America often now seems to be all about passing as many laws as possible to restrict individual choice and put as many people as possible into the jail system. So it's no surprise that several cities across the country are proud of their new so-called saggy pants laws.

These are the laws that make it illegal to wear your pants low enough that boxers or bare buttocks are visible. (Which is really going to steam TravelGolf.com's resident hipster Tim McDonald, who doesn't roll any other way).

The saggy pants laws are being passed in places as different as Atlanta and Trenton, New Jersey. Here, the stiffest penalties are fines, community service and mandatory counseling (yes, counseling to learn how to wear tighter pants). Delcambre, La has said to heck with that crazy rehabilitation idea and added the specter of prison time - up to six months for showing your underwear in public.

Couldn't Delcambre just save itself a lot of trouble and put up a sign that says No Black People Allowed instead. That's obviously what the town is going for anyways. Somehow, I don’t think the local plumbers union feels targeted.

Well, some of these saggy pants laws may seem like little more than closet bigotry, there exists the potential for carryover into the golf world. You can't imagine how many golf pros and general managers have expressed their dismay to me over Tiger Woods' popularization of the mock turtleneck. These golf industry leaders will moan how Tiger's effectively crushed the collar required rule, emboldening every punk who would desecrate golf to claim his collarless shirt is mock.

Apparently, many people in golf lose sleep over this.

Now, I'm not down with WorldGolf.com's Brandon Tucker's idea that everything from jean shorts to John Travolta's white suit in Saturday Night Fever should be allowed on the fairways. But do we really need to have head pros obsessing over what's mock and what's just collarless?

This is what brings about ridiculous laws like saggy pants. Golf needs to get above this fray.

To comment on this blog click here