Golf as Hunting

[David Harshbarger]

One of the talking heads on US Golf commentary made a comment to the effect that the best putters approach putting as though they are hunters: athletic, target focused, with keened senses.


This idea resonated with me not just for putting but as a frame to approach golfing tee to green.


To me this frame works on many levels:


- it promotes target oriented swing thoughts
- it reframes the cup as the prey and the hole as the defenses protecting the prey
- that reframing of the hole as the defenses reframes each shot’s approach as how to best navigate the defenses: IE strategy
- it makes prioritizing Jack’s dictum to “make the easiest shot to execute that leaves you the easiest subsequent shot” the logical approach to shot selection
- it demands an intellectual approach to strategy
- it engages the whole person - keening the senses and aligning the physical and mental in pursuit of the prey


…and it harkens back to the early analogies of golf minds like John Low, who iirc used the hunting analogy as the counter to the penal Victorian conception of golf, and underlaid his arguments for a strategic conception of the course.


My question: have others found success framing golf as hunting, or found the analogy useful as a player, a critic, or a builder!

[Tom_Doak]

David:


I was surprised to learn when I was working on Dr. MacKenzie's biography that he spent some of his youth "deerstalking" in north-western Scotland [his father's estate was near Lochinver], and MacKenzie did draw some comparisons between golf and hunting as outdoor pursuits with all the attributes you named.


I've still never been to Lochinver, but it is on the route of the North Coast 500 and that sounds like it's right up my wife's alley, so I hope to get there while we are working on Cabot Highlands.

[Ben Sims]

The best golf courses feel very similar to the best days in the Rockies chasing elk. I’d agree that there are many parallels. There’s a common tactic for stalking elk in archery season, it’s called “getting on the same level” as the elk. It’s a way to combat the elk’s primary expectation that predators will come from above or below. You’ll find lots of game trails in the mountains that accurately follow contour lines. It seems that they prefer to go uphill or downhill only when they have to and aggressively. Most of the time they’re traveling while conserving energy (not going up or down)


I guess Bill Coore was onto something with the deer trails. 

[Ken Moum]

Ben, As someone who spent most of his adult life writing about wildlife biology, hunting and fishing, I assure you there aren't any wild animals that are unfrugal with their energy budgets. And while I never thought much about how it relates to hunting, golf is after all a sport, not a game.


Like other sports, hunting, shooting, archery, running, fishing, et. al, it does call on the participants to be aware of nature and the natural world to succeed. And unlike games, there's no defense to be played.


I think that most links courses in big dunes by necessity follow the path of least resistance, like the deer trails Coore mentioned.


The other thing about hunting that applies is the ability to either read and understand the wind, or find ways to avoid it. Birds that live on the prairie will inevitably find a quiet spot on a hill, just under the crest on the lee side.  They can hear anything coming toward them with the wind, and they can see down the hill where the wind prevents sound getting to them.


Figuring out how to take advantage of that sometimes means you get a meal.

[Thomas Dai]

Eyesight and the dreaded twitch!
Atb

[Tom_Doak]

I think that most links courses in big dunes by necessity follow the path of least resistance, like the deer trails Coore mentioned.

Most good routings follow the path of least resistance, or at least something close to it.  That's why people with a math/engineering brain are more likely to be good at routing holes.

[William_G]

i agree 100% with the hunting parallel when finding a routing


also, the player, like Harman, has a sense of terrain while playing in a natural environment


this concept is also why I'm not a fan, as a player, of Whistling Straits or the Irish courses as they are completely fake


love Mackenzie and Coore

[Kalen Braley]

David,

I like the analogy overall, but as it applies to putting, (which has been the best part of my otherwise unreliable/mediocre game), my approach is a bit different.

I prefer a Zen Buddhist approach of sorts by taking a few breaths, getting relaxed, and taking in the surroundings in more harmonious fashion. Then become one with the green, feel the speed, employ a relaxed grip with a smooth practice swing or two before finally adapting the Fight Club edict of 'just let go' and take the stroke. Simple

[Ben Sims]

Ben, As someone who spent most of his adult life writing about wildlife biology, hunting and fishing, I assure you there aren't any wild animals that are unfrugal with their energy budgets. And while I never thought much about how it relates to hunting, golf is after all a sport, not a game.


