I quit.

Gave up on golf long ago. But there were some great golf "tournaments" in the oil industry in the 90's.

I believe my former employer is still banned from one particular course. Parking one of the carts in a water hazard and blasting the tunes from their own self-proclaimed drink cart, wasn't appreciated, I guess. ;)

These Demotivator posters come to mind. They're skiing photos, but they apply equally well to golf.

http://www.despair.com/humiliation.html
http://www.despair.com/in24x30prin.html

Skiing is the thing I enjoy even when I suck at it. (And I don't suck at it, but sometimes everyone sucks at it...) ;)
 
p.s. Bumper sticker I saw yesterday might apply:

"When hell freezes over, I'll be skiing there."

Just replace skiing with golf. If you like something, you like it. If you don't, do something else. :)
 
woodstock said:
The very few times I have gone golfing I had a great time. I suck at it, and I revel in sucking at it. It's a nice way to spend time with a few friends, golf courses are usually pretty, and you can drink afterwards (and maybe during too, right? It's been a long time since I went golfing).

As long as you don't give a crap whether or not you had to hit the ball 20 times each time, you can have fun with it.
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That's the way I used to play. I never played golf until the company SVP changed and the new guy thought that a lot of business could be done on the golf course. I started to play (badly), soon discovered that my score improved markedly after I passed the 7th hole (where the beer keg was positioned) but I never got good or even consistent. Finally the SVP moved on and I sold my clubs.

Golf takes too much time for a father of young children. Now that the youngest is 23 it just takes time away from flying.

-Skip
 
I'm a serial tech startup guy. Way back when, we sold our business to AT&T who changed our comp plan to be based on profitability and then gave the product away at a loss. That's when my golf game went from a solid bogey level to the 8 I carried for about 6 years. My boss and I were playing a couple of times a week. Never took single lesson but became a student of the swing. Playing twice a week and hitting balls every day at lunch will get you there.
 
Back in 1988, I was a new employee at the Chicago Tribune. This was when newspapers were still king, the Trib was at the top of the heap, and they did nice things like sponsoring celebrity golf tournaments.

I was invited to play golf at this enormous tournament. I declined, saying I didn't golf.

I was then TOLD that I would golf in the tournament. Alrighty, then.

I was 29 years old, and had never swung a club in my life. I watched the guys ahead of me, figured out what they were doing, and when it was my turn to tee off, I managed to knock the ball 230 yards straight down the fairway. I still remember the collective gasp from all of my coworkers who were expecting me to take a 5" divot.

Golf turned out to be fun, and I was naturally good at it. After that, I became an avid golfer, eventually joining a club and playing three days a week. (Another advantage of newspapers -- most of our serious work was done before noon each day, leaving the afternoons relatively free to play golf.)

Then, I learned to fly.

I golfed precisely once after starting lessons. I clearly remember standing at the 6th hole, watching as a Cessna flew over, thinking "WTF am I doing here? I could be doing that!"

I have literally never swung a club again. That was 17 years ago. Why in the world would anyone golf, when they can fly?
 
I wanted to play golf and my wife, Essie said I could, That is if I sold the airplane first. I don't even like golf I guess.
:nono:
 
EdFred said:
I was at a 4 handicap when I was playing three days a week. Plan on getting back down below that next year.
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Well, can we talk about the game of "executive golf" (e.g. putting without the windmills! :)) that we played with Diz and Brad on Mackinac Island? IIRC, you were just about at the top, I was about at the bottom, and she was right there with me! "I want a five!" I still had a great time, because I was with friends. I'm not certain she did, though. :(
 
I played golf once in my life. It was in Phoenix and the temps were over 100. The beverage cart was the best part. In fact, I considered it like shooting pool or throwing darts: strictly a drinking activity.

I've got a brother who plays pretty regularly. He chooses his bag by the number of beer cans it will hold.

Playing golf without alcohol is as bad as drinking non-alcoholic beer, decaffeinated coffee or dehydrated water. What's the point?
 
wabower said:
Another case of "gotta be smarter than what you're working with." Numerous strategies are available. Learn to play when the duffs aren't on the course. Play early so nobody is ahead of you. Play as a twosome or threesome at most. Play on courses that are well-marshalled. Don't play with slow players. Play ready golf. Make sure the players in your group maintain a satisfactory pace. It's not rocket surgery.
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Better yet, I don't care enough about golf to do all that. There are other things to do. Sounds like pre-flight planning, which I actually enjoy. Pre-golf planning? Not so much.

