Does golf make you happy?

[Fat Slice]

Yes. Golf brought me out of a long depression. Every day I am golfing I am always excited to go, and happy once I am done. I golf in crappy weather, blistering sun, early, late, whenever, wherever. And to think, the pros get PAID for doing this!

[NM Golf]

I am a pretty happy person to begin with, but golf makes me happier. I look forward to playing every weekend.

I know that if I go more than a couple of days without hitting balls or at least doing some putting that I begin to really miss it. Golf is a big part of who I am.

[robb01]

It sure does, it is very zen-like for me and I think it makes me very happy

[ks8829]

Golf makes me very happy! Family, work & golf, if I am not spending time with the family or working I am playing golf. The greatest game in the world.

[TheWarHound]

Golf makes me happy . . . the beautiful courses, nature, hanging with friends, laughing and cutting up.

I wish I had picked up Golf years ago.

Steve

[n8dogg2669]

golf makes me real happy.. when i was in high school and the first 3-4 years i still took the game very serious, played 4 years in high school, then worked at 2 golf course for about 3 years. i got to a 2 handicap playing 4-5 times a week and i have to say playing my normal hack mid 80's golf now is more enjoyable. i hit bad shots, but i am out having fun, hanging with my friends or family, outdoors.. i used to play with my dad at least once a week for about 5-6 years and i'll remember those days for the rest of my life..

[Wisconsin Golfer]

I played when I was in my twenties and I didn't enjoy it much, however that was my own fault. I thought that golf would be easy and started on my company league after only a few practice rounds. Needless to say, shooting in the seventies for nine holes was embarrassing and not much fun so after a year or two I quit playing golf altogether.
Then two years ago, I started playing again. This time with awesome equipment and lessons and alot of practice. I'm now a golf nut, I love the game, the courses, the friends, the equipment, the history and I now know that golf is the greatest game ever. It truly is fun for me. I am getting alot better and competing with friends is fun. I am going to join a golf club this spring and a league, however this time I am prepared.

[RMD]

"Men play golf because they don't hate themselves enough in their regular lives", Lewis Black.

[Chilli Dipper]

If I get frustrated while playing golf, I realize how minor those frustrations are compared the frustrations I have in the rest of the world. So in a sense, it makes me happy.

[smith5606]

I have been stewing over this question for a couple of days now. I wish that I could say something profound to express how I feel about golf better than to simply say that golf makes me "happy". I "happy" means that I feel joy after every shot or even every time I leave the course, I guess golf doesn't make me happy. Simply put, golf is very hard. Golf is frequently frustrating, periodically fulfilling, generally maddening, but never boring. Certainly, I frequently feel happy when I play, but not always.

To conclude that golf makes me happy or not happy for that manner really doesn't do the question justice, however. Golf is too much a part of who and what I am to reduce it to mere feelings of happiness. Golf is much more than that. Golf is my fondest memories of my late father who taught me how to play, my son who I taught to play, my grandson who I someday hope to pass golf along to. Golf is a group of wonderful friends, summer afternoons, great trips, irreplaceable memories, and dreams yet to be fulfilled. When I am on the course, I really believe I am a part of a wonderful fraternity of people who know the sublime elation and sorrows that this preoccupation of ours brings. I know that these feeling aren't solely the property of the living. In the late evening, playing a couple of balls down a fairway, I can feel the joy of a thousand other golfers whose spirits are imbedded inextricably on the greens, bunkers, roughs, and tee boxes around me.

Maybe, what I'm trying to say is that while I like golf, what I really like - even love, if you will - is being a golfer. When I finally join those happy spirits whose voices you can hear if listen after everyone else has left the course, I hope that my legacy will be in what I have contributed by nurturing the game that was left to me. I won't leave my artwork, handicraft, stirring words, or vast fortune because I don't have any to leave. Instead, I hope that I will have passed along to my children and my children's children what the game is really about. They will know something about what it means to be a responsible, mature, golfer - how to play within the rules, how to fix a divot, how to keep up, when to allow someone to play through, and how to be gracious in victory and in defeat. If I will have done that, I will have loved the game back that loved me all my life.

[traviswise]

I have been stewing over this question for a couple of days now. I wish that I could say something profound to express how I feel about golf better than to simply say that golf makes me "happy". I "happy" means that I feel joy after every shot or even every time I leave the course, I guess golf doesn't make me happy. Simply put, golf is very hard. Golf is frequently frustrating, periodically fulfilling, generally maddening, but never boring. Certainly, I frequently feel happy when I play, but not always.

Great write up!

To me golf is not happiness, it is hope. Hope is the driving force in our lives and nothing bottles that more than golf for me. When I get out to the first tee it's all about hope. I hope I don't slice, I hope I can break 100, so on and so forth. Hope keeps me coming back again and again.

[smith5606]

I hope we both do.

[Wisconsin Golfer]

Great write up!

Well put.

[PEZGolf]

Maybe this is more of a Grillroom topic, but does golf make you happy? Or maybe a better question is if golf makes you happier than some other hobby would. Probably everyone here is somewhat addicted to golf. I know I am, but I don't know if it really makes me happy or not. It is certainly a nice diversion, involves some exercise and fresh air, camaraderie, etc, so it definitely has pluses. It is also frustrating, expensive, and takes a lot of time away from other things I could be doing.

Happiness is a long walk to the green with the putter in my hand. When I do that frequently during a round, I am SO HAPPY that I will even "buy a round" of beverages at the 19th hole.

[Henry]

Hell yeah, I like the fact that you play by your self at your own pace. Its very relaxing and takes your mind off of school and that.

[glebert]

Thanks for all of the great replies. Reading why you love golf and how it enriches your life has helped me get some perspective. I really enjoyed the anecdotes about playing with your fathers and children.

[clubhousehero]

I worked at a golf, and never golfed and only hit the driving rage a few times before the employe outing. So a few days before it i asked the club pro for some advice and he said "don't take it too serious and have fun." I always remember that when i'm having a bad round and it relaxes me. I enjoy the scenery and the people i play with. And making great shots always feels good too.

[Baraethon]

Yes, it does. If it didn't, I wouldn't be working on it every day.