- Oct 17, 2022
- 420
- 546
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I used to be stupidly obsessed with golf. I’d practice and play at least 5 times a week, spend thousands of dollars of club memberships, clubs, other equipment, lessons, obsess over my stats, over other people’s stats, take videos of my swing and analyse it, read books, listen to podcasts and get angry and down on myself when I played bad. I’d be one of those w**kers walking around in perfectly pleated pants and tucked in shirts, yelling “sit, sit” at my ball and fussing over the correct interpretation of the game’s ridiculous rules, like the positioning of rakes in bunkers, and kid myself into thinking it was an actual sport.
Then one day after watching my mum have a heart attack and my dad decline rapidly with Alzheimer’s decided to try and get fit downloaded the couch to 5k running app. Literally overnight my interest in golf evaporated. To the point now where I look back and cringe, almost PTSD like, at how much time, money and emotional investment I put into playing the ridiculous game for no physical and mental benefit and which I actually hated. Now I’m fit, feeling better about myself and have more time for other interests like volunteering for a local wildlife hospital and spending more time with friends and family.
I think the nature of golf has a tendency to suck people into this vortex that’s hard to get out of and that so many people are in. It’s such a hard game to improve at given the small margins of error, and it’s just down to natural random variance you might hit an amazing shot or play a great round to make you think you’ve “found” some magical ingredient and keep you chasing for sustained improvement. I won a couple of tournaments, but 90% of rounds were mediocre to shit, which is actually standard for most golfers. And to think it’s an actual meaningful form of physical activity is a joke, just have a look at the massive gunts going round at the local fairways for evidence.
What things did you used to do that you now look back on and cringe?
Then one day after watching my mum have a heart attack and my dad decline rapidly with Alzheimer’s decided to try and get fit downloaded the couch to 5k running app. Literally overnight my interest in golf evaporated. To the point now where I look back and cringe, almost PTSD like, at how much time, money and emotional investment I put into playing the ridiculous game for no physical and mental benefit and which I actually hated. Now I’m fit, feeling better about myself and have more time for other interests like volunteering for a local wildlife hospital and spending more time with friends and family.
I think the nature of golf has a tendency to suck people into this vortex that’s hard to get out of and that so many people are in. It’s such a hard game to improve at given the small margins of error, and it’s just down to natural random variance you might hit an amazing shot or play a great round to make you think you’ve “found” some magical ingredient and keep you chasing for sustained improvement. I won a couple of tournaments, but 90% of rounds were mediocre to shit, which is actually standard for most golfers. And to think it’s an actual meaningful form of physical activity is a joke, just have a look at the massive gunts going round at the local fairways for evidence.
What things did you used to do that you now look back on and cringe?