Like other sports, hunting, shooting, archery, running, fishing, et. al, it does call on the participants to be aware of nature and the natural world to succeed. And unlike games, there's no defense to be played.


I think that most links courses in big dunes by necessity follow the path of least resistance, like the deer trails Coore mentioned.


The other thing about hunting that applies is the ability to either read and understand the wind, or find ways to avoid it. Birds that live on the prairie will inevitably find a quiet spot on a hill, just under the crest on the lee side.  They can hear anything coming toward them with the wind, and they can see down the hill where the wind prevents sound getting to them.


Figuring out how to take advantage of that sometimes means you get a meal.

Nothing to disagree with here.


I’ll just add, the absolute best hunting days (keeping in mind that the only thing I hunt are elk with a bow) are the ones where you observe, orient, decide, and act. More appropriately, Col John Boyd’s famous OODA loop. Combine that with moments of compression and release due to terrain or interaction with the animal, and you get really fun days in the mountains. That pretty much explains a day on a great golf course too.

[David Harshbarger]

David,

I like the analogy overall, but as it applies to putting, (which has been the best part of my otherwise unreliable/mediocre game), my approach is a bit different.

I prefer a Zen Buddhist approach of sorts by taking a few breaths, getting relaxed, and taking in the surroundings in more harmonious fashion. Then become one with the green, feel the speed, employ a relaxed grip with a smooth practice swing or two before finally adapting the Fight Club edict of 'just let go' and take the stroke. Simple

I love it! Right out of the “Be the Ball” playbook.

[Ken Moum]

David,

I like the analogy overall, but as it applies to putting, (which has been the best part of my otherwise unreliable/mediocre game), my approach is a bit different.

I prefer a Zen Buddhist approach of sorts by taking a few breaths, getting relaxed, and taking in the surroundings in more harmonious fashion. Then become one with the green, feel the speed, employ a relaxed grip with a smooth practice swing or two before finally adapting the Fight Club edict of 'just let go' and take the stroke. Simple

I'd wager that if you could get Harman to describe bowhunting, it would resemble your last sentence.

[Adam Lawrence]

This is a very, very American analogy. It would have no resonance at all here in the UK, where only a minuscule proportion of people have ever hunted anything.

[James Reader]

This is a very, very American analogy. It would have no resonance at all here in the UK, where only a minuscule proportion of people have ever hunted anything.

And for most of those that do it’s more analogous to a (very expensive) driving range: stand in a line while excessive numbers of birds are forced to fly over you for you to shoot.

[Sean_A]

This is a very, very American analogy. It would have no resonance at all here in the UK, where only a minuscule proportion of people have ever hunted anything.

And for most of those that do it’s more analogous to a (very expensive) driving range: stand in a line while excessive numbers of birds are forced to fly over you for you to shoot.

My exact experience in England. Not a good experience and not to be repeated. Nothing like hunting where I grew up.

Ciao

[Peter Flory]

This is slightly different than what you're asking, but I've always thought that golf probably replaces the instinctual hunting need for men as a bonding activity.  You're on a long shoulder-to-shoulder walk in a pack while you're directing nearly all of your concentration to a very difficult task.


Maybe the natural gathering types are the ones who are searching for golf balls the whole time. 

[Kalen Braley]

David,

I like the analogy overall, but as it applies to putting, (which has been the best part of my otherwise unreliable/mediocre game), my approach is a bit different.

I prefer a Zen Buddhist approach of sorts by taking a few breaths, getting relaxed, and taking in the surroundings in more harmonious fashion. Then become one with the green, feel the speed, employ a relaxed grip with a smooth practice swing or two before finally adapting the Fight Club edict of 'just let go' and take the stroke. Simple

I'd wager that if you could get Harman to describe bowhunting, it would resemble your last sentence.

Ken,

You may be right. 

The hunting approach seems a zero-sum approach thou whereas I prefer the harmonious group aspect.  We all win... the ball, the course, nature, me, all together as one!