What I Can't Stand About Golf

[r7 425]

What i can't stand about golf is this---if you are rich you can buy a game. Im 21 year old college student who caddys at Oakmont I have to work just to play Mondays on the course because it is hard to afford a membership anywhere. I still play the local courses occasionally and carry a 2 handicap. I just hate seeing all of these kids never working and being handed the game of golf. I bought all of my clubs and ive worked on grounds crews just to play the course on occasions. People like Peter Uihlein make me soo mad because they can be good because of money and access to academies and stuff like that. I think the AJGA should help finance aspiring junior golfers better because i know a lot of my friends who are too poor to afford entering all of these tournaments like my friend who shot 72 from the back tees at oakmont twice and has played in the state amateur..I would like people like that to get more opportunities.

Check out these videos and see why i get mad and so do we.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iCA4AiiEgQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An1rK0a4qdY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMl_rQxYuX0

[Norm66]

The whole world's like that, not just golf so you may as well get used to it. It's the same deal with homes, cars, women, jobs, colleges, etc. Someone will always have it easier than you do. The thing to do is not worry about it, just live your life the best you can and don't look for anyone else to help you out because they won't.


FWIW I can't afford to play really nice places like Oakmont at all. $45 is the highest greeen fee I've ever paid with $25 and lower making up the vast majority of my rounds. Sure it would be nice to drive a late model Mercedes to a really nice course, pop the trunklid to see my $400 cart bag containing all the latest, custom-fit clubs, GPS unit and bang a bunch of $4 balls into water hazards, but that's not going to be my life so no use worrying about it.

I hope that makes sense and helps a little bit.

[DiverDown]

The whole world's like that, not just golf so you may as well get used to it. It's the same deal with homes, cars, women, jobs, colleges, etc. Someone will always have it easier than you do. The thing to do is not worry about it, just live your life the best you can and don't look for anyone else to help you out because they won't.

Spot on. Life is what you make it, and nothing more.

[JaY_B]

This problem is ripe in all walks of life, for example my friend who does not work, gets all her driving payed for by her parents (Ill explain), roughly $2000 in driving lessons (as she is not the most natural driver in the world) $8000 on a car, I will assume $1800 on insurance and road tax obviously, so another $300, but wait... she hasn't got a job so how will she pay for petrol??? guess what, instep the parents with another $150 a month to help pay for petrol (this is English prices roughly exchanged to dollars so you understand how spoilt she is), then you have someone like me, who loves driving, even adores it and yes I get some of my lessons paid for but I have funded (proudly funded) the majority of my driving, and my golf too boot, and as a result will appreciate driving a lot more than she will.

Remember that while they will have more money spend on them, they will never, EVER feel the same sense of achievement and satisfaction that you do!.

[redi630]

I think you are forgetting that in the case of Peter Uihlein, it takes a tremendous amount of natural ability and dedication to get as good as he is. He is not as good as he is just "because of money and access to academies and stuff like that." I don't know this kid but I bet he put some serious time and hard work into his game and you are severly underestimating that.

[SteelDriver]

Don't hate or be jealous. You would DIE to be in his shoes, we all would. Not have to work, just go play golf whenever, wherever year 'round?? You kiddin' me? Be happy for him, he loves the sport you play and is using what he has to make it more accessable to him.

Don't give me the "no, i dont like things handed to me like that, i like to earn it" reply. Its golf, we'd steal the course and take it home if it would fit in our trunks.

[Raidermatt]

As others have said, it's a classic issue in all parts of life.

Some people are sent to the best private schools, some go to school in places that have to have metal detectors and a police presence. Everybody else is somewhere in between. Regardless, your education will be what you make it.

Same with golf, other sports, work, you name it.

Some will always have more advantages than you, some will have less. All you can control is how you respond to your own situation, and that is what will determine how successful you will be.

[ChiChiIsMe]

Someone will always have it easier than you do. The thing to do is not worry about it, just live your life the best you can and don't look for anyone else to help you out because they won't.

Great advise. Live YOUR life and don't worry about others. You'll be much better off in the long run.

[GreatScott]

First posting.. just had to stop lurking for this one...

To paraphrase Harvey Penick,

"Golf is alot like life... you gotta play it as it lies."

[ArjunGFX]

What i can't stand about golf is this---if you are rich you can buy a game. Im 21 year old college student who caddys at Oakmont I have to work just to play Mondays on the course because it is hard to afford a membership anywhere. I still play the local courses occasionally and carry a 2 handicap. I just hate seeing all of these kids never working and being handed the game of golf. I bought all of my clubs and ive worked on grounds crews just to play the course on occasions. People like Peter Uihlein make me soo mad because they can be good because of money and access to academies and stuff like that. I think the AJGA should help finance aspiring junior golfers better because i know a lot of my friends who are too poor to afford entering all of these tournaments like my friend who shot 72 from the back tees at oakmont twice and has played in the state amateur..I would like people like that to get more opportunities.

