How does golf help your life?

[casperino101]

Great thread, and food for thought .

disagree with the hangover part, played some of my best golf with a hangover!

[retexan599]

I am getting to teach five of my grandchildren to play golf and that is a very special relationship I have with them, as no one else in the family plays golf and I get the main fun of that!

[daly_vision]

.... It adds excitement to my beer drinking.

[normdamarine]

My life has changed so much since playing golf competitively... My ulcers are getting worse, migraine headaches have appeared, my blood pressure is high as hell etc... Oh wait, this is the wrong answer for this question... LOL

[The Recreational Golfer]

It's listening to Maria Callas sing O Mio Babbino Caro in your head while you swing the perfect iron shots on a beautiful course.

Good to hear that it isn't just me. I play La ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni) in my head to cue my tempo.

Golf gives me puzzles to solve -- I know that if I just try this one more thing, it will all fall into place. It gives me a chance to spend time with my friends in beautiful surroundings. It gives me a chance to do something athletic with joints that won't let me do any other sport. It gives me something to pass on to my children and grandchildren. It's the one thing my Dad and I did together that I still do. It gives me another reason to stay physically fit. It gives me a chance to excel with much clearer definition than exists in other areas of my life. BTW, great thread idea DanGlen, thanks for starting it.

[sean_miller]

Golf is the epitome of life. It teaches me many things about life.

About 15 years ago I decided to leave my fiance before I made a lifelong mistake (best decision I ever made). We always golfed together and with friends and her family. We were members at a club and a lot of connections there too. I stopped playing for a couple years and my life took a different direction. I played more hockey, squash, and tennis. I made new friends, and luckily many of them played golf. I'm glad I took up the game again, because it's all the things you said. No matter how alone I get (even if it's just a passing feeling), a 4 hour round of golf makes me feel connected to the ground, the game, and everyone who plays it. Whenever I've pondered my own existence and my place in this universe, I seem to have been walking down a fairway toward my golf ball, having just struck perfect shot. PS. in case it's not obvious, I really dislike power carts!

[Stretch]

Golf is my mid-life crisis. Whenever the wife rolls her eyes about me banging away at the range every day, I ask her if she'd rather I was banging away at that cute waitress in the coffee shop down the road.

Also like to have some positive progression. This time next year I'll be even older, even balder and even more tedious than I am today, but for damn sure I'll be a better golfer.

[colin007]

its all about the Zen...

[TXjammer]

All the above + the time with my son and dad. Very valuable.

[kpaulhus]

my work week can be described as Dis-stress. Golfing can be described as Eu-stress.

[jmanbooyaa]

Well I have only been playing for a few months since August to be exact. The way it has helped me is I finally was able to quit smoking. After 17 years of smoking I was able to kick the habit so far since July. The 1st few weeks was rough than decided to try something new to keep my mind off wanting a smoke. There it was a new addiction GOLF. Golfing was the only thing that kept my mind off of cigarettes. Here we are at the middle of December and I am still golfing at least once a week and have not had a smoke since July.

[Deryck Griffith]

For me, golf is about the only thing that allows me to completey escape from everything in my life.  The second I stand on the first tee, the smell of the grass, the view of nature and the challenge of the game allows me to release all of the stressful toxins that enter my life on a day to day basis.  Whether it be work, a fight with the girlfriend, whatever, golf has been that place of solace for me which cannot be matched by anything else.

"I love this beautiful game of Golf" is the largest understatement that my mouth is capable of producing.