested during a golf season.

I, for one, am glad to see this put into place before drug use becomes an issue. I don't personally know how much drug use there is in professional golf. And I am talking about performance enhancing drugs right now, not recreational. But I definitely don't want to see something like the controversy over Barry Bonds erupt on the PGA or LPGA tours.

The struggle that I have had with this is the nature of golf itself. It has always been a game steeped not only in history but in integrity and honor. You call penalties on yourself when they are required by the rules of golf. Competitors don't trash talk (or at least haven't) or yell and scream during a round. All of the things that I love about the game above and beyond playing it were tugging at me to say that we don't need this.

But in this day and age of mega bucks for endorsement contracts and purses, people will be motivated to do whatever is necessary to reach the top. So, sad as it is to me, I do think that the game of golf needs this. And I am glad that it didn't take any longer than it did to get there.

Looking forward to the 2008 golf season already golf nuts!