A highly amusing article from a writer who took up golf as part of her "human guinea pig" series.
http://www.slate.com/id/2173969/Some highlights:
"During my brief immersion in the world of golf, I determined that gloom is an essential golf component, as befitting a game that started on the moody moors of Scotland."
"3 million Americans pick up clubs for the first time each year, and an equal number put them down. Two million quit outright, half a million go on hiatus, and the rest die! (Maybe Americans' life expectancy would increase if the CDC stopped investigating salmonella outbreaks and started shutting down golf courses.)"
"While playing a round, golfers spend only about 1 percent of their time hitting the ball, reports the New York Times. For the rest, writes the paper's Damon Hack, they are "churning and burning" as they "think about what might happen." He tells of one pro who had to give up the game because, as a friend explains, "he's kind of seen too many bad things to recover from."
Good thing my first time was bit more gentle...
