I am not a golfer and, as some of my students know (who are both fair golfers and excellent students), I mock golfers without mercy. C’mon, this isn’t a sport is it, walking around on a pretty day, having someone carry your bags for you, etc.? And yet I saw a golf
match (is that what it’s called?) yesterday, or at least the last hour of the Doral Open, and I must say it was almost as good as an Ali-Frazier fight. Great drama, great fun, excellence nothing but excellence, and a little luck. Just like life at its best. And Tiger pulled it out. Maybe I’m wrong. Even if it’s not a sport, it is great.
You bet it is, Peter. The recent Bobby Jones movie, "Strokes of Genius," does a fairly good job of dramatizing an up-close-and-personal look at the intense mental and emotional demands of high-level golf (Jones didn’t play for money but felt an enormous weight of public and community expectation as well as the force of his own perfectionism and competitive drive).
And BTW, carrying your own clubs and walking 18 holes (the latter of which the pros do even tho’ they don’t carry their own bags like college players) can be more physically demanding than many think--especially on a hot day or a hilly course or one at high altitude, and also, of course, relative to the fine motor control that every golf shot demands.
Finally, you are seeing the virtues of the sport...
The Supreme Court ruled that walking the course is not a fundamental part of competitive golf in PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin for purposes of Americans with Disabilities Act. Casey was allowed to use a golf cart over the objections of the PGA.
It was a 7-2 decision with Scalia and Thomas dissenting. It is pretty amusing to read the Court try to figure out the "essence" of golf.
Churchill’s opinion of golf: "Like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture."
Golf is a great sport and yes it is a sport. It’s great for us non-pros because it is you versus you out there. If you do well, it’s all because you shot well and vice versa, there is no one to blame but yourself if you shoot a 120 and you typically shoot in the high 90’s . Mentally, golf might be the single toughest sport out there. But it is certainly a sport.
Check out www.banhillary08.com it’s great.
Whatever happened to Casey Martin, Steve? I recall him winning that case, but then IIRC he couldn’t hold onto his Tour card. BTW, I seem to remember that a big part of the Court’s reasoning had to do w/ the way the Senior PGA Tour (a relatively newfangled circuit) allows some players to use carts on the basis of physicians’ letters. Is my memory of that part of the case correct?