Being outside and walking a course is just as important to me as playing well

[596]

3 hours ago, xkilgorextroutx said:

 

I also cycle a lot, I'll do 50-100 mi per week depending on my schedule. Walking the course is definitely my preferred way to play. Nothing like walking a twilight round after work to just enjoy the quiet and being outside.

I ride 25 to 45 on the weekends outside. But my weekday rides are on a Wahoo Kickr using Fulgaz on a 58" TV.  10 to 20 miles.  

[bobfoster]

On 2/14/2023 at 9:08 AM, RoyalMustang said:

 

My epiphany is that I enjoy the walk (there a few houses on the front 9) and being outside as much as I enjoy golf.

^^^^ +1000. Except there was never an epiphany. Started playing in the 60s. Almost everyone walked. Many courses actually had no carts (but a lot had caddies). By the time carts became the norm, it was already deeply ingrained in me that part of the sport called Golf involved walking 18 holes. It just did. To this day, on the rare occasions when I'm forced to use a cart (I only ride when I'm forced to) - busy summer weekends at some places, charity tourneys & etc. - it somehow almost feels like cheating. 

 

I do get the value of carts, and have zero judgement about anyone that chooses to use them. In fact, I understand their value, and may someday ride. When my Dad was in his late 70s - early 80s, knees were increasingly problematic (he had also played a lot of tennis), second hip replacement in one hip, he literally couldn't even 9 holes, let alone 18. Carts let him play golf for close to a decade more than he otherwise could have had he needed to walk. 

 

All that said? My personal preference will always be to walk, for as long as I am physically able. And not just because I play better golf. Walking a course just gives you additional, visceral information (at least for me). But also because of what the OP talks about - the sheer, aesthetic pleasure. There are these moments. Moments that come teeing off early morning, sun glistening off of dew, or walking up 18 at sunset, on deep green manicured grass under the beautiful late day colors of the sky ... I just breathe out and think ... this is bliss. 

 

Older I get, the more layers of this game unfold to me. In my 20s - 40s, I was obsessively competitive. Sole goal was the score. Golf was nothing but the strokes - everything else was irrelevant. These days, playing 18 is a much richer, fuller experience. Yeah, the strokes still matter, and the butter of flushing a Mizzy iron center club and having the ball go where I visualized is incredibly satisfying. But golf is now much more than the strokes, it is also enjoying the scenery, the walk between the strokes.

 

Oops, waxing rather poetic tonight.

[RoyalMustang]

On 6/5/2023 at 11:16 AM, 596 said:

I ride 25 to 45 on the weekends outside. But my weekday rides are on a Wahoo Kickr using Fulgaz on a 58" TV.  10 to 20 miles.  

 

Riding a bike is great for keeping that distance off of the tee up! 

[mangohead]

This comes with age.

How old are you?

 

[jimb6golf]

Completely agree that walking is thoroughly enjoyable while playing golf.  You get to visualize your shot and think about your next shot while enjoying the walk itself.  I walk, with a pushcart, all the time no matter the weather. Don't really understand why so many people use a cart?  Unless you're injured or older (I'm rapidly approaching that reality, as my knees continually tell me) you should walk the course - it's far more enjoyable.

[Louis_Posture]

Courses with long distances from the green to the next tee box should not be walked. 

But if it is a course with tee boxes near the greens....walk on !

[Argonne69]

2 hours ago, Louis_Posture said:

Courses with long distances from the green to the next tee box should not be walked. 

But if it is a course with tee boxes near the greens....walk on !

 

Why? Because it adds 15 minutes to the round? So instead of buzzing around in 2:40, it takes 2:55 hours. Pffttt. 

 

[vandyfan]

3 hours ago, jimb6golf said:

Don't really understand why so many people use a cart?  Unless you're injured or older

 

I totally agree. I see a lot of guys my age 30s/40s who ride in carts on saturday mornings when the course is jammed up with 4somes. It doesn't take any longer to walk in that instance AND you are waiting on every shot anyways. Why not just walk and enjoy it a little more rather than zipping around on a cart you don't (physically) need? 

[Louis_Posture]

43 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Why? Because it adds 15 minutes to the round? So instead of buzzing around in 2:40, it takes 2:55 hours. Pffttt. 

 

 

Here in Nor Cal, and also Nevada, there are golf courses with  250 plus yard distances from a green to the next tee box, including severe inclines. These courses were designed for riding, not walking.

[Argonne69]

36 minutes ago, Louis_Posture said:

 

Here in Nor Cal, and also Nevada, there are golf courses with  250 plus yard distances from a green to the next tee box, including severe inclines. These courses were designed for riding, not walking.

 

Takes me less than 3 minutes to walk 250 yds. Chances are I'd be waiting on the next teebox anyway on a crowded course. I know because it happens all the time. A handful on a course is only going to add 15 minutes to the round.

 

 

[david.c.w]

I always love how some people tell others what they should and should not be doing.  You like walking?  Good for you.  You like riding?  Good for you.  

 

Either way, don't tell me what to do.

[North Butte]

On 7/6/2023 at 3:46 PM, vandyfan said:

 

I totally agree. I see a lot of guys my age 30s/40s who ride in carts on saturday mornings when the course is jammed up with 4somes. It doesn't take any longer to walk in that instance AND you are waiting on every shot anyways. Why not just walk and enjoy it a little more rather than zipping around on a cart you don't (physically) need? 

I played a darned near 4:00 round yesterday (out of town, not my usual home course). It was obvious when I arrived it was going to be a long round, there were 8 carts and 16 golfers lined up on the first tee and more arriving every minute in the parking lot. It's a minor miracle the round didn't take 4:30-5:00 to finish.

 

The group behind me was a foursome in carts and they were driving as fast as the carts would go, jumping out of the cart when they go to their ball and...

 

...standing there for a couple minutes before they could hit their shot. I was strolling along at a much more casual pace than usual (hot day) but there were still only a handful of shots I didn't have to wait on the stack of groups ahead of me.

 

I guarantee I had a much less stressful day than those hurry-up-and-wait doofuses behind me. It was crazy, they wouldn't even pull up in the shade and sit chatting in the carts while they waited. Each guy would get out and wait in the hot sun by his ball then hit the instant I started moving. They also hit balls past me three times, into me once and right up behind me a dozen times or more. Just couldn't wait that extra 20 seconds for me to get out of range.