Here’s Why You Love Golf

Written By: Tony Covey

A few weeks ago I asked you guys to tell me why you love golf…and thank you very much, you did.

And so that’s what I’m talking about today; the love of golf.

But before I get to that, there’s something that needs to be said – even if I don’t like saying it.

There a chance that the brain trust over at HackGolf is right.

I feel dirty, or at least lightly soiled.

Tabling any arguments about whether or not golf actually needs to be grown for a bit; the probability is that if golf is actually going to be grown, it’s going to have to be innovated, and quite frankly, dumbed…or at least watered down a bit.

I don’t like it – and I hope we eventually come up with something better than a 15” cup (credit for starting somewhere, I suppose), but the truth is that courses are hurting.

I’ll concede that I generally like my courses uncrowded, but they’ll be useless when they’re closed.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, in the digital, i–whatever world we live in, where kids grow up playing virtual everything, and where even baseball is losing numbers to lacrosse (is there anything more insidious than lacrosse?), how can we reasonably expect to cultivate an expensive game that takes twice as long and moves at half the pace of nearly anything else we could spend our precious time doing?

Golf is a board game trying to compete with Xbox One.

Golf, or at least key aspects of golf need to be adapted to better fit in our zero-focus, top 5 list, sound bite society.

That’s, sadly, is what I’m afraid might be true.

It’s not what I want to be true.

That’s likely a delusion, but at least I can say it’s my delusion.

Embracing What’s Right

What I find most fascinating is that time and time again, you guys basically said the same things. The things you love about golf, are, ironically enough, at the top of the list of things that the most recent incarnation of the grow golf moment says we need to change.

Could it be that what golfers love is what non-golfers hate…or at least what golfers think non-golfers hate?

When I looked through your responses to my simple Why Do You Love Golf query, I found that the overwhelming majority of your answers touched on 3 central themes.

The Challenge

“Golf is too hard”

We hear that one all the time. The difficulty of the game is seen as an obstacle. It’s the reason for the 15” cup. And yet, despite the impossibility of it all, that difficulty is one of many reasons why you embrace the game.

Here’s what you had to say:

We play for one great shot.

Hell yes, golf is hard, and you’re totally cool with that.

Would it be so wrong to simply accept that golf is a challenging and difficult game, and that alone means it isn’t for everyone?

Continuing with the video game metaphors; Rockstar Games isn’t trying to recode Grand Theft Auto for people who don’t like gratuitous violence and dead hookers.

Trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for chronic failure.

Time Spent with Family & Friends

Yes…I really just segued from dead hookers to a bit about spending quality time with family.

How are we not better selling this amazing aspect of golf (family, not dead hookers)? There isn’t another sport short of bowling that allows generations of family members to play alongside, and if you so desire, compete against one another.

How many grandfather-daughter-son soccer leagues are there?

How many people compete against their grandfathers in baseball? Not even the Griffeys.

How many moms play lacrosse with their dads?

Golf can be a family sport like none other. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Why can’t we better leverage that to grow the game?

3 Generations playing together

A wife and daughter too

And Friends

Nearly everyone talks about wanting to spend more time with family. Golf affords us an opportunity like none other to do just that. Golf can take a long time to play. If you’re with the right people, that’s hardly a bad thing.

Unwinding with Nature

That’s probably a bit of a catch-all blanket phrase, but the point is that many of you mentioned that you love golf because it allows you to get outside, clear your head, commune  with nature…that sort of thing.

A couple Thursdays ago I teed off under what you’d probably call dreary conditions. It was cloudy and drizzling. Just short of the 12^th green is one of only two water hazards on the course. The rain had stopped, the sky had cleared, and as the fog slowly lifted, I was paused by a gentle chorus of frogs and bugs.

Not to get all sandals and granola on you, but it was relaxing, soothing even. Good luck having a similar experience inside a bowling alley, watching lacrosse, or playing with your damn iPad.

Golf – it’s better than going to the mall.

The Full Marketing Pitch

Several of you touched on the Challenge, family/friends, and the great outdoors, but none did it better it better than this guy. If this isn’t the marketing pitch for golf, I’m not sure what is.

It sure beats the hell out of “Golf – Now with a bigger cup”.

Seriously…This Could Work, Right?

Are we over-thinking this whole growing golf thing? Maybe the message so far has been wrong. Does the game really need to be easier? Do we really need to play it faster?

Sure, there’s some work to be done, and course managers are going to need to get onboard with the big picture, but how hard could it be to sell people on an amazing and challenging game that presents a the rarest of opportunity for multiple generations of a family to spend 4.5 hours together, outside, and unplugged?

Never mind…don’t answer that.