I play when I go to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, or a torney for work. I can still play respectably, although I miss puts that I use to make easily. Oh well.
 
Steve Foley said:
I played golf once in my life. It was in Phoenix and the temps were over 100. The beverage cart was the best part. In fact, I considered it like shooting pool or throwing darts: strictly a drinking activity.

I've got a brother who plays pretty regularly. He chooses his bag by the number of beer cans it will hold.

Playing golf without alcohol is as bad as drinking non-alcoholic beer, decaffeinated coffee or dehydrated water. What's the point?
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The problem with drinking beer out on the course is that it goes through me so fast. I can't always find a tree to hide behind that doesn't have another fairway on the other side.
 
Anthony said:
Better yet, I don't care enough about golf to do all that. There are other things to do. Sounds like pre-flight planning, which I actually enjoy. Pre-golf planning? Not so much.

I play when I go to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, or a torney for work. I can still play respectably, although I miss puts that I use to make easily. Oh well.
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For all that I have a house down there, I've never gone golfing there. I even live on a golf course.
 
Never done it, not even once. Doesn't hold much appeal, even though I do enjoy walking. The whole dress like a pimp thing does sound like fun. I was always disappointed that Tiger didn't dress like a hoodlum on the course. It would have been fun to watch.
 
steingar said:
Never done it, not even once. Doesn't hold much appeal, even though I do enjoy walking. The whole dress like a pimp thing does sound like fun. I was always disappointed that Tiger didn't dress like a hoodlum on the course. It would have been fun to watch.
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I've never actually seen a golfer dressed like a pimp. I must have missed that somewhere along the way.
 
I suck at it and have striven to prove it several times. One of the most memorable was at the Dallas CC some years ago when a friend insisted I play. I have a terrible slice and there is a hole that parallels a major street. Wack, I knocked the crap outa the ball--it slices right, we all watch, people at a bus stop suddenly duck and begin looking around! A car swerves; I put the clubs back in the bag and kinna looked around whistling. Fella never insisted I play again.
No ambulances or police arrived before we played though, guess we were O.K. and Dallas pedestrians safe again.

Best,

Dave
 
gprellwitz said:
Well, can we talk about the game of "executive golf" (e.g. putting without the windmills! :)) that we played with Diz and Brad on Mackinac Island? IIRC, you were just about at the top, I was about at the bottom, and she was right there with me! "I want a five!" I still had a great time, because I was with friends. I'm not certain she did, though. :(
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Friends are great- golf not so much. I did have a good time-- just so you know ;)
 
So many private pilots like the challenge of good landings, proper radio verbage, the precision work of holding a heading and altitude, etc,etc, so it seems like golf would be the number one sport of pilots. Each golf shot to have the desired result requires pre-planning and then exactness in execution. It is the challenge of golf that makes it fun. I'm surprised to read so many posts ragging on the game. Part of what makes flying enjoyable is reviewing a trip and knowing that some aspect of the trip could be done better next time and so it is with a round of golf.
 
Heh. You could replace "golf" in that with just about any hobby or avocation.

Pilots, in general, tend to do stuff they are good at and try to get better at it. Or so I've seen.

Some are expert golfers, some expert skiiers, some can build a house by themselves or even... an airplane. ;)

Some are wicked good businesspeople or investors. (Pretty common since aviation is so bloody expensive.)

Some excel at raising their kids. Their brood goes on to do greater things than they. Or just grow up happy and well-adjusted.

The commonality seems to be that we all love a challenge and we don't accept minimum standards, as Doc Bruce's avatar boldly proclaims that we should not do.

It's really hard to keep someone who won't "compete with themselves" interested in aviation. They "compete with the instructor" instead, and then pass a checkride and find no one's pushing anymore, and they disappear. Perhaps content that they have that little green card in their wallet, but never to be seen again.

There's also more than our fair share of what I call "Border Collie" personality traits. We need someone to convince us we have a "job" to fly our best and not get bored. When we get bored, we start digging up plants in the garden and jumping fences and running off, gettin' in trouble. ;)

Give us a "job" and we'll do it until we drop and it keeps us out of a lot of trouble we'd otherwise get into. ;)
 
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