You sound very resentful. I think that's your problem. You remind me of a kid I lived with who had trouble financially and was always knocking my "wealthy" town etc not realizing how hard people worked to get to that town... and how they deserved it, and how they had actually struggled with a lot of the same issues that those less fortunate have experienced... why is that?... because most peoples families in this country or anywhere have had generations who have faced those same struggles.

AJGA helping to finance JR golfers is a great idea. I volunteered for the First Tee and some of those kids who can barely afford to play have some of the most talent I've seen in golfers.... they can go a long way with some guidance and help. So I feel you on that, though these things are very complicated. BUT... I'm from MA and played on the same Jr tours as Peter.... and it's clear that in many ways you have no idea what you're talking about, and your "big picture" mentality is actually very "small picture" and narrow. Why is he so good? TALENT is the first reason. Golf schools, his dad etc, do play a role. But it's mainly talent. I take your post as a personal insult because I grew up wealthy with plenty of resources to play golf.. it is an incredibly special gift from my parents and I am grateful for their support and the work they did to get to the position where they could provide for me. My dad came here with 80 dollars and now his situation is much better. I never had to struggle to afford golf but you bet I worked my tail off in other areas of life and faced my own struggles. You can't generalize people based just on their monetary struggles. There are people who are rich because they've inherited money from a parent who has passed on - do you think most of those people prefer being rich without mom or dad verses poor but with their parents? hell no. The key is appreciation. If some kid never has to work a day in his life but still appreciates hard work and understands and values where it's brought him... then I see no issue at all. It's people who don't appreciate that bring the problems, and appreciation/respect/being grateful transcend wealth. You don't sound very appreciative to me. So let me ask you a personal question... lets say you do very, very well for yourself and become rich enough to become a member at Oakmont. Are you not going to finance your kids' golf??? You need to make a big choice - take the resentful/blame route and torture yourself by constantly being around people you hate. Or work hard and follow the Lee Trevino route and work, work, work.... if you love golf I say go that way and put yourself in a situation where the question of struggling to afford to play golf won't be in your kids' minds. In this country anybody can do it.

[JFlyers..]

Its just how most things go.

[lamebums]

Agreed. Some of the best pros ever - Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, John Daly to name a few - started out poor and rose through to the top through talent instead of money.

On the other hand how many of the Leadbetter kids have gone down in flames the past few years?

[SteelDriver]

I gotta admit, this sounds like a newbe 50 handicapper's gripe. You'd think that any golfer with a "2" handicap has spent enough time around golf or on a golf course to be waaaay past this by now.

If you are already a 2, why do you care if people "buy" the game? You're a 2, right? I know, its "performance enhancing cashflow"!

I play A LOT and i'm a mid HC at 14. I know how far I got to go just to break single digets. I got over the kid pulling up in the Mercades S 500 with all the best equipment like a second after he left my sight.

[ArjunGFX]

Also, another great thing about golf is that it doesn't matter where you play.

I didnt join a CC till I was like 20 so I have a lot of love for the municipal/public courses I played growing up... a lot of the best golfers I've ever met have stuck to those courses, even those that could afford to be members of PineHurst.

OP, if it is country club arrogance that is bothering you, the trust me, I totally understand......

Most of the members at my club play a round in like 5-6 hours whereas I play in like 3.5... even if I'm right on their tail they won't let me go through because I'm a "kid."

[Richie3Jack]

I agree that this happens in all spots of life. I work in the corporate world and EVERY single job I've had there's at least one person who gets paid a ton of money, far more than I make, yet barely does anything while working in a nice office and does not contribute in any way to the bottom line. And every one of my friend's that works in the corporate world say the same thing, every job has that one person who makes tons of money and really doesn't do anything. And usually those people come from rich families.

That being said, I do wish the AJGA would make things more affordable and offer tournaments in more places. I grew up in NY and while trying to get a D-1 scholarship it was almost impossible because I couldn't afford to play in AJGA events. Meanwhile, lesser players my age could play in those tournaments and get noticed by college teams. It was until I started working with a swing coach whose best friend coached a team that urged him to give me a scholarship that I got to play D-1 golf. The AJGA is supposed to be all about getting junior golfers, not rich junior golfers.




3JACK

[Richie3Jack]

Also, another great thing about golf is that it doesn't matter where you play.

To me, this is perhaps the greatest thing about golf. Doesn't make a difference if you were never good enough in college to make a college team, if you can qualify for a pro tournament or make the tour via Q School, that's all that matters. You can't really say that about other sports where coaches make decisions on who plays and who gets cut and what level of competition you played at in college can determine even if you get an opportunity.

3JACK