When is it time to quit?

[Tom Huckaby]

So as you've said many times, you suck now Dave.

Have you quit forever?

I refuse to believe it, but quit beating around the bush.  You ask good questions and they make sense... but make a decision anyway.

And if you do quit, fine.  Quit talking about the stupid game then.

 

As for you Mr. Huntley, of course you have every right to ask and to contemplate such things.  And it must be weird to rob guys with a 23 when you once could at scratch.

However.... I believe one and all see a joy in your play that obviates all discussions of quitting.  Sure you can think about it.. as do most of us on the worst of days. But if you act on it prior to the day you simply can neither swing nor walk, I will be shocked.

TH

[Steve Salmen]

DSchmidt,

It's interesting.  Here, not many people play into their 70s and 80s.  In Scotland, it seems half the golfers are old-very old.

[Anthony Gray]

How many basketball players keep playing basketball when they can't get the ball up to the hoop?

How many baseball players keep playing baseball or softball when they can't run, hit, field or throw anymore?

How many bowlers keep bowling when they throw gutter ball after gutter ball?

How many NASCAR drivers keep driving cars when they crash them all into the wall?

How many fishermen keep on fishing when they can't land a fish?

Why is golf the only game that you're expected to keep playing long after it's painfully clear that you suck at it? 

  Many of us have always sucked at it. That is what makes it so much fun.

  Anthony

[Anthony Gray]

  This is a good reason to keep playing.

 

[TX Golf]

I'm with Dave on this one.... it has nothing to do with the score itself, but the shots that produce the score. I just don't see myself enjoying the game all that much when I can no longer hit the shots that I was once capable of. My thoughts may change one day but thats how I feel now.

If I am looking for a nice walk in the park, then hell, there are plenty of spots in NorCal that are much prettier to hike than a golf course. I play golf for the golf, not for the walk.

Robert

[Tom Huckaby]

Robert:

Dave's a lot older than you... and he's quit the game like I have quit typing emails and GCA posts.

From all I have heard, you are a fine player, and young.  It's easy to say this NOW.  And perhaps you are one of those I mention as the rule among great players.

I just read from you more joy in the playing than that.

My bet is you play a long long time.

But again, if not, it is wholly understandable.  Great players would tend to look at it this way.

You likely need not guess I will NEVER quit myself. But then again I have never been a great player.

TH

[Tom Huckaby]

Robert:  I read far more joy in the playing from you than you ever quitting due to crappy shots.

My bet is you change your tune as you age.

 

[Mike_Cirba]

I injured my left hand (I'm left-handed) in mid-December, didn't get it diagnosed properly until late January, and had surgery February 5th which involved a 2-inch incision to remove a piece of bone that had fractured and sand-down the rest for smoothness.  

I had a cast on for two weeks afterwards, and since that time have been slowly itching my way back into the game.

Two weeks ago I hit some painful half-wedge shots around Cobb's Creek during yet another walking tour.  Last week I did the same on the Karakung course and then went and woefully attempted to hit a small bucket of balls at the accursed City Line Avenue Driving Range.

This past Saturday I went with Joe Bausch and Kyle Harris to the 4200 yard, par 62 Walnut Lane course (featured on this site) and we played about 25 hole and I was still abysmal and in a good deal of pain, especially with off-center hits which were about 80% of my shots towards the end of the day.

Feeling down about things, I decided to finally break down and give in to technology, so I went out and bought myself one of those "ham-on-a-stick" drivers, figuring that since I'm now at about 60% strength, with no light at the end of the tunnel, I'd best utilize all the technological help that science can muster.

On my way home from the golf shop, I stopped at a grass driving range near my home.   There was a sign on the window to put money into a little box, so I grabbed a small basket and inserted the five bucks.

There was only one other person on the range...a slight, elderly man who looked about 80 years old, and who was hitting an iron from an artificial mat, with his ball teed up.

He had a short, but unhurried swing, and ball after ball sailed out about 80-100 yards.

I took my Gorilla driver and about 30 yards downrange proceeded to swing wih the same type of ease, finding to my surprise that it suddenly became a whole lot easier to hit the ball on the sweetspot.

