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If you could go back in time would you tell yourself not to take up golf?


2bGood

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I love golf, I play ALLOT of it. I spend ALLOT of money on it.

 

Over 20 years I figure I have spent around 10,000 hours golfing, practicing, and travelling for golf (with most of that in the last 10). That is about the same as 5 years of 40 hours a week. I won't even go into the $$$

 

Despite all I put into the game of golf, golf does not love me back. I chase it, it ignores and rebuffs me.

 

If I used my golf time differently, I could have made an extra $1M, I could have become a physician - for fun, I could have worked out and have the body of a greek god and live 10 years longer, I could have had a second secret wife in another city and died 10 years sooner, I could have finished my Novel and a few sequels, I could have seen more of the world, I could have built my dream car, etc etc etc.

 

Funny thing, is I can't imagine a life without golf. My friends are pretty much all golfers, I enjoy nothing more then getting out to play and it is my main activity to keep me healthy (I always walk). But I do know if it was not golf it may likely have been something else I did that, frankly, rewarded effort better than golf does.

 

So if you could go back in time, would you warn your younger self, not to get the golf bug?

 

 

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> @2bGood said:

> So if you could go back in time, would you warn your younger self, not to get the golf bug?

>

Of course not. I would do one thing different though: get lessons from the very beginning. I was able to get to single digit within a few years but my swing is not optimal and puts my back under more stress than a necessary. At this point it's too late though.

 

 

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Nope. I wouldn't. Golf saved me from getting a real job for almost 40 years. Soon I'll retire (my wife says, "retire from what?") and play even more golf.

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If I could go back in time, I don't think I'd be worried about golf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who am I kidding? I'd take my bag and a lifetime supply if Pro V1s to the 1800s and try to crush the entire Tom Morris family tree.

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My only regret is that I didn't start earlier (started in early 90s right after college). I think this game is easier to learn/develop as a kid than as an adult.

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No way, because then I wouldn't be responding to this thread...

Actually I started in playing the summer of 1965, and I just retired this spring at 68. That's a lifetime of fun, good shots, bad shots and a whole lot of things that keep me coming back.

 

The main thing for me is that golf has come full circle in that in that first year I played, I simply enjoyed it without any other reason to be out there pretty much. Just liked the outdoors, the freedom, the friendship, the fun, the enjoyment. Now that I'm retired I like the outdoors, the freedom, the friendship, the fun, the enjoyment.

 

Only thing I would have told myself back then would be to "be careful for the many years ahead of not losing focus on the early days of golf when it was so easy and fun". and "Don't get so entangled in the stress of numbers and competition and winning and mechanics and equipment that you don't just plain enjoy golf like you used to, or you will again some day far off".

 

So I think for me, taking up golf was definitely not something I would go back and talk myself out of, maybe I would go back to where golf was taking me up, and talk myself out of that...

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Tough question.

 

On the one hand, it's true that golf is about as pointless a hobby as I can think of one having. No matter what one claims to get out of playing golf there's virtually always a more efficient route to get that thing. While it does have a few peripheral benefits, the value of playing golf is mostly just that you get better at doing it.

 

For example, if one does it for health, fitness or just to get some sun there are equally beneficial ways of obtaining those things that are quicker, cheaper and come with far less stress. With just a little inspection we find that golf is very inefficient at delivering any sort of health benefits when compared to the alternatives.

 

I also find myself drowning in time-wasting activities. I browse WRX daily, I follow the pro tours, I read about golf and watch the occasional Golf Channel special. All of that time is something I'd get back if I weren't concerned with golf. That's an entire lifestyle change TBH.

 

Then again, it seems naive to tell oneself to do something else for two reasons. First, if I were disciplined enough to do something else I'd have done it. It's easy to tell yourself to go paint the Mona Lisa but odds are that golf didn't stop you from doing that. You probably never had the will to do it in the first place. Second, how can I honestly tell myself that some other path would have been "better" when I didn't pursue it and thus never experienced it? Maybe if I dedicated my life to painting I'd be going back in time to tell myself not to bother, LOL.

 

I was just thinking about this yesterday, but pretty much all hobbies are pointless from the objective perspective. Some people fish. Some hunt. Some paint. Some garden. I think all those things are boring and dull. That isn't to say I think they're bad. It's just that golf is the thing I choose to spend my time doing as opposed to those other things. Just as I think those things are dull, I EXPECT that 99% of people out there think golf is dull.

 

People too often make the mistake of thinking what they do is important for some objective reason. It's not.

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Nope, I would go back and tell myself to focus only on golf, instead of tennis, basketball, football, baseball, etc. I would have played college golf instead of tennis, and who knows where i'd be now. Might be on tour, might be dead. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, Ferguson is correct, can't go back.

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No way! I'd actually tell my younger self to join the golf team in high school, and forget about football. My one regret is that I didn't start playing golf sooner.

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If I went back and told my 30-year-old self to never take up golf, by now I'd weigh 300+ pounds and probably be on my second or third heart cath (or worse). I suspect golf will end up literally being a life-saver for me in the long run, assuming I don't die of skin cancer.

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The exact opposite of telling myself NOT to play, I would have told myself to play more and younger. Would definitely have a career of some sort in golf now if that had been the case.

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Probably not. You have to find a main hobby or life is boring. It's a frustrating hobby however. But I enjoy it. The great thing about golf is you can play it alone , on the course or the range. The problem with team sports is you have to rely on others or you can't do it (although can often practice/train for it alone - however even that you can't always depending which team sport or activity you choose)

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No way! I would have started way earlier than at age 35. I thought golf was the dumbest sport on the face of the earth until then.

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Heck no. I'd tell myself to start younger.

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I would have told my younger self to hit more practice balls, find a good instructor and keep at it. I had a few lessons when I was young from different teachers and this probably screwed me up more than anything (If I could have stuck with the first guy, it may have been different, he was in his 70s, and after one season with him and several lessons, he got cancer and passed away), I was sort of self taught anyway. I would have also told myself not to play backyard football either, which would have avoided a bad knee injury in my youth..... I enjoyed tennis as kid, but it seemed to get boring after awhile. Golf is always changing, new clubs, new courses, new people, that part I really like....

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If I could go back in time and convince myself never to set foot on a course I can't play for under $100/month I'd be a wealthier man today and would never even know what I was missing. It's hard to keep them down on the farm once they've seen the big city.

 

Occasionally I'll play at the local muni course for one reason or another (usually due to tournaments at my club) and I'll get paired up with guys who've never played anywhere else. Honestly, they are having as much fun as those of us playing every week at one of the really nice private clubs in town. The difference is, they buy a yearly pass for $600 and play all the golf they want while I'm spending darned near that much some months.

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