10 happiest countries in the world from a GCA perspective

[David Davis]

My company has just published these results today from the world Happiness report of the happiest countries to live in.

The Top 10 Happiest Countries

The top 10 countries are almost the same as in 2012: only the order has changed somewhat. The happiest countries are developed western nations, with good social support networks and high societal trust.

1. Switzerland
2. Iceland
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Canada
6. Finland
7. The Netherlands
8. Sweden
9. New Zealand
10. Australia

It probably doesn´t come as a surprise that all five Nordic countries are in the top 10, as their social-democratic model is focused on taking care of the weakest members of society, and relatively low corruption levels inspire trust in official institutions and society as a whole.
The opposite is true in the unhappiest cohort; the bottom 10, including Syria, Afghanistan, and eight Sub-Saharan African countries, are all connected by a tragic history of dictatorships, corruption, and internal conflicts.


If we try and translate this into golf taking relevant points into consideration what's your top 10?

Here are the points to judge by:

1. GCA
2. Accessibility of the courses
3. Price/value
4. Weather - length of the season

Anything else that needs to be added?

[John Kavanaugh]

The United States is by far the happiest country for GCA based on our ease of travel and great selection of private venues.  This of course also hits on why the country as a whole isn't very happy. #1%

[Jud_T]

Gotta be somewhere in GB&I given quality, turf, access and season.

[Ed Tilley]

When assessing all 4 criteria

1. England
2. Scotland

The rest some way behind.

Accessibility is roughly equal between the 2, both geographically and actually being able to play. Scotland would probably win in terms of price/value. England definitely wins in terms of weather. GCA is all down to taste - I would say England due to the sheer variety, but then I am biased!

[Charlie Ray]

Dominican Rep.  should be considered (especially considering resident fees).
perhaps Bermuda

Votes for the States and Australia forget that you can live a LONG way from anything of quality.  It takes two flights (or a 9 hour drive) for me to get to anything resembling world-class from my home in Louisiana.  (Same for someone living in the Northern Territory of Australia.)  On the other hand how far is a resident from some quality golf in Scotland? 

[Martin Lehmann]

If I add 'Atmosphere' and 'Respect for the nature and traditions of the game' to the criteria, my list would be:

1.  Scotland
2.  England
3.  Ireland
4.  South Africa
5.  Australia
6.  USA
7.  Sweden
8.  Italy
9.  Spain
10. Germany

[Matt Day]

Dominican Rep.  should be considered (especially considering resident fees).
perhaps Bermuda

Votes for the States and Australia forget that you can live a LONG way from anything of quality.  It takes two flights (or a 9 hour drive) for me to get to anything resembling world-class from my home in Louisiana.  (Same for someone living in the Northern Territory of Australia.)  On the other hand how far is a resident from some quality golf in Scotland? 

the Northern Territory has approximately 1% of Australia's population

[jeffwarne]

Scotland
England
USA
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Wales
Holland
Australia
Bermuda
Canada

(If counting UK as one country rather than fou listed-add)
Dominican Republic
Mexico
South Africa

[Peter Pallotta]

Why do most of the happiest countries have to be so damned cold?

I have a thought: maybe it's because people in those countries are confusing "being happy" with "not freezing to death for 6 months of every year".

In other words, we're actually more grateful (for reliable home heating systems) than we are pleased to be living in countries with golfing seasons that flitter past us faster than a hummingbird.

Peter

PS - I have my imaginary golfing-home wish list down to 4, with many factors weighed in: the Cotswolds, San Francisco, northern Scotland, and New York City. 

I think in my next life I'd like to come back as David Tepper.

[David Davis]

Why do most of the happiest countries have to be so damned cold?

I have a thought: maybe it's because people in those countries are confusing "being happy" with "not freezing to death for 6 months of every year".

In other words, we're actually more grateful (for reliable home heating systems) than we are pleased to be living in countries with golfing seasons that flitter past us faster than a hummingbird.

Peter

PS - I have my imaginary golfing-home wish list down to 4, with many factors weighed in: the Cotswolds, San Francisco, northern Scotland, and New York City. 

I think in my next life I'd like to come back as David Tepper.

Peter,

The summers in these places are far nicer than you might think (unless you already know that). In many of the northern countries is light all day and half the night. Here in Holland it's light in June from 6 am till 11 pm. These times are amazing when it's light out and on top of that it never really gets above 80 degrees but when it does it's rather on the humid side. The winters are what I'd call mild. At least when compared to the East Coast of the US and many other parts for that matter.

