What keeps you from playing more golf?

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, billchao said:

Alternatively your kids might get into it, start doing tournaments and you'd be too busy doing their stuff to play anyway 

I used to race bicycles; mountain, road, cross. Then I started coaching my son in sports. No more racing! 

But now I can play golf with my son and wife! So it all ends well.

[swffjvl]

I haven't figured out yet how to hook up with other players when my golf buddy isn't available. Once I figure that out I'll play more, but for right now it's the range and maybe the course every other week.

[Vinsk]

On 7/10/2017 at 4:04 PM, socialputts said:

Over the past few years I've been trying to overcome the challenges that have kept me from playing more golf.  I've even gone so far as to create an app. to help me and my friends play more golf together.  I'm curious about what, if anything, is preventing you from playing as much golf as you would like.

This is where I'm an absolute fool. It's all mental for me. I love golf so much and I've never wanted to be good at something as much as this crazy sport. I grew up an athlete and did pretty damn good at every sport I played. Except golf. I practice incessantly to the point where most tour pro's schedules don't impress me considering I have a full time job and two boys. However, for me a bad day at golf is not better than a good day at work. I get zero enjoyment from a bad day of golf. Why? Well, I admit I have plenty of rounds where I play my basic 78-80, and the few 75-76 days. Unfortunately my bad days are utter disasters. I don't get the chunks, the hooks, the thins.etc. I have battled the shanks for about 25 years. When they come early in a round, the rest of the day is literally just painful. I'll lose 6-7 balls, spend the day on the wrong fairway waiting for the group on that hole to play so I can embarrassingly get to my ball. And this is when I'm alone. If I'm with someone or a group (which often happens as I don't have any playing partners) the humiliation is overwhelming. And hell, I feel bad for the others having to watch such a brutal display of the horizontals. It's a shame. But I digress. Bottom line, I don't play as much as I should purely out of fear that my shanks will just ruin the day. So what do I do? I go to the practice area (which is an awesome Golf Academy that I usually have all to myself) and hit hundreds of balls. Striping them beautifully. All. Day. Long.  

Edited July 13, 2017 by Vinsk

[Groucho Valentine]

Work, family: the usual stuff. When i was at my peak i was playing +3 golf and qualified for pretty much everything a Northeast amateur can play in except the US Open. But i also wasn't married with a young son back then. The little guy commands alot of my time. 

I actually dont play much less than i did back then, its just i practice WAY less. Ive only practiced once a week during the season for the last few years (if that), and mostly its short game and putting i work on. I have no problems playing alone, i get out whenever i can. 

[JxQx]

I put lack of available time but not in terms of my time but the courses around me. Every course has leagues Monday-Friday until about 6PM off both sides which makes it hard to get out and play at a decent pace during the week and a lot of courses have tournaments on the weekends.

[Patch]

Nothing really stops me except for normal old age aches, and pains sometimes.

 I have been a way from my game for the past few days getting needed repairs done to my mouth, due to an errant golf ball flight. Going to remedy that today. 

I suppose I could add that sometimes I just decide to give my golf game a rest. The old "too much of a good thing" scenario. 

[RayG]

Time... and money. It isn't that it is too "expensive", it's just that sometimes the budget doesn't allow for the expenditure. In those cases I can sometimes squeeze in a walking 9 somewhere that won't break the bank.

[Jack Watson]

I can play whenever.  I just don't have that burning desire for it any longer.

I enjoy playing with good company but I won't play alone anymore.  I also don't practice much anymore.  Once I got into the seventies enough playing a lot I kind of realized how difficult breaking par would be.  I won't ever do it.  It's not worth the effort to me.

Anymore I wait until the mood strikes before playing a round. I only go out to play when I want.

I love the game,  but I no longer view the swing as a mystery to solve and I think I played most when I looked at it that way...

Edited July 13, 2017 by Jack Watson

[socialputts]

On 7/13/2017 at 7:05 AM, swffjvl said:

I haven't figured out yet how to hook up with other players when my golf buddy isn't available. Once I figure that out I'll play more, but for right now it's the range and maybe the course every other week.

@swffjvl I actually have a free app., SocialPutts, that I built to help you to connect with other players.  A few members of TST are helping me to test it and refine it, there's even a thread pinned to the top of the Golf Talk forums.  Here's the link: 

Through the app. you can expand your group of golf buddies by connecting with golfers who play the same courses that you play.  We're just getting rolling, so there aren't a ton of golfers on board yet, but I'd love to see what we could do to get other golfers in your area on board to play golf with you.  I'd be happy to reach out to courses in your area to get their goflers on SocialPutts, free of charge.  

 

[Let it Fly]

Suppose I could have checked every option here in reality, but voted for the the buddies option(s).  I've tried playing 9-hole rounds before/after work by myself, and found that I just don't enjoy it enough to do very often.  I love playing with my friends, and decided it's just not worth it to me to squeeze-in or rush additional rounds by myself.  I get more enjoyment out of spending an hour in the short game area or working through a small bucket at the range during the week.

Also...my girlfriend is not from this area, and she's made a big sacrifice in moving here so we can be together.  Don't get me wrong, she loves that I love this game and that it gives me a competitive outlet.  However, she's far away from her family and best friends so I make sure to show her that our relationship comes first.  Usually means giving up extra rounds to spend time with her traveling, hiking, getting my ass handed to me in tennis, etc.  

