This is a very interesting and thought provoking thread.
But what it really comes down to, IMO, is a question of golf as art versus golf as a game.
Some definitions:
game (noun) - a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.
art (noun) - the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
life (noun) - a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul.
Golf as life?