The happiness of course comes from average standard of living and less discrepancy between the have and have nots. We are not talking a niche group of gentlemen that spend their lives chasing white balls around but the general population. Education standards, health standards, working conditions etc etc.

That makes the happiness list much easier to follow.

In the end you'd be surprised how beautiful it is in Norway, Sweden, Finland etc from May - Oct. Not to mention how amazingly beautiful the indigenous species of women walking around there are. That's enough to make the happiness meter for men off the charts. ;-)

[Peter Pallotta]

David - thanks. i agree with all that you write (and in fact learned that the winters in the Nordics are actually milder than here). I was having a little fun with my dear old Canada - which like you I believe is a good place to live in part because of that lack (or at least seemingly lesser degree) of disparancy. But if you'd bumped into any of us Canadians from November to April the last couple of years, you'd be hard pressed to describe us as 'happy'!

Peter

[Rees Milikin]

New Zealand

[Steve Lang]

 
i love canada in the summer, but canada oh canada otherwise...

[MClutterbuck]

If we take the 6 points to judge by that have been mentioned so far, I had to add Argentina for consideration:

1. GCA
2. Accessibility of the courses: Extremely easy access, nearly any course any day. Short distances.
3. Price/value: Cheap
4. Weather - length of the season: 365 days a year
5. Atmosphere: pure golf clubs
6. Respect for the nature and traditions of the game: total, from etiquette down to the least known rule.

Unfortunately Argentina does not score well on GCA.

[Carl Nichols]

If we take the 6 points to judge by that have been mentioned so far, I had to add Argentina for consideration:

1. GCA
2. Accessibility of the courses: Extremely easy access, nearly any course any day. Short distances.
3. Price/value: Cheap
4. Weather - length of the season: 365 days a year
5. Atmosphere: pure golf clubs
6. Respect for the nature and traditions of the game: total, from etiquette down to the least known rule.

Unfortunately Argentina does not score well on GCA.

And Jockey Club (one of the better ones from a GCA perspective) is one of the more difficult to access.  At least in my experience.

[Peter Pallotta]

Carl - that's because the darn place is full of jockeys. Do you have any idea how many (relatively slight of stature) jockeys you can fit into a locker room? Hundreds, maybe even thousands! I hear that the club only has/needs three golf carts for the same reason -- you can fit 16 jockeys into one of them at the same time. A guy like you would tower over the head pro, and besides, they don't really want 'heavyweights' (that's what they call non-jockeys) tearing up the pristine turf.

Steve - yes, them there are the facts!

P

[Brent Hutto]

...

[Josh Stevens]

I suspect that first list may be skewed. The first 8 have very short golf seasons but spend the rest of the year sitting around naked in hot tubs

[David Davis]

Josh,

Not quite, in The Netherlands just like UK and Ireland we play golf all year round. At least on the links courses. Although I should mentioned that 99% of the time it's raining hard and blowing 50 km/hr. Most people are fair weather golfers and would not survive  more than a day or so of that. In that case the season would last about 1 month making it the most miserable place on earth for golf.

No hot tubbing unfortunately either. The rest of the top 8 you may be right. :-)

[Adam Lawrence]

Also, it's mostly saunas rather than hot tubs. Now, I don't mind a sauna, and I'm confident it's good for you, but steaming away and then leaping into freezing cold water doesn't make _me_ happy. Even aside from all the naked Germans...

[David Davis]

Also, it's mostly saunas rather than hot tubs. Now, I don't mind a sauna, and I'm confident it's good for you, but steaming away and then leaping into freezing cold water doesn't make _me_ happy. Even aside from all the naked Germans...

Adam,

Sorry but the key is vodka. You are not drinking enough vodka. They don't feel that cold water or the heat as they are numb from vodka.

[MClutterbuck]

And Jockey Club (one of the better ones from a GCA perspective) is one of the more difficult to access.  At least in my experience.

Actually quite easy if you are a local to play any week day. I think I paid US$20 to play there back in December. Conditions were not too good, they had one temporary green in use and to my horror there were 2 guys with shovels changing the shapes of bunkers.

Tough to play on a week end though, even if you are a member. The club is a mess in terms of the quantity of members. They just had elections last week and a new group won and we might see some changes. Interestingly a third group was running with a proposal to eliminate part of the horse racing facilities in favor of giving the golf course added land to expand. If I understand correclty, under their proposal holes 3, 4 and 5 would be able to widen considerably from their current state, which in my opinion is not too attractive and squeezed by service roads and tracks.