Golf - Love it or hate it?

[psmiffy]

Love it - it is totally addictive - when you hit that perfect shot or hole that long putt - superb - Ive played some posh courses - but that they are posh is not the point - it is that they are good courses and wicked to play - my regular course is definetly not posh and is populated by hackers - myself included - a cycle helmet is advised if not recommended.

The attitude that golf courses are populated by toffs, pompous asses and lo-vies is totally archaic (A sample of the sort of outdated, close minded attitudes and views that I would commonly expect to see in P&L if it had not been abolished) - they probably do still exist but belong to a small demographic that takes in cycling - (I suspect there are a few here on this forum) - and many other activities - golf today is the sport of the ordinary person - you can get a decent set of clubs for less than you pay for a moderate bicycle - and a round of golf at even some of the decent courses is less than you pay for a lot of sportivs

I play golf because it is an enjoyable way to spend a sociable 4 hours in the open air in nice surroundings with people I like and have a good craic with -as to the televised part - I enjoy watching it on the television in the same way that I watch professional cycling - I have once been to a pro-golf event to watch and enjoyed that - it was more interesting than the live professional road cycling event I watched in that you can actually watch some action for the majority of the time you are there.

 

[Dayvo]

Very good post, PS!

 

[Dayvo]

This reminds me.

There's a golf course near us which has a public right of way/footpath over it. It's the sort of place where you can almost hear junior "executives" sucking up to their bosses.

Anyway, there are a couple of signs on the public right of way bit which cross the greens, which actually instruct pedestrians to "walk quickly", basically to get out of the golfers way!

Needless to say, at that point I become a sporting giant in the discipline of sauntering...

Getting hit by a golf ball travelling at 300 km hurts - that's why you are asked to move along quickly, not because (you think) you might be upsetting their game.

 

[PaulB]

Love it - it is totally addictive - when you hit that perfect shot or hole that long putt - superb

Yeah, but it's not though, is it?

Incredibly enough, I once stayed in the captain's suite at the Belfry! For three nights!

I was there at a medical conference and given the key to room 112 and had some real trouble finding it. 110 was there and next door was 114 so that non-descript double door there must be the entrance to....a short staircase up a flight and there were rooms 111, 112 and 113. My key-card went into another set of double doors bearing the legends, 'Captains's Suite' to reveal...a HUGE room with giant plasma TV, chaise-lounge, leather three-piece suite, basket of fruit, red, white and sparkling wines and a separate bedroom as big as a standard hotel bedroom with another TV off to one side. A set of patio doors let out to a balcony overlooking the tee-off thing for the first hole.

I was continually convinced someone had cocked up and I was going to be told there's been a mistake but no, I got to stay in it for three luxurious nights. That was nice but did nothing to lower my inherent dislike of gawf. A sport of nauseating tedium.

And how come more golf clubs have been lost in burglaries and car break-ins than have ever been manufactured?

 

[endoman]

Yeah, but it's not though, is it?

Incredibly enough, I once stayed in the captain's suite at the Belfry! For three nights!

I was there at a medical conference and given the key to room 112 and had some real trouble finding it. 110 was there and next door was 114 so that non-descript double door there must be the entrance to....a short staircase up a flight and there were rooms 111, 112 and 113. My key-card went into another set of double doors bearing the legends, 'Captains's Suite' to reveal...a HUGE room with giant plasma TV, chaise-lounge, leather three-piece suite, basket of fruit, red, white and sparkling wines and a separate bedroom as big as a standard hotel bedroom with another TV off to one side. A set of patio doors let out to a balcony overlooking the tee-off thing for the first hole.

I was continually convinced someone had cocked up and I was going to be told there's been a mistake but no, I got to stay in it for three luxurious nights. That was nice but did nothing to lower my inherent dislike of gawf. A sport of nauseating tedium.

And how come more golf clubs have been lost in burglaries and car break-ins than have ever been manufactured?

The Belfry is a perfect example of corporate golf, not a great golf course, many better in the area, but tons of cash thrown at it. The people playing there tend to think they are in the ryder cup and take forever, I've played it once in a comp, cost me nothing, played well, but won't be returning if I had to pay.

 

[MontyVeda]

Love it on the playstation... but damn it's not easy!

 

[al78]

I'm with you on that one, although others on here may have other evidence.

Has far as I can see it, a golf course replaces natural, publicly accessible biodiversity with sterile monoculture that only a privileged few may enjoy, provided they turn up in a Range Rover Sport wearing chavcouture fashion.

* I do believe I've invented a new word there with my portmanteau of "chav" and "haute couture". You know what I mean - threads that cost the earth but look decidedly Delboy Trotter.

In many cases it is more likely to be the case that the golf course is an alternative to housing estates that would be built if it wasn't there.

It is not a complete monoculture either, there can be quite extensive areas between the fairways that are left to grow wild.

I would agree that building them in water stressed regions is daft.

 

[MacB]

marvelous game to play, lose interest in watching when I'm not involved in playing any more...another one with a broken elbow here. Was the same for rugby, watched lots of games when I played and then gradually petered out after I stopped.

Good to see all the haters on here supporting their hate with the usual round of stereotypical nonsense speckled with a miniscule amount of personal experience.

 

[Dayvo]

Good to see all the haters on here supporting their hate with the usual round of stereotypical nonsense speckled with a miniscule amount of personal experience.

Surely you can't mean that there are forumers here who are making unqualified and unsubstansiated comments?

 

[PaulB]

Good to see all the haters on here supporting their hate with the usual round of stereotypical nonsense speckled with a miniscule amount of personal experience.

Ah yes, I well remember that simply WUNderful thread on a gawf forum where all the gawfers were indulging in a mutual love-in at how much they simply ADORED 'the cycling'. I remember that like it was yesterday.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Of all the sports I have played, golf and snooker are the two most enjoyable and addictive. I always got a buzz of anticipation when I picked up a club ready to play the first shot or set the balls up on a billiard table.

Much as I loved cycle racing the anticipation before the start was tinged with the knowledge that it was going to bloody well hurt.

 

[gavintc]

Hate it; it is simply darts for the middle classes. I accept there is a skill involved, but a sport in which a beer belly seems to be 'de-rigeur' just not cut it for me.

 

[Dayvo]

Hate it; it is simply darts for the middle classes. I accept there is a skill involved, but a sport in which a beer belly seems to be 'de-rigeur' just not cut it for me.

There are probably as many beer bellies on cyclists as there are on golfers!

 

[gavintc]

There are probably as many beer bellies on cyclists as there are on golfers!

No,I accept that, but not at the competitive end of the field.

TV in Italy - TdF on the main sport channel.
TV in UK - Golf and Cricket.

Enuf said.

 

[Dayvo]

TV in Italy - TdF on the main sport channel.
TV in UK - Golf and Cricket.

Enuf said.

But that's a different arguement.

Norwegian Eurosport: France v Sweden 3rd place play-off, women's football world cup. Nuff said!