Why do you love golf?

[popey]

What the reasons why you love this great game. Is it just to get out of the way of the wife when shes in a bad mood or is it the competition?

[MountainHip]

I like to play golf because, I am always searching for the "great" shot I know I have made in the past. (self competition)

I like to go golfing because the course is a very peaceful place. Each course presents a new challenge. Golf Courses can be the most beautiful places in the world

I like the equipment, because I like "stuff"

I like golf because it has no prejudice. Old, Young, Good or Bad. The game is fair to you.

[bjw181]

Ben Franklin said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I play golf to hit that one solid shot. I don't always do it, but im hungry to keep swinging until I do. I guess I love golf... and Im insane...

[Billbill13]

I love golf because all my life my Dad said son why don't you play golf, I said Dad that game is stupid, I don't have time.

Then one day I woke up and realized that I missed out on a lot of father son bonding because I wouldn't give it a try. So about two years or so ago as I turned 26 I played a round with my Dad and fell in love with the game. Now it has gone from a hobby to a passion. In fact I am pretty sure that I am more into golf than my Dad is or was.

Also golf is something that you will never master, you can play a lifetime and always be learning something new.

[niblick]

I think I love it because it's so damn hard. It's unrelenting, brutal and imminently fair. The club and ball do only what you make them do - hit a great shot, get rewarded. Hit a bad shot, get owned. It's deceptively simple in that regard, but there's always more to learn.

Once or twice a round, the ball does what I pictured before the shot. A putt drops, a pitch stops a few feet from the hole, a drive splits the fairway. If nothing else, it proves I'm capable of hitting the shot I want to hit. The rest of the time is spent chasing those moments.

[Norm66]

I like it for the challenge. It the kind of thing where just a small success can build a serious addiction.

I like it for the exercise. I'm a big guy in my mid-30s with a desk job desperately in need of some sort of exercise. I've tried walking, swimming, bicycling, Nautilus machines, you name it, I always get bored and quit. Golf is not like that. I don't even think about the exercise I'm getting because it's all about the next shot.

I also like the tools of the trade. I'm a bit of a gear-head when it comes to hobby items and golf is perfect to indulge that.

I also like the people you meet during play. I've had the pleasure of playing with some very interesting people (read my post in the 'Meatheads' thread), especially some old-timers who really give me hope for the future. Just yestreday I met up with a great father/son that made me wish my dad golfed.

I also like this place.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Good post. I agree with a lot of what everyone said, especially Mountain.

Reasons I love golf;

- I am completely at peace with myself out of the golf course (most of the time). Getting away from everything. It's just you, the course and the elements. I love the sun and I like the exersize (I always walk if the course allows me to).

- I too like "stuff" and clubs, balls, bags, shoes, etc are cool things

- It is so damn hard. The ultimate challenge, so many different shots and situations. Mental as well as physical. This is also why I hate golf... to truly love golf I think you must hate it too

- The ultimate feeling is the well struck golf shot, to steal a line from Tin Cup (and probably others).

- Both my parents play golf and it's a great way to spend time with them

- The beer after a round of golf in the sun. Tastes so good, almost as if you deserved it.

[North49]

It is my passion and obession. The chase to break 100 for the first time, then 90, and then 80. Have not broken 70 yet, but one day the stars will align. The beauty and peace of the course. Playing with my son at my side and getting him to love it as well.

[Dent]

I love it because when i golf, i dont have a care in the world, all my issues and problems are gone for that nice 4 hours. the nice sun, the amazing shots just pumps me up.

me and my father play all the time and i think he is probably my favorite playing partner.

[NM Golf]

I love golf for a couple of reasons. First, I have been an athlete my entire life. As long as I can remember I have been doing some type of sport. When my college baseball career was over I thought to myself, now what? There was something missing in my life without competition. My dad tossed me a golf club and that void disappeared. And the best thing is I will never have to stop, golf is a lifetime sport. Second, golf has been a way for me to spend time with my father. He and I play weekly and its great. I hope someday that I can play with my own kids.

[AMGfan]

I could wax poetic about golf, but it comes down for me on several things:

1. Golf provides a haven from the day to day grind.
2. Golf gives a setting for bonding time with buddies.
3. Golf challenges my mind and body.
4. My knees can't take any other sport.

[spookyhacker]

I played basketball for 13 years and if I could go back in time I would change every ballgame to a bucket at the range, or a round at a course.

In the last 2 years I havent touched a basketball, and in the last 1 year I have fallen in love with the game of golf.

If you practise the right habits, have a logical well thought out strategy , and execute what you visualise, most of the time the outcome will be positive. your fate is in no ones hands but yours. Sometimes you'll get a bad bounce, or a gust of wind, but those imperfections keep us coming back to try and conquer them.

there are no referees. even your playing partner is irrelevant. you are not playing "them".

its you vs the course.
and them vs the course.

whoever plays the course better, wins.

no two golf shots are the same. and as was quoted in tin cup, when you hit a well struck golf shot, that tuning fork goes off inside you and the world seems like a better place.

its a journey that never ends, has no destination. because no one is a perfect golfer - NO one.

[watrboy4]

It is the only place to play with my balls and stroke my shaft in public!!!! enough said

[Ogg]

To paraphrase Rick Reilly:

"I love golf for the time that I strike a 3 iron dead onto the green and walk up the fairway gripping my putter with a purpose. I love golf for that time you are playing and that purple gloaming is in the sky. I love golf becasue it made me realize that I don't need to tie my 9-iron to the back of my car to punish it for the bad shots. And I love golf because it made me realize that I don' thave to beat me Dad or playing partners in order to have a good time."

From the book ' Missing Links '.

[Re2126]

I love golf for the mental and physical challenge. Its great to be able to constantly learn something new. When I started playing in middle school I never looked back. I played every day that I could. Before I got a job, I would be at the course at sunrise and stay until dark. Even then, since I lived next to the course, I would put a flood light so I could see the hole and practice my short game at night. During the summer, if I didnt get at least 36 holes in by the end of the day I wasnt a happy camper. And yes, I walked every hole. I miss those days though. School and work keep me off the course most of the time now.

[solid_ONE]

I like to play golf because, I am always searching for the "great" shot I know I have made in the past. (self competition)

I feel the same way about the game as Mt.Hip.

It is because I never play as well as I KNOW I can play. Never shot that low score that I KNOW I can shoot. Never smash the ball as long as I know I can drive. This DRIVES ME NUTS!!! This keeps me going back to the golf course and practice range. I even learned to build my own clubs because I KNOW off the shelf clubs just dont fit me as they should. Some call it insanity, I call it passion....and insanity. I love the game because for the time you are playing, that is all that matters in the world. And when at the range, all that matters is curing my swing-faults and dialing in that 5-yard draw. I praise and curse at the same time, those drunk scottish fellas who desided to make a game out of hitting a tiny little ball in a tiny little gopher hole 300+ yards away. Insanity indeed... -FOOOOOOORE!!!

[Guest]

Since i am doing the business on the golf ,frankly speaking ,i should love it..Without any reason.....

[popey]

Today was the perfect example. The sun was shining, yet was not too hot. Just perfect weather.

Played 18 holes with 2 others that i have never played with.

Played very bad about a 85

But... i was always shouting good shot. One of the players hit his 3 wood as far as one of my pure drives, he hit nearly every green and when he didnt he chipped in twice.

Its the reason that i know that i can do that but i dont. The fact that next time i go out and play that could be me shooting a +2 or even sub par round.

Greatest game on EARTH!!!! by a lond distance

All i hope is there a course in the sky and i have a tee time (hopefully a long time in the future tho)