WSJ article about golf addiction

[gotgolf?]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1181...s_Golf_Journal

how some celebrities kicked their drug habits, the science of golf addiction and how golf addiction differs from a gambling addiction

It seems that getting addicted to golf helped some people break some nasty habits. Better addicted to golf than to crack!

[Harold]

Anything done to excess could probably be qualified as an addiction. Golf is no exception and I am sure there are people who eschew everything else for golf. That is not healthy in the least and a change needs to be made. That's a tiny minority though. However I feel that most golf nuts are obsessed with the game, not addicted. We are able to function normally without it. A few practice swings or pleasant golf thoughts are enough to get us through the next few hours or so until another "fix" is needed or an actual game is played out. The second to last paragraph though sums it up best as to why most of us are out there and really there are many more postitive reasons that the author failed to include. Most addictions have very little upside.

[azgreg]

Hi! My name is Greg and I'm a golfaholic.

[gotgolf?]

Welcome to the club. To you I prescribe a lifetime's worth of golf as a cure!

Hi! My name is Greg and I'm a golfaholic.

[Guest ShadowXOR]

I don't know if I'm addicted yet, I'm still getting into it so I don't know how bad I've been struck by it yet. However, I don't see how it could be that harmful unless you had to sleep on the tee every night you were so into it.

[Gofas]

I'm hooked!

[bradsul]

Haven't read the article just yet, but I'm wondering what it means that just as I opened this thread, a delivery driver with some clubmaking tools knocked on my door...

[Bpurc22]

I have been playing seriously for 4 months and I am 100% addicted. I ain't even mad though.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Hi, I'm Karl and I'm a golf addict.

I can't help but kill the majority of my free time practicing/playing golf. It is a big part of my life. But like the above poster said, much better than crack.

[LfSideStrngSide]

Originally Posted by bradsul

Haven't read the article just yet, but I'm wondering what it means that just as I opened this thread, a delivery driver with some clubmaking tools knocked on my door...

HAHA! This made me laugh out loud at my desk

[B-Con]

I didn't know there was a Golf Nut Society. FTA: [quote]But addictive types may be more vulnerable to golf than to some other activities because of a particularly insidious mechanism called intermittent reinforcement.[/quote] Yep, sounds right.

[saevel25]

My name is Matt, and i have been addicted to golf for 14 years, and i don't plan to stop

[Mattplusness]

Originally Posted by azgreg

Hi! My name is Greg and I'm a golfaholic.

Hi Greg!

I'm addicted to water. I just can't live without it! What should I do?!

[Topper]

I worked on a report until midnight last night and so I decided to take 2.5 hours off from work this afternoon to play 9 holes.  Do I have a problem?  Now I'm a little concerned.  I should have been working....but I wanted to play golf.  I have a $%^#-load of projects to finish....but it was only 9 holes.  I ended up showering and going back to work, so I guess I'm OK...for now.

[allin]

I have a problem with calling any obsessive activity an addiction. True addictions have clear withdrawal symptoms if the addictive agent is denied for more than a very brief period. Certainly research has shown that our brains respond to any activity we find pleasurable by releasing chemicals affecting areas of the brain's pleasure centers. We are biologicaly programmed to seek pleasure, sugar, sex etc. Although it has become popular to call any activity which can be overdone an addiction and their are some valid similarities in brain responses their are also significant differences. Does anyone really belive addicts could go three or four months without access to their addictive substance without a major effort. Certainly any obsessive activity can be very harmful, stamp collectng, computer games, etc. It is indeed rare for individuals to continue these activites even when they will clearly cause death, quite common in true addiction. I suspect calling an obsession addiction is more socially acceptable but I feari it may keep people with a real problem from seeking assistance and appropriate responses.

[golfismyworld]

I can see how they can make the connection but I think you can make a connection to any activity where there are addictive tendencies. Like allin said with computer games. Maybe it's a good thing like the article said people kick a worse addiction for golf, come on golf isn't that bad to be addicted to.

[bunkerputt]

I think I may be one of the one's with the problem.....  I'll leave out the gory details and just keep it to myself...just like an addict.  My favorite in the article was the comment about the "black mood" that hangs over you after a particularly poor round.  Man, I thought I was going to need some antidepressants the last time this happened.  I have no clue why this game is so addictive to me.  Part of it is the fact that the highest levels seems almost attainable the more and more you learn.  Part of it is the rush you get from swinging a club.  It's such a violent and controlled contraction of your entire body with a pleasing squish at the end when you hit the golf ball.  Part of it is feeling like you can do something that only few people can.  Even better is when everyone sees you do it.  Then there's equipment lust....

[Tomboys]

I'm not addicted to golf.  I'm addicted to self-cruelty and self-humiliation.  Golf just happens to be the best way for me to get those.