Why do I play golf?

[IrishGolfer]

I've been a bit hard on myself recently with some of my recent scores. I was reading an article the other day and it made me think. Why do I play golf? I came up with a few tenets. I'm not sure why but by posting them here, I can come back and visit them every so often to remind myself why I play this game.

Feel free to add or take away what you want.

• I don't play golf for a living. Win, lose or draw I will enjoy my time on the course. It beats work and affords me some time on my own to ditch the pressures of everyday life. I am not going to add further or new stress into my mental being through the process of trying to get a ball in a hole.

• I will enjoy the game regardless of the company. Played with other people golf should be a social activity played in good spirit

• I learn the game with every swing of the club, good or bad

• I can enjoy the competive nature of the game, competing against my personal goals and against those I play with. But the outcome should never affect my enjoyment of the game or those I play with.

• I get from the game what I put into it. Practice, equipment, preparation all help me to improve, but all of these do not automatically mean that I deserve to benefit every time. I should be patient and understand that golf, like life has it's ups and downs. You play well some of the time, but also realise that bears do come along for periods of time.

• Controlling my behaviour and emotion should be the same both on and off the course.

• Honesty and integrity are tenets of this game I strongly adhere to. Play by the rules only, no exceptions.

• Everything I do on the course is directly attributable to me and no-one else. Both good and lousy shots are the direct result of me coping with the mental and physical process of whacking a ball. I can take the slaps of success and failure squarely on each cheek

• Club ho'ing will not make me play any better. It may enhance aspects of my game and make me feel better, but ultimately the knowledge that the margin between a £10 club and a £1000 club is minimal in the context of the game

[Silver]

Awesome IG. Very good thoughts.

[Rockford35]

Well said, IG.

However, I disagree here:

"Club ho'ing will not make me play any better. It may enhance aspects of my game and make me feel better, but ultimately the knowledge that the margin between a £10 club and a £1000 club is minimal in the context of the game."

This pretty much destroys the very fabric of my explaination for ho'ing as an illness. You're fueling the better half's fire that I'm a moron for spending money, and not the addicted, unstoppable leetch that I blame on a dependancy.

And for these reasons, I think you're wrong here.

R35

[bdcrowe]

Here's one I'm working on:

For each hole/round I play, I need to distinguish between goals and rewards. Par, birdie and eagle are not goals, they are rewards. "Play this hole to the best of my ability"-- that is a goal. There will be another opportunity to reach that goal a hole/round from now.

[VtDivot]

Maybe you should append the following


* I must accept the fact that no matter how hard I try SWMBO will find a way to be pissed at me for playing golf. This is a sacrifice I choose to make and can live with during the golfing season.

[bdcrowe]

That's odd. It's only about once a month that my wife gets antsy. Kinda cyclical...

[bdcrowe]

IGs post gets so deep to the core of this game that Shot Talk celebrates, that it is now stickied. Kudos, IG for the remider.

[Bravo]

Everything I do on the course is directly attributable to me and no-one else. Both good and lousy shots are the direct result of me coping with the mental and physical process of whacking a ball. I can take the slaps of success and failure squarely on each cheek...


I love this one...and I wish I could get some of the guys I play with to read it also.

They will hit it into a bunker and not be able to get the ball out. They promptly blame the superintendent for having too much sand in the bunker...

They three putt or worse and blame him for having the greens too low.

About six years ago, a tornado passed over the course and we lost 225 trees in the span of about 45 seconds. Slowly but surely we are planting new trees for generations to come...and when one of these players finds himself blocked by one of these little trees (maybe only 8-9 feet tall) - he shouts...."Who planted that tree there??"

Two of us were talking about such behaviour last Sunday morning...one of the guys said he saw Raymond Floyd playing in a US Open once where he had a really bad fried egg in a bunker. As Floyd approached his ball - a fan remarked about his "bad luck".

Floyd looked up and said, "I'm the one who put it there"...

Great Post IG...I hope this becomes a sticky...very much like Golf in the Kingdom....

[Loop]

Good points IG. The one I may find an exception is this:
Honesty and integrity are tenets of this game I strongly adhere to. Play by the rules only, no exceptions.
If the ball is resting above a tree root, I'll move the ball (asking others before though) without penalty, since I don't want to ruin my beautiful blades

Here, I'm adding others to why I play golf, and not why I should play golf:
- I play Golf for the sheer competitiveness of the game, with and against other players. Playing team matches is a whole lot of fun.
- I play for bets or money. Some may feel stressed, but the game is actually much more enjoyable because you battle it out until the very end, where inevitably, one will pay the rounds of beer and everyone will get good laughs.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Loop

Good points IG. The one I may find an exception is this:
Honesty and integrity are tenets of this game I strongly adhere to. Play by the rules only, no exceptions.
If the ball is resting above a tree root, I'll move the ball (asking others before though) without penalty, since I don't want to ruin my beautiful blades

Here, I'm adding others to why I play golf, and not why I should play golf:
- I play Golf for the sheer competitiveness of the game, with and against other players. Playing team matches is a whole lot of fun.
- I play for bets or money. Some may feel stressed, but the game is actually much more enjoyable because you battle it out until the very end, where inevitably, one will pay the rounds of beer and everyone will get good laughs.

Loop:

I love your post...this characterizes the groups I play with...we Always Bet (something)...It really Does add to it!

So you walk away from the table a bit lighter (or a bit to the good). I really like this and virtually never play without a wager.

And we Do follow the rules, except those situations like you described with the treeroot.

I have played in many tourneys that followed the ROG without exception and I respect the ROG as issued by the R&A/USGA...but for a "friendly round" relaxing some of them makes it better for everyone. What we do not relax is things like lost balls...if it you hit one OB - you must retee and we do. I did this last weekend and it cost me a DB which really hurt.

On the other hand, I had a ball which was literally touching the trunk of a large tree, resting between two roots. There is no way I could have made a blow on the ball without smashing the club into both the trunk as well as the root. So my playing companion (on the other team) said, "Move it away two inches". This at least allowed me to get club on the ball...(I still had to hit out into the fairway sideways)...

[bdcrowe]

Mr Bater and all,

In my opinion this thread wasn't stickied for easy access to arguments. It has been split so that the original intent of the original thread/sticky can remain intact, yet you guys will have a platform to continue discussion.

Thanks.

[LottaBalata]

I don't have too much to add, but I will say I enjoy the feeling of personal achievement when I play a good round of golf. I'm the only one swinging the clubs. So, as far as normal team sports go, the feeling of "winning" is all mine. Now winning for me is when I break 90. I hit an 87 the other day, I was pretty damn happy.

[Farquod]

With apologies to JFK, I think one of the reasons I play the game is because it is hard. It is a fickle game, difficult to master. Whenever you think you have it sussed, it smacks you in the back of the head and reminds you that you don't. Just look at Tiger. Gotta make it better. Oh yeah? Vijay. 9 wins last year, struggling this year. Worse, look at Miller, Ballesteros, Duval. They all had it figured. Oy.

Kinda like life, no?

[the Anomaly]

Because I'm addicted and love the fact that golf is a thinking man's game.

[DaveE]

I've never given much thought before to specifically why I play.

I know I love the challenge. I know I'll never master the game and I know I'll never stop trying.

I know I love the feeling I get when I hit a shot exactly like I intended. It must cause a release of endorphins in the brain because the rush, while brief is incredible.

I enjoy the time spent with friends and away from the stresses of the day.

And I know if it ever stops being fun I'll find a new way to spend my free time.