Why You Should Quit Golf
Let’s face it, you’re never getting better.
Golf is a difficult sport. Michael Jordan says it's the hardest. It requires so much of you, and unless you’re flushing it with the consistency of Tiger Woods, it gives you very little back.
Sure, golf helped some of us get through the pandemic. It also keeps you active and allows you to see your friends.
But you should quit. Here’s why:
IT’S EXPENSIVE
Golf is going to hit you hard in the wallet. There’s no getting around it. Even if you source your clubs on Facebook Marketplace or you are given an old set, you have to pay green fees.
Golf courses can get very expensive. Sure, there are the cheaper courses, but where I live, you can’t get a decent course for less than $50 and you have to drive pretty far out to get that price. Plus cart rental.
Then there’s the money required for your golf attire, which many clubs require. Polos, proper golf pants, belts, and golf shoes. If you didn’t pick up second hand clubs, you’re looking at around a grand for a set.
Don’t forget the cost of clubhouse lunches, re-gripping your clubs, a proper push cart, and the endless expense of buying golf balls, especially if you lose many during a round like I do.
Over the last three years, the game has cost me a grand total of $4316. In recession times, do I still want to outlay that kind of cash for a game that makes me want to break things?
IT’S HARD
Golf requires flexibility, dexterity, alignment, strength, and consistent form. Unless you started playing as a child or teenager, it can be very difficult to manufacture even a half decent swing.
So, what do you do? You take lessons, which put a further dent into the line item that is golf. Because you’re not a natural, those lessons are going to be ongoing.
Then you have to take your high-handicapped self onto the course and put what you’ve learned into action. And you do! For the first shot, maybe the second. But you have to do it for several shots a hole, eighteen times over.
After a few good (see: lucky) shots, your old swing comes back, and you find yourself shanking and slicing the ball. You’re confident you can get your swing back, but your blow up hole turns into a blow up streak.
Now you’re exhausted physically. Your inner dialogue is fiercely mean. If you were only inwardly talking smack about your golf game, you’re now including the breadth of all your personal shortcomings.
Golf is supposed to be fun, and its challenges present you with a universal truth:
IT’S IMPORTANT TO QUIT WHEN THINGS GET HARD
They say it takes ten thousand hours to become a master at something. So if you want to be better at golf, you have to practice, you have to play, you have to put in the hours.
But look, sometimes it's better to call a spade a spade. You suck. Your inner dialogue has already told you that. It’s also told you that this is the time when you quit things, when they are beyond frustration.
Giving up before a breakthrough has been a through line for you, so why change now? If you’re consistent at one thing (and it surely isn’t golf), it’s giving up when the going gets tough.
Hey, you’ll save money. You’ll also spare yourself the backbreaking physicality that golf requires, not to mention the mental anguish. You’ll also miss out on being out in nature and the beautiful scenery that drapes wonderful golf courses.
You’ll see your friends less often, as well, since golf is the one thing that ensures you all see each other once a month. So sell those clubs and get rid of those crisp polo shirts.
Remember, you’ll be healthier, in mind, body, and spirit.
Quit golf, I dare you.