I was probably only carrying the ball a little over 200 yards, but my shots were straight, and true, and probably 80% of them landed in the same neighborhood, which is quite unusual for me.   I also became very cognizant of the fact that I normally swing at about twice that effort, with certainly not double the success!

After a bit the pro who runs the range stopped back and started to speak to the older fellow, who it appeared he knew.

In response, I heard the mechanized voice of a man who obviously had his trachea removed at some point, and saw him covering the hole in his throat that provided him with something approximating auditory abilities.

Here I was, feeling a bit sorry for myself and the condition of my golf game with my hand still too slowly recuperating, and it suddenly occurred to me that here is a guy who probably will never hit a golf shot 200 yards again, but would probably never stop trying.  It also occurred to me that it's likely this fellow had many other challenges in his life that made hitting a golf ball probably one of his most precious day-to-day moments.

So, when do I think it's time to quit golf?

When we stop learning, and I can tell you personally that I've got a long, long way to go in that regard.

[Tom Huckaby]

People aren't greyhounds, and thus the wise realize it always has been a fake rabbit.

[TX Golf]

Tom,

That is why I mentioned that my thoughts definitely might change one day.

Having grown up playing golf with my dad and both my grandfathers and having seen there golf games decline (with age and kids) I see how they still love the game.

The idea that frustrates me is not even having the ability anymore to shoot the good score. I played a round down in Texas last week with a fellow GCAer and shot one of the worst scores I have had in maybe five years. However, I still had a blast because we were on a great golf course and the company was even better. However, I knew that it was just a bad day, not a permanent issue.

I guess I am just young an naive

Now that I really think about it.... as long is there is a cart and enough beer I don't care if I shot 120 every time out

[TX Golf]

Greyhounds ??  If only I was creative enough to come up with thoughts like that!!


Edit: P.S. Tom,

I saw a nice article in the NCGA magazine about the junior program at your beloved Santa Teresa... said something to the effect that they have around 500 kids?? in the program. That is pretty damn impressive.

[Tom Huckaby]

Now that I really think about it.... as long is there is a cart and enough beer I don't care if I shot 120 every time out.

Now that's the spirit.

Funny thing is I believe Schmidt feels the same way.

  

[Tom Huckaby]

Dave, note I said "the wise."

I assumed you are such. I do not assume all are.

But based on your BS today - and Friday - I may change my assessment.

TH

[Jim Thompson]

Given the originator of this thread, there exist two obvious answers:

1.  When you are no longer able to tuck in your shirt.
&
2.  When you can no longer remember to remove your cap in the clubhouse.

Cheers!

JT

[Mark Smolens]

There's no question that some people look at the game differently.  Take two icons of the game -- Nicklaus and Palmer.  The King loves to play golf for the sake of playing the game.  He's still teeing it up on a regular basis with his buddies at Bay Hill, even tho he can't come close to playing the way he did in his youth.  It's the ever-evolving struggle to hit that little friggin ball square on the face.  Jack, on the other hand, has always seemed to view the game as something he did better than anyone else (except, perhaps, for Bob Jones and some new Cablasian guy).  When his game left the lofty peaks, so it appears did his interest.  Recent internet rumors have indicated that he's playing more "social" golf with family and friends.

In an ideal world, I'll do a Bing Crosby.  Play a round of golf with friends, flirt with the cart girl, shoot my age (something in the 90s), and as I walk off the course. . . drop dead -- somewhere close to the 19th hole bar so my buddies don't have far to drag me to wait for the ambulance.

[Rob Rigg]

If you were good in the past and now suck (like me) the game can be very frustrating, but there is always hope for improvement and no matter how old you are, at some point during a round you will hit a shot that reminds you of when you were on top of your game.

I think people in GBI golf until they are in the grave because the game is much more entwined with their culture. My grandfather played until he passed away two or three times a week because he just loved being out there with the lads. And he loved to compete.

