Prizes that you just don't need

One thing that kind of bothers me is the prizes that are given for certain contests. For example, consider a golf outing. A number of foursomes go out on the golf course and play the same set of holes throughout the day. In addition to prizes for the overall winning score (either for an individual or lowest for the group, depending on the tournament) there are other smaller contests. Closest to the pin on a par 3 is popular, or longest drive, or longest put. They have little stakes with a notepad on it, and in the longest drive if your tee shot is in the fairway you go out, write your name on the pad, and put the stake where your shot landed. If the next person hits the ball the stake, he then writes his name on the pad and puts the stake where his ball landed. At the end of the day the name at the bottom of the list wins. The others work the same way.

And what is often the prize for winning the longest drive contest? A new driver! How about the longest putt? A new putter! Seems to me that the people who win the longest putt contests already have a putter that works pretty well. Do they really need a new one?

A more valuable unnecessary prize is often given for piping competitions toward the top of the amateur level. There are some fine pipers in this category who are on their way to being even finer professional pipers, and wins a contest REALLY knows what's going on. So why then is it necessary for the prize to be a set of bagpipes, or a new chanter? The winner obviously has a set that works pretty well, and I generally subscribe to the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" school of thought.

Some amateur contests offer a new kilt to the winner, or piping supplies, or a scholarship to a piping school, all of which make a lot of sense. It's certainly nice that a pipe maker generously donates a set of pipes, but it's kind of like giving a new race car to the winner of the Daytona 500. Seems like they already have one that works pretty well!