The Glade 4.0

I don't hate the sport, but what I don't seem to get is the love that so many others have for it.

Why is it that every successful male (mostly men, in my experience. I am not excluding women) seems to have to punctuate his life with golf?

Young, fresh college grads after landing their first big job. Older businessmen. Celebrities. Athletes. It seems that golf is the go-to relaxation activity.

I played one round of golf in my life. Didn't like it. I don't mind going to the driving range, but I just never wanted to get involved in the "lifestyle" of golf. To me, it almost feels like if I don't play golf, I am somehow not a successful young man.

The way it is talked about by those who do play, a round of golf almost sounds like it the holy grail of all relaxation activities. "Did you get out this weekend?" "Great weather today, I think I'll take a half day and squeeze in 9 holes." "Can't wait to get out to try my new $500 iron."

There is such love and devotion by those who play, it seems almost obsessive.

Just my $0.02

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

I'm with you, Foamy. I don't understand it and possibly never will. My husband doesn't either. My grandmother and grandfather played almost religiously together and they tried to teach me, but it just wasn't very much fun to me.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

" DO YOU MIND SIR, (Not Complaining) I'M TRYING TO TEE OFF"

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"None is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people safe as they are the
ultimate guardians of their own liberty."- Thomas Jefferson

"Yeah, I'm rehearsing my poker face. I don't handle stupid well. *sigh*" - Farsky

This is why. In some circles (sales, executives, etc.), it's a social and networking tool. Thus, playing golf makes you more likely to fit into such circles, which increases your likelihood of being successful in those circles.

It's the modern "old boy's club."

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

This.

When I go I piss everyone off because I suck and just want to drink and drive the golf cart around in the woods.

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$1000 you slice into the woods.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

"A little bit is better than nada...sometimes you want the whole enchilada..."


Anyway...I played four rounds of golf when I was stationed in CO Springs and I actually liked it. I sucked(though I was told I was pretty good with the irons for never playing) but I had fun. I think it mostly had to do with the guys I was with though. Other than that, I've not hit the links since then and have no real desire to do so. Though I will say this...I always heard that hitting a golf ball straight and true is one of the best feelings...that saying is correct.

Also, any reason you get to quote Caddyshack lines is a good one.

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

In general, Golf is a anal retentive sport. To be good, you have to have very exacting control. A minor mistake in your swing translates to huge variences in where the ball goes.

So in short, it's a type-A control freak sport. Hence why it's often popular with the business crowd, especially upper management or sales types.

I believe this phrase is doubly accurate here...

"Different strokes for different folks."

Golf is a pastime for those who can't even take a walk in the woods without being competitive.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Genius explanation, makes complete sense. I enjoy it, and do understand the satisfaction of playing well, hitting straight and long, etc., but I'm not a Type-A, by any means. I hate networking and stuff. It's so funny, we have many women in our (engineering) company who play, and you know they play only for the social/career networking benefits.

I also get the yips, I guess - I get very self-conscious while playing. If I go to a driving range, I try to go somewhere off at the end, where no one will see me. The one time I actually played on a real course with people, they announced your name or group when you tee'd off - I felt like there were 200 people watching me clonk it 50 yards up the fairway (if I was lucky). I really admire professionals who can do it without killing someone in the gallery. There's a picture of Hogan, I think, teeing off somewhere - there's a crowd of hundreds watching him, stretching 50 or 75 yards down each side of the fairway. I would have put it into someone's temple, I'm sure.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

"Even on a bad day, golf is just a walk in the park"

"A bad on on the golf course is better than a good day in the office".

Golf is different things for different people. For some its about the social aspects, and drinking is often part of that. Others it's gambling and/or competition. For some it's just an excuse to be outside instead of in the office.

I honestly think that very few actually play it solely as a competitive sport.

I don't enjoy golf either...and I also wonder why so many guys play it like it's the bee's knees.


All of the "normal" guys do 2 things for social activity. Golf and Drink.




Give me weed and a guitar over a beer and a golf club any day

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Ron Paul 2012

I enjoy it with people who are out to have fun. Smoke a cigar, have a beer and enjoy the outdoors. I do these regularly to stay sane but a round of golf now and again is kinda fun.

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Hokanu
Duty is a magnificent blessing because it is the sign of trust from the universe.
END OF LINE.

No idea, but then again Hockey and Football elude me as well.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

We enjoy golf because, frankly, we're better human beings than you are.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I'm with you, Foamy, I do not understand the appeal of non-contact grass hockey.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Golf is like masturbation. The fewer strokes, the better

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Holy shitsnacks!

LMAO!!

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Ummm...

This is the case with all adult sports.

The reason I play is the networking.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

I can relate to this.

But I also get the networking part of it.

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!

I'm willing to wager that Golf has one of the tiniest tolerances of any major sport. The distance between the closest contact point to the ball (the handle of the club) and the impact point of the ball (the head of the club), the size of the ball and the impacting surface all point to an extremely little margin for error.

If you want a real type-A activity it should be playing Street Fighter.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Or Mortal Kombat or Killer Instinct.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

I disagree. Precise tequnique is precise technique, and any adult sport played at a high level will demand it.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20