Countless people around the world love sports, whether they’re watching intense competitions or being in the competitors themselves. There’s nothing that evokes more powerful feelings of determination, pressure, and triumph than the game, the match, or the championship. But there is always one sport that’s unnoticed—that doesn’t quite get as much attention as others. More often than not, that sport is golf.
Golf isn’t exactly the shame of the world of athletics. At least, not if you are talking about legends such as Tiger Woods (who is so great that he is the only thing that many people know about golf). But what about those who play golf as a sport but haven’t managed to claw their way to that level of fame and prestige?
Unfortunately, golf is known as either a lazy man’s or a snob’s sport. There is a bit of truth behind both of these stereotypes. For the former, indeed, golf is not quite as fierce or as fast or as loud as contact sports like football. It’s also widely considered to be “easy.” After all, how hard could knocking a ball into a hole with a stick be?
Because of these misconceptions, amateur golfers here in the Philippines often find that they are underappreciated compared to other athletes. Here, golf is mostly seen as a relaxing pastime for snobs. Unless you’re a headline-making champion who competes internationally, you probably will never be recognized or held in the same regard as other decent athletes.
But the game of golf and those who resiliently follow (or break) its demanding rules deserve so much more than that. Golf may not be particularly rough, but it is extremely difficult.
For one thing, it takes place outside, where you are at the mercy of the elements. The scorching heat of the California summer or the humid storms of Malaysia in December isn’t very pleasant—especially during nerve-wracking competitions. The strength and direction of the wind, the dryness or wetness of the ground, the condition of the course, and other environmental factors force you to quickly adjust your strategies and techniques to suit the situation.
Another challenging hurdle to overcome is learning to use the strength of your non-dominant hand. A golf swing just won’t work if you use your dominant hand. If you’re right-handed, you have to channel your left arm’s power and loosen your right hand’s controlling grip to make the ball fly, and vice versa if you’re left-handed.
Then, of course, there’s the swing itself, which is so complicated that I cannot think of a single hyperbole to emphasize my point. There are so many factors to take into account when trying to find that beautiful swing that gets the ball up off the ground and onto the target. The grip, the stance, the angles, the head position, the turn… it can take years of practice and trial and error to find that one perfect swing. Actually, if I am to be completely honest, there is no perfect swing. Just... effective ones.
Golf never was a sport of strength or force. It was always a game of patience, precision, and strategy. Many people mistake this almost leisurely approach as a form of sloth, but it’s not. Despite its slow pace, golf requires a strong body and an even stronger mind, especially if you’re pulling your bag around yourself. The game has a way of messing with your head and is just as good at inspiring fear, panic, and even wrath as any other sport, not to mention that each golf course has a different personality. Some seem friendly at first, then stab you in the back as the round progresses; others just glow at you threateningly right from the get-go. Whatever they’re like, they almost always do not have your best interests at heart.
The hardest part of golf, however, is not the weather or the technique: it’s the very nature of the game itself, an undeniable, unavoidable nature which it shares with every other sport around the world, from football to chess: You can never get good overnight. It will take thousands of hours of practice, of blinding pain, of perseverance, of commitment, of tears. And when you do get good, you will realize that there are people who are even better than you. There always will be. And as time goes by, you will realize that being good is not a permanent state. There will be days when you fail when you mess up, when you disappoint Bob Barker and lose in a fistfight with him. Your whole career in sports is just an endless struggle for improvement—an agonizing test of body, mind, and spirit.
But at the end of the day, it’s worth it—for all sports.
Golf may not be the most famous or awe-inspiring sport of all time, especially not in a world where we want everything to be bigger, stronger, and faster. But it is just as much a sport as any other that you can think of. So before you scoff at golf, at the “stupidity” of the game and the “laziness” of those who play it, remember that golf is not easy. It never will be easy. Just try it. You’ll see.
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