Battle for the Soul of Golf Part II

[Carl Rogers]

It appeared that the first thread had run its course.  For me, the salient statement  was when, I forgot who, observed that golf is a niche game.  Well, it is a niche game and an acquired taste.  Is not the question the "soul" of golf but the "definition" on golf?  The word "soul" gets "religion", "ethics" and a lot of other existential matters into the game that only a few can truly embrace (like those on this web site).

Perhaps if the word "battle" could be dropped, then the entire notion "winners" and "loosers" might disappear as well.

I have observed over time that many are interested in the game, but very quickly realize its difficulty and loose interest.

At a more primordial level, the question I have is why any of you got involved in the game to start with or why you continue to play?  The answer to those questions may lead to a different question(s)??

I have a simple story and uninteresting story,  but it initially had to do with a youngster that had a fascination with the ball flying against the sky over a pastoral landscape.

[Brent Hutto]

I was specifically looking for a way to get some exercise that didn't suck. Or to be more precise, that wasn't so boring I'd quit doing it after a few weeks or months. So at age 33, one day after work I tagged along with a coworker while he played nine holes. The next afternoon we went back and this time I hit a few shots. By the following week I had a set of clubs, we played a full round and I was hooked.

Now it's about 2,500 rounds later and I'm still hooked. But it's still as much about the walk as the shots. I knew I was in it for the long haul when after a few years I started walking two miles around my neighborhood every day...to get in better shape for the 2-3 times a week I play golf...which I started doing as a way to get some exercise...

[Mac Plumart]

why any of you got involved in the game to start with or why you continue to play?

1)  Picked up golf after health issues eliminated the other sporting activities I used to participate in.

2)  I continue to play because I love it.  The challenge, the changing venues,  the games flexibility...I could go on and on and on...

[Matthew Petersen]

My dad was a golfer and so I basically grew up with it, knowing he was playing, watching golf on TV with him, etc. Local courses all had restrictions on the minimum age of players, so I think I first started getting out around age 7 ... I was a big, tall kid too so even places that wouldn't have allowed someone that young didn't usually ask.

I don't really ever recall not being obsessed with the game. I played in the backyard, in the open lot behind our house, and on cheesy computer games. I quickly became obsessed with courses, too; finding out whatever I could about them, reading books, drawing.

There's a lot I love about the game. Most of it is the way it's so impossible to master. Even the best players in the world are eternally unsatisfied with their games. (It takes a certain temperament to see this as a good thing, I suppose.) The challenge is ever varying. You can play a course you've never seen before or one you've played a hundred times before, but it's still never the same. That was probably the initial appeal and it's still a lot of the appeal. As I've gotten older, I have also come to think of golf as a sort of therapy time--a place where I can go and my mind can be quiet and the stresses of life are put aside for a few hours. If I'm playing well that's great; if not, I am now much better at appreciating the new challenge of every shot, and the simple pleasure of being outside, walking, etc.

[Tim_Weiman]

Carl,

I was about two years old when I fell in love with golf courses and the idea of playing them. My parents were members at Leewood Golf Club in Eastchester, NY, a course with no particular claim to fame except Babe Ruth was a member and played there.

My parents took me to Leewood's swimming pool, but I was always fascinated by the golf course and the 18th hole right near the pool.

Also, when we drove around the neighborhood, I really liked seeing the hills, the green and people out there playing.

Funny thing. My family moved to Pelham, NY when I was about four, so I have never played Leewood. But, I have gone back there a few times while in New York just to see where my life long love started.

[John McCarthy]

When I was twelve I started caddying because I wanted money.  From there picking up the game was natural.  It also got me out of the house which was nice because I was the youngest and only boy. 

Why do I keep playing?  It gets me out of the house.  I can hang out with my friends.  I don't want my kids to see me sitting on the couch and doing nothing.  I want them to play with me when they get older. 

[Colin Macqueen]

Gentlemen,
Many here will have heard my wee story before but the re-telling always gives me great pleasure!

At the impressionable age of three I was seated on my Mum's knee in the bay window of our home Lismore, at the end of The Esplanade, Carnoustie.  Ben Hogan, making  his one and only tilt at The Open, was putting out for victory.

Now golfing may not be in the genes but to be exposed to the game at this pivotal moment in it's history and at such a tender age has obviously left its mark! The experience of being wheeled out in a pram around the last few holes of Carnoustie on a fairly regular basis must also have burrowed itself into my sub-conscious!

By the age of eleven I had hunted down old clubs used by my parents when students in Edinburgh and was hitting anything remotely resembling a golf ball …. pebbles, chestnuts etc.. I was hooked (actually sliced!) and the "gemme" has been a joy and a frustration for the last 50 years.

And Carl I do try hard to get the existential and metaphysical aspects of this dratted game into play as well. However both the swing and the spiritual approach, as often as not, elude me so I will keep on playing to try and iron (nowadays hybrid!) things out! Nonetheless when I do hit a peach of a shot there are very few substitutes which provide as much pleasure. A soaring golf ball arching its way unerringly to the target triggers the atavistic in me for sure!

Cheers Colin