Why Play Golf?
By Nick
I get asked why I play golf by my friends all the time. They can’t understand why you’d want to spend 4 hours walking around hitting a white ball in a little hole on Saturdays and Sundays. Many of us golfers take things a step further with midweek practice at the course during the summer and cold evenings down the driving range in the winter. I’ve been asked this question so many times I thought I’d put into words why I’ve fallen in love with this great game…
1, It is all down to you
I played quite a lot of football (soccer) when growing up and into my mid-twenties. It wasn’t too high a standard, but I took it seriously – trained quite hard for it and stayed in the night before games. Nothing would annoy me more than turning up at Saturday lunchtime and one or two of the team being hung over from the night before and playing terribly. I enjoy team games and the feeling of winning together, but one too many experiences of this made me feel as though I wanted to do an individual sport where the result was down to me alone.
While golf is mostly an individual sport there are the odd team situations such as doubles competitions and inter-club games, but mostly it is you – on your own – against the course. If I decide to go out the night before a competition and play badly I only have myself to blame. This kind of arrangement suits me a lot better. Sure you have to take the good and bad luck on the golf course but my performance and result are down to the practise and work I have put in, and not a team mate who can hardly see because he is still drunk from last night!
2, Practice makes perfect
“The more I practise, the luckier I get” is a quote that has been attributed to many people, but I always quote it as something Gary Player said. Generally speaking – if put more time into your golf practise, and practise the right things – your scores will improve. There are so many parts that make up a golfer such as putting, chipping, pitching, driving, bunker shots, flop shots and so the list goes on. You practise one thing a lot and improve that area, but something else will get worse – which is why you need to practice in the right way to see your game as a whole improve.
This works well for me – I have the time and commitment to put into practising the different things that go into making a complete golfer and to date my handicap has kept coming down. As you get lower it gets much harder to keep improving at the same rate but that is all part of the challenge!
3, Beautiful scenery
Before I played golf I used to sit in front of my computer for 16 hours a day. I’m not going to claim I was working this entire time, but either way it certainly isn’t healthy for anyone to do that! Now I’m playing golf I get out into the countryside to breath fresh air, see lots of nature, and be close to water (although hopefully not too close!). Now I can easily go an entire weekend without touching my computer. On Mondays I now approach a new work week with renewed enthusiasm.
I enjoy playing and practising on the course alone as well as with other people. I’ve always enjoyed my own company, and have had some great ideas and come up with many solutions to problems while playing 9 holes on my own.
During the summer here in the UK when sun rose really early I would get up at 5am and be teeing off at 6am. Nine holes great practise, and back to the office for an 830am start. The best way to start the day!
4, Socializing and friendship
Although in most competitions you play against each other and the course, you still have 2 or 3 playing partners who join you for the round and share the duties of scoring. 4 hours of golf will lead to many opportunities to get to know who you are playing with better and I’ve made some good friends and also business contacts from spending time on the golf course.
Of course there is plenty of time for socializing in the bar after a round of golf and often other social activities taking place at the golf club that members can join in with.
5, Good exercise
Golf is a great non-impact exercise. Seven thousands yards equals around 4 miles which is a good walk in anybody’s book. It’s not advisable that golf is the only exercise you partake in as you’ll certainly need some anaerobic exercise such as running or swimming to get your heart rate up.
But the good news is that as you play more golf and you want to improve you’ll start taking your exercise away from the course more seriously. I try to do a stretching routine twice a day, go for a run most days and am trying to get a weights program figured out for each morning.
6, A great challenge for all ages and abilities
Golf has to be one of the most accessible sports going – apart from maybe darts or fishing! (Are they really sports?) How many other sports can a 10 year old tee it up against an 80 year old and via the handicap system have a great competitive round of golf!
One of the things that attracted me to golf was the fact that it is a sport I can take up now and if everything goes well still be playing in my eighties. I love playing against my dad (who is 72) and little brother.
What other sports have a handicap system that allows a relative new-comer to golf give a seasoned scratch player a good game in a competition?
7, It is not as expensive as you think, and you do have time for it!
I added this in at the last moment as many of my friends think golf is too expensive for them to play and they don’t have time for it. Bear with me while I go a little bit of maths…
You can easily pick up a decent set of clubs and bag for £300.00
If you don’t want to join a club you can find a round of golf at many decent places for £25
Maybe you need a couple of t-shirts and golf shoes to wear £100
If you add this all up over the course of a year where you play once a week you are looking at a total spend of £1700. Quite a bit of money you might think.
But if you were to play once a week, your total playing time over 12 months would be 208 hours, so the actual hourly spend comes in at around £8.17 per hour. Now there are not many forms of entertainment these days that cost less than that! Plus you can shop around for cheap rounds of golf, only have to buy your equipment once etc…
So that brings us on to the question of time. Friends claim they don’t have four hours at the weekend to spend on golf – RUBBISH! When I play golf first thing I am back home by midday. If you were to go out drinking on a Friday night you probably wouldn’t be out of bed by that time! Maybe your priority is to go out and get drunk all weekend, but don’t tell me you don’t have time for golf!
So how about you? Why did you get into golf and what keeps you coming back to play this great game?
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