Why Every Guy Should Care About Golf

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This past weekend was the U.S. Open Championship, the nation’s largest open golftournament and arguably the sport’s toughest, most desired title. English golferJustin Rose won, which was good for him. PhilMickelson, the nation’s premier left-handed player, came in second (again),which was good for people who are not fans of Phil Mickelson. The major championships (TheMasters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship) attract their share offairweather viewers, the kind of people who only attend church on Easter Sunday. I knowI’m guilty of the same behavior with, say, the NBA or NHL. The difference is thatwith those sports, it’s rare for someone to say “Basketball? I hatebasketball. It’s stupid.” Golf, on the other hand, gets a bad rap (and no, Idon’t mean that abhorrent “Golf Boys”video some of us were unfortunate enough to witness) from anyone who’s not adedicated fan. It’s a shame, because golf is as intricate and challenging a game asany other.

The biggest issue many detractors have with golf is thesport’s seeming lack of required athleticism. “Golf’s the only sport youcan be fat and still be good at!” people say, having apparently never watchedbaseball or football and not understanding the difference between athleticism and fitness.Hitting a golf ball (successfully, at least) is the second most difficult action in sportsafter hitting a baseball, and that’s only because the baseball is moving. Those whoplay the game, or have at least tried, understand this. Those who haven’t see abunch of guys of varying levels of physical fitness standing still and seeminglyeffortlessly moving the ball around the course. If you don’t understand whythat’s difficult, consider that you’re hitting the ball to a target which youare not facing and cannot see while swinging the club. That doesn’t happen in anyother sport. Even baseball and hockey players are looking where they’re aiming.Consider also that the golfswing occurs in two planes, both an around-the-body plane (like tennis) and anup-and-down plane (like chopping firewood). The human body is relatively adept at workingin either of those planes, but a hybrid of the two? Not so much. So no, golf may notrequire great physical strength or endurance, but the training, repetition and rawcoordination required to produce even a modicum of success are as demanding as any othersport.

Another reason for golf’s second-tier status is that in order tobe a real fan, it’s kind of expected that you play (or at least occasionally play)yourself. I don’t think any other sport is like that. It’s fine, and common,for guys and their friends to play armchair quarterbacks for their favorite teams,bemoaning poor decision-making with the full understanding that none of you have everplayed football on any kind of major scale, and possibly not at all. With golf, that samedisconnect isn’t allowed, or at least isn’t as common. It would seem very oddindeed for a non-player to not only identify that going after a particular pin placementwas a bad idea, but to accurately articulate why it was a bad idea. Part of that,in fairness, is because when watching golf it’s rare to see a player withinthe context of the entire course or even an entire hole, whereas in football it’s easyfor even a casual fan to say “yeah Jay, I could have told you that one was gonna getpicked off” from our omniscient vantage point.

I think people also tendto associate golf with exclusivity and the upper crust of society, which doesn’t sitwell with the Dudley Do-Rights of the world. In a sense, they’re correct. A bag fullof top-tier equipment will set you back about two grand, and membership at a private clubcan be obscenely expensive. It’s unlikely, then, to see a group of low-income kidsplaying a friendly pickup game of golf, the way you would with soccer or basketball.However, it’s also exclusive in a positive sort of way. Only the top 125 players inthe world retain their PGA Tour cards (the only place to make any real money playinggolf). That figure is mind boggling when compared to other sports. There’s no draftand no contracts. It’s one of the few sports that’s 100% pay for performance.There’s no injury reserve list. If you can’t play, you can’t get paid,period (minus things like endorsements, of course). Imagine how different, say, footballwould be if only the top 125 players were guaranteed to stay on their squads for the nextseason. Continue Reading

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