Some Thoughts on the Game

It's amazing to me to think how popular the game of golf has become. We pay anywhere from $15 to $500 to walk around a nice looking lawn for more than 4 hours trying to put a little ball in a little hole. But let's face it, golf is a lot of fun. I don't know if its the social aspect of the game (how many of you have played alone?), the prospect of bettering our game every time we play, the aesthetic beauty of a well maintained course (few things are more appealing to me than the contrast of a green course to a rough landscape like the mountains, ocean or desert), or maybe in today's media frenzied world of entertainment, its the nostalgia of being outdoors and active. Its probably some combination. But I have 2 problems with golf... time and money. I consider myself a family man and losing 4 or more hours on a Saturday does not sit well with me and more importantly my wife and kids. And again, let's face the facts, golf is expensive. Golfers spend on average about $1,000/year according to NGF! Avid golfers spend on average close to $2,500/year! Both are too much for me, so much so that I have considered on a few occasions just giving up the game completely. But every spring, without fail, I am drawn back. My solution then? That is part of my quest, to keep both time and money down. I really enjoy an early 9 holes of golf. It's cheap and if you tee off at 6 am can be done by 8:30 very easily. There has got to be some kind of balance that allows us hackers to better our game, maybe even get good at the game without spending our kids' college funds and probably more importantly without spending our free time that is also rightfully theirs. That is my quest.