Golf: once a good walk, now a good walk spoilt?

[Thomas Dai]

Golf: once a good walk, now a good walk spoilt?

Once a seasonal leisure pastime. A small bag, a few clubs, only a few others around, waves and smiles, peace and tranquility.
versus...
Now an all year business. Busy, busy, busy. Equipment galore. Buggies. Noise. Hurly-burly.

 

Thoughts?

atb

[Matt Schoolfield]

Yes, golf is a massive industry, when it used to be a small industry.

This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it. It just means people prefer $3000 sets of clubs and $250 rounds.

You can find me playing a $40 Muni, enjoying sharing the course with my neighbors for 5 hours (gasp!) walking with my grandfather’s club every other weekend.

Golf is recreation, just like baseball or basketball. It’s only a big corporate travesty if you buy into their marketing, or if you are a professional golf consumer, or if you insist on everything being just so.

[John Handley]

and Elvis took down society with his gyrating hips too.  The Beatles may have contributed somehow too.


 

[Rob Marshall]

Yes, golf is a massive industry, when it used to be a small industry.

This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it. It just means people prefer $3000 sets of clubs and $250 rounds.

You can find me playing a $40 Muni, enjoying sharing the course with my neighbors for 5 hours (gasp!) walking with my grandfather’s club every other weekend.

Golf is recreation, just like baseball or basketball. It’s only a big corporate travesty if you buy into their marketing, or if you are a professional golf consumer, or if you insist on everything being just so.

How long ago was golf a small industry?

[David_Tepper]

Our resident Luddite is relentless. Just remember, "nostalgia isn't what it used to be."

[Matt Schoolfield]

How long ago was golf a small industry?

There are a dozen ways to define this. I’d say the game changed into a large industry with the advent of television.

That changed the PGA from match play to stroke, and that’s the first time I can think of where we see industry changing the game itself, in search of increased profitability.

[Rob Marshall]

How long ago was golf a small industry?

There are a dozen ways to define this. I’d say the game changed into a large industry with the advent of television.

That changed the PGA from match play to stroke, and that’s the first time I can think of where we see industry changing the game itself, in search of increased profitability.

Matt, I’m 62. So what you are saying is that it hasn’t been small in most of our lifetimes. I would agree with that.

[Ira Fishman]

Matt,


From the perspective of the players, it changed in the US with Hagen way before 1958. And that is for the good.


Ira

[Craig Sweet]

Where I play it is drunks in carts, golfers playing from the wrong tees, people not skilled enough to be playing the course, loud music blasting from carts, 10 minute tee times that are quickly behind, too many golfers. no on course marshall.....

[Tony_Muldoon]

Where I play it is drunks in carts, golfers playing from the wrong tees, people not skilled enough to be playing the course, loud music blasting from carts, 10 minute tee times that are quickly behind, too many golfers. no on course marshall.....

I can't help thinking there's a whole market out there I'm missing.


Anyone interested in investing in this idea I've got; Beer Gardens with Crazy Putt Putt tracks? 
OOOPS too late...


Now if they'd only stick to their game...

[Thomas Dai]

Where I play it is drunks in carts, golfers playing from the wrong tees, people not skilled enough to be playing the course, loud music blasting from carts, 10 minute tee times that are quickly behind, too many golfers. no on course marshall.....

Hence this thread.
A game once played by folks who behaved like ladies and gentlemen now played by some folks, seemingly an ever increasing number, with an entirely different attitude to life.
Has life on the golf course seen its best days?
Atb

[A.G._Crockett]

Yet another Grumpy Old Men thread.  Just what the site needs!

[Eric Smith]

I think we will be ok. Sky isn’t falling. Plenty of happy golfers.


All the best.

[Craig Sweet]

Nothing wrong with being "grumpy" that bar room culture, rude and crude language, and lack of proper etiquette has infiltrated the golfing experience.  Maximizing profits to the detriment of what was once a quiet sport played in a relaxing sanctuary to escape the hub bub of life is gone for the majority of golfers not affiliated with a private club.

