You hear the term “golf clap” and you think it’s a polite reaction to someone sinking putt to make par on the golf course. The term isn’t always meant as a compliment, but rather as a testament to the lack of emotion surrounding an activity built on good manners, decorum and decent behavior.

Then you have the Ryder Cup, an international event that occurs every other year pitting American pro golfers against golfers from Europe. This past weekend, the European team came to the United States and promptly throttled the Americans. For an American fan of golf — and I’m one of them — it wasn’t pretty. If you hail from across The Pond, it was a thing of beauty.

But what happened on the course is worth mentioning here. There weren’t many golf claps to be heard … not above the vulgar insults hurled at the Europeans by the American fans.

What we saw over the weekend was a shameful display of boorishness beyond belief. It fell to Irish golf star Rory McIlroy to declare he never will play in a tournament again in the United States. Well, I am not sure he’ll stick to that pledge.

However, he did term the fans’ behavior to be “unacceptable.” He said his wife received vile threats. He wasn’t the only European to feel the rancor.

I am left to wonder: When did golf become a sport akin to professional wrestling. You watch a professional bowling tournament these days and you see where the bowlers end up jawing at each other in the manner of a Hulk Hogan or The Rock.

McIlroy made the point that golf is a game built on teaching life lessons, on how to compete in a friendly atmosphere, on facing down obstacles built into the terrain of the course on which you are playing.

The Ryder Cup resumes in 2027 in Ireland. My hope is that the European fans take seriously the message their superstar athlete has delivered … and that they behave like civilized human beings.