[swffjvl]

2 hours ago, socialputts said:

@swffjvl I actually have a free app., SocialPutts, that I built to help you to connect with other players.  A few members of TST are helping me to test it and refine it, there's even a thread pinned to the top of the Golf Talk forums.  Here's the link: 

Through the app. you can expand your group of golf buddies by connecting with golfers who play the same courses that you play.  We're just getting rolling, so there aren't a ton of golfers on board yet, but I'd love to see what we could do to get other golfers in your area on board to play golf with you.  I'd be happy to reach out to courses in your area to get their goflers on SocialPutts, free of charge.  

 

Will definitely check it out.  Joe

[dennyjones]

On 7/13/2017 at 9:59 AM, Patch said:

 I have been a way from my game for the past few days getting needed repairs done to my mouth, due to an errant golf ball flight. Going to remedy that today. 

Ouch!

4 hours ago, Let it Fly said:

Suppose I could have checked every option here in reality, but voted for the the buddies option(s).  I've tried playing 9-hole rounds before/after work by myself, and found that I just don't enjoy it enough to do very often.  I love playing with my friends, and decided it's just not worth it to me to squeeze-in or rush additional rounds by myself.  I get more enjoyment out of spending an hour in the short game area or working through a small bucket at the range during the week.

Also...my girlfriend is not from this area, and she's made a big sacrifice in moving here so we can be together.  Don't get me wrong, she loves that I love this game and that it gives me a competitive outlet.  However, she's far away from her family and best friends so I make sure to show her that our relationship comes first.  Usually means giving up extra rounds to spend time with her traveling, hiking, getting my ass handed to me in tennis, etc.  

Give her lessons for Christmas or her birthday.  I understand relationships / family comes first but if you can get her involved, at least learning to putt and chip or the driving range....

[Kalnoky]

7 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Give her lessons for Christmas or her birthday.  I understand relationships / family comes first but if you can get her involved, at least learning to putt and chip or the driving range....

I can relate to this suggestion.

My wife's entire office plays golf except for 2-3 people, her being one. They occasionally sponsor charity tournaments. The entire lobby is framed photos of St. Andrews, autographed photos of Nicklaus, Payne Stewart, etc. They own (or have owned) several golf courses. In other words, it is basically the perfect place to work if you play golf, outside of actually working in golf. 

And everyone tells me the same thing re: lessons. I have suggested lessons to her in two dozen different ways with no luck. She has tried to play before and vowed to never play again. I love my wife, but she is very impatient, hyper-competitive, and easily discouraged. This doesn't mean I won't quit trying to get her to come out with me, but I just don't think this game is for everyone... I don't think everyone has the right character to play golf.  

 

[Shindig]

40 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

I love my wife, but she is very impatient, hyper-competitive, and easily discouraged. 

Prior to taking up golf, I was all three.  One of the things I wanted to work on, starting at around the time I got interested in playing golf, was how impatient I was.  It really came together when someone told me I would have trouble playing golf well because I was impatient.  Instead of giving up golf, I took it as yet another motivator to work on my patience.  I know I have improved well since then (it's also that it's been about a third of my life since I took up golf, so I hope I've improved on it since then!)

[socialputts]

On 7/14/2017 at 0:40 PM, Let it Fly said:

voted for the the buddies option(s).  I've tried playing 9-hole rounds before/after work by myself, and found that I just don't enjoy it enough to do very often.  I love playing with my friends, and decided it's just not worth it to me to squeeze-in or rush additional rounds by myself.

@Let it Fly I had the exact same problem.  I love golf, but it's much more fun playing with friends.  I actually created a free app., SocialPutts, to solved this exact problem for me.  Using SocialPutts you can connect with your friends, mark the calendar when you're available to play golf and expand your cicrle of golf buddies so that you can play more often.

I'd love for you to check out the app. to see what you think.  The app. was recently released on the AppStore and Google Play and I'm looking for folks to kick the tires. There's even a thread on TST around this: 

 

[NCGolfer]

Lack of available time is #1 in my books.  I travel for work and have two kids and a wife.  She is actually very good about my obsession but if I tried to play as much as I wanted it probably wouldn't be good for the marriage.  

When the kids get older and can manage on their own I will (hopefully) play a bit more.  That is unless one of my kids gets into sports and some sort of travel league...there is potential that one of them may so I'm not holding my breath.

[Let it Fly]

21 hours ago, socialputts said:

I'd love for you to check out the app. to see what you think.  The app. was recently released on the AppStore and Google Play and I'm looking for folks to kick the tires. There's even a thread on TST around this: 

That's a cool idea...imagine there's a good sized niche out there for it.  I'll check it out!

On 7/14/2017 at 5:45 PM, dennyjones said:

Give her lessons for Christmas or her birthday.  I understand relationships / family comes first but if you can get her involved, at least learning to putt and chip or the driving range...

Certainly a good idea, tried it a couple years ago but didn't really stick.  Figured out that I enjoy learning tennis more than she enjoyed trying to pick-up golf, so wound up going that direction and it's worked out pretty well.  It has been a while now though, so maybe I can get her to try it out again.

[scotth]

Normally it would be the time factor, but this summer I would have to say more of the health issue than anything right now.

I am lucky that my wife is studying for board exams for the next 2 months and is happy if I go play golf after work every day.

My back just is not cooperating with that idea.  So I hit balls once maybe twice a week and a max 2 rounds of golf.