[Thomas Dai]

Nothing wrong with being "grumpy" that bar room culture, rude and crude language, and lack of proper etiquette has infiltrated the golfing experience.  Maximizing profits to the detriment of what was once a quiet sport played in a relaxing sanctuary to escape the hub bub of life is gone for the majority of golfers not affiliated with a private club.

Well said Craig. “… relaxing sanctuary to escape the hub bub of life ….” is an excellent description of how things were and many probably wish still were. Alas the opposite behaviour you also describe is spreading more and more into private club golf too.
Atb

[David_Tepper]

On the other hand golf (and golf clubs) has had a long history associated with snobbery, bigotry, racism and misogyny. Maybe we should be glad there is less of that around these days. 

[Niall C]

On the other hand golf (and golf clubs) has had a long history associated with snobbery, bigotry, racism and misogyny. Maybe we should be glad there is less of that around these days. 

David


I'm sure in your time at RDGC you've managed to help the club eradicate all that 


Niall

[John Keenan]

For some reason this thread made me think of this quote "Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory"

[Tony_Muldoon]

On the other hand golf (and golf clubs) has had a long history associated with snobbery, bigotry, racism and misogyny. Maybe we should be glad there is less of that around these days. 

David agreed I am much more comfortable with this part of todays culture.


Now back to on course manners....

[Peter Sayegh]

Yet another Grumpy Old Men thread.

Thanks for posting this A.G.

Where I play it is drunks in carts, golfers playing from the wrong tees, people not skilled enough to be playing the course, loud music blasting from carts, 10 minute tee times that are quickly behind, too many golfers. no on course marshall.....

TEN minute tee times??!! You're spoiled Craig. That's pretty posh in my neighborhood.

On the other hand golf (and golf clubs) has had a long history associated with snobbery, bigotry, racism and misogyny. Maybe we should be glad there is less of that around these days. 

David, I'd delete the "maybe" but I wholeheartedly agree.


As to the OP, I think it's time "a good walk" be banished when talking about the game of golf. Leave that for dog owners, seashell collectors, and landmine diffusers.

You're playing a game that brings you joy. That's a beautiful thing (I assume to most on this board). Dislikes be damned/overcome/disregarded.....

All those "A Shitty Day Golfing Is Still Better Than..." bumper stickers must be outright lies.

[Pierre_C]

Don't forget dungarees. 

and Elvis took down society with his gyrating hips too.  The Beatles may have contributed somehow too.


 

[Rob Marshall]

Where I play it is drunks in carts, golfers playing from the wrong tees, people not skilled enough to be playing the course, loud music blasting from carts, 10 minute tee times that are quickly behind, too many golfers. no on course marshall.....

Like that on a lot of private clubs…..

[Steve Salmen]

I understand the frustrations from better golf days gone. I reluctantly must  tolerate music, etc at my club. I complain here and there but not loudly. Spending 10 days a year in my golf happy place makes me appreciate how wonderful the game remains.To borrow a quote, golf has never let me down.

[Peter Sayegh]

too many golfers.

Alleviate the problem.

golf has never let me down.

Too bad this sentiment has been missing on GCA lately.

[Mark Mammel]

On this site as elsewhere, the older we get the more the light from the past has a golden glow, with all things seemingly better when we were young! Golf has certainly changed, and David rightly points out the many ways the access and feel of the game has changed. I was certainly happier when I could drape the bag over my shoulder for a nice 36 hole day- now at 72 I no longer consider the occasional use of a cart playing the lessor game of "cart-ball", as Sandy Tatum called it. No argument from me about music on the course, which I dislike; players who don't care or perhaps even know how to respect the playing surfaces, and the growing expense and difficulty and for players to see many of the great courses. But as I am still vertical, able to play- often with friends of many decades- and enjoy playing with my family as well, golf continues to be good to (and for!) me.