I would argue that matchplay will also extend anyone's golfing career. Handicaps are a great equalizer and allow us all to play competitively against each other. Matches are obviously much more prevalent in GBI where your score on any given hole is all that really matters.

At the same time, I understand why someone would consider hanging up their clubs, but not completely, because how you hit the ball is only one element of the golfing experience.

[Anthony Gray]

  Many of us have always sucked at it. That is what makes it so much fun.

  Anthony

What happens when the fake rabbit at the dogtrack breaks down in the middle of a race and the greyhounds realize that what they've been chasing their whole lives was an unattainable fraud?

  I'm ok with fake.

  Anthony

[Tom Huckaby]

Dave, note I said "the wise."

I assumed you are such. I do not assume all are.

But based on your BS today - and Friday - I may change my assessment.

TH

Well, now that you're logically half-pregnant, please explain to me the difference between the wise man and the unwise man?

Are you saying that the wise man realizes that the unattainable is unattainable yet chases it anyway?  Why would that be?  On the off chance that it is?  If that's the case, he's not wise.  Why?  Because if the unattainable really isn't, he was wrong to consider the attainable unattainable.  And that's what makes him unwise in the first place...

Dave:

Was the guy who's organized two events to play an Evanston muni course in reverse in the dead of winter wise or unwise?  Is such a guy really talking about quitting the game based on lack of quality relative to what he once was?

See ya on the tee next time we can make that happen; as unwise as that so obviously is, and as unattainable as any goals might be.

TH

[TX Golf]

Tom,

Did you see the edit to my post 44?

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom,

Did you see the edit to my post 44?

Aha! No I had not.  Yes, Santa Teresa has a HUGE junior program - role-model for the entire NCGA for sure.  My son is a member.  He never plays - too much time devoted to other sports - but I like to keep options open.

TH

[Tom_Doak]

It is time to quit if you are really not having fun playing golf anymore.

I hope I never see that day.

[Anthony Gray]

  Here in a couple of weeks watch the past champions at The Masters. Some have no hope of making the cut. They cannot come close to their scores from the past. Many are having more fun now.

  Golf is a game of passion. That is why players like Garland can greatly contribute to a site like this. Personally I am just bad enough at golf to enjoy it.

  Anthony

 

[Eric Smith]

It is time to quit if you are really not having fun playing golf anymore.

I hope I never see that day.

Completely agree.  

And will say with all certainty that this day will never happen (for me).

Play on!

[Scott Warren]

  This is a good reason to keep playing.

 

Those shoes second from left are reason enough to keep playing!

[TEPaul]

"How many basketball players keep playing basketball when they can't get the ball up to the hoop?

How many baseball players keep playing baseball or softball when they can't run, hit, field or throw anymore?

How many bowlers keep bowling when they throw gutter ball after gutter ball?

How many NASCAR drivers keep driving cars when they crash them all into the wall?

How many fishermen keep on fishing when they can't land a fish?

Why is golf the only game that you're expected to keep playing long after it's painfully clear that you suck at it?"



Dave:

I would offer a bit of a correction to the wording of your last question. It has never been my observation that golfers are necessarily EXPECTED to keep playing long after it's painfully clear that they suck. I think it's just more a matter that many do. 

It has also been my observation that many golfers who choose to continue playing golf when it even becomes patently clear to them that they really suck and particularly when they get really old, they tend to play alone. This is not something I've seen in isolated circumstances, it's something I've seen a good deal of throughout my life in various clubs.

And I think I recall you are one of those who does not or cannot fathom the point of playing golf in any case at any time of one's life if one is not playing against someone. While others of us have mentioned and defended the idea that many golfers also feel they are playing against the golf course too and in fact it is very much the opponent or certainly AN opponent.

With all the golfers I have seen who are really old and at the end of their years who tend to fall into playing alone obviously there is still something very much in it for them by simply using the golf course as a form of an opponent or a challenge even if they just sort of dink around on it.

I can't tell you how often I have seen that in my life through the years. You may think it a phenomenon but I don't. To me there is also that uniqueness about golf as a stick and ball game in that it's about the only stick and ball game I'm aware of where the ball is not vied for.