you mean, you can play this game for money?
Long ago I made my feelings known on the general subject of gambling. I'm not much on gambling for entertainment. There's not a whole lot in it for me. I know lots of people enjoy it and...well...good for them.
As much as I'm indifferent, at best, with the concept of gambling as entertainment, I hate gambling on golf. Let's start with the fact that my game is not worth putting money on, but even if it were, I hate the whole idea of gambling on golf.
Golf, for me, is a day out on a nice course, playing a game I enjoy even if I'm not that good at it. You've got the sun, beautiful scenery, a cart to haul you around that's quiet enough to not stop you from hearing the chirping birds, the sound of titanium compressing a small hard white ball ringing through the trees and subsequent splash in a nearby pond, and a college girl who is usually pretty easy on the eyes bringing you beer. It's sort of a zen thing, occasionally punctuated by the panicked scream of "fore" or some less family friendy four letter word. I'm with my friends, and while I'm competitive, I'm not competetive with them. I compete with myself, trying to hit more good shots and score better than I did the last time I played. I'm looking to play my best game regardless of what the others in the group do, and in the process, hope they do the same. I'm rooting for them as much as I'm rooting for myself, and the success or failure of me achieving my goal has no relation on how anyone else played their game. I want all of us to kick ass...and that doesn't mean each other's.
As soon as you introduce money and gambling into that, it changes the whole dynamic. It turns a game where everyone is having fun and pulling for each other into a dog eat dog competitive thing, all over somewhere between a dime and a thousand dollars, depending on how stupid you may be. All of a sudden, if I make that 40 foot putt...I'm as happy as I can be, and my friend says, "Nice putt." in a tone that says he didn't mean anything of the sort. The words came out, "Nice putt." but said, "Shit!" all over a dollar. It just makes it all....unsavory...seedy, and sucks the fun right out of the day.
I played three times last week, and the last time was New Years Eve (in shorts and a golf shirt, by the way). That was the time someone pushed and pushed the whole time up until we started that he wanted to put something on the game, and finally I relented. He knew though, that I wasn't all that comfortable with it, and certainly not eager. In the end, I shelled out a whopping four dollars. No, it wasn't a lot of money, and he made a point of asking after it was all over, if it killed me. No it didn't. It wasn't about the four dollars. It was about what it turned my golf game into. It was about turning a great day out on the course with friends into four hours of him asking after every hole what I had and comparing it to what he had and evaluating the financial implications. This wasn't golf. This was math homework (as if keeping score isn't enough), and I was paying for it. I thought I was done with that concept when I finished college. Add to all that he's a much better golfer than I, but we played straight up, more out of my ignorance about the whole betting thing than anything else. The whole experience just left a bad taste in my mouth, and made it something I don't care to repeat.
He and I probably won't play again as a result.
As much as I'm indifferent, at best, with the concept of gambling as entertainment, I hate gambling on golf. Let's start with the fact that my game is not worth putting money on, but even if it were, I hate the whole idea of gambling on golf.
Golf, for me, is a day out on a nice course, playing a game I enjoy even if I'm not that good at it. You've got the sun, beautiful scenery, a cart to haul you around that's quiet enough to not stop you from hearing the chirping birds, the sound of titanium compressing a small hard white ball ringing through the trees and subsequent splash in a nearby pond, and a college girl who is usually pretty easy on the eyes bringing you beer. It's sort of a zen thing, occasionally punctuated by the panicked scream of "fore" or some less family friendy four letter word. I'm with my friends, and while I'm competitive, I'm not competetive with them. I compete with myself, trying to hit more good shots and score better than I did the last time I played. I'm looking to play my best game regardless of what the others in the group do, and in the process, hope they do the same. I'm rooting for them as much as I'm rooting for myself, and the success or failure of me achieving my goal has no relation on how anyone else played their game. I want all of us to kick ass...and that doesn't mean each other's.
As soon as you introduce money and gambling into that, it changes the whole dynamic. It turns a game where everyone is having fun and pulling for each other into a dog eat dog competitive thing, all over somewhere between a dime and a thousand dollars, depending on how stupid you may be. All of a sudden, if I make that 40 foot putt...I'm as happy as I can be, and my friend says, "Nice putt." in a tone that says he didn't mean anything of the sort. The words came out, "Nice putt." but said, "Shit!" all over a dollar. It just makes it all....unsavory...seedy, and sucks the fun right out of the day.
I played three times last week, and the last time was New Years Eve (in shorts and a golf shirt, by the way). That was the time someone pushed and pushed the whole time up until we started that he wanted to put something on the game, and finally I relented. He knew though, that I wasn't all that comfortable with it, and certainly not eager. In the end, I shelled out a whopping four dollars. No, it wasn't a lot of money, and he made a point of asking after it was all over, if it killed me. No it didn't. It wasn't about the four dollars. It was about what it turned my golf game into. It was about turning a great day out on the course with friends into four hours of him asking after every hole what I had and comparing it to what he had and evaluating the financial implications. This wasn't golf. This was math homework (as if keeping score isn't enough), and I was paying for it. I thought I was done with that concept when I finished college. Add to all that he's a much better golfer than I, but we played straight up, more out of my ignorance about the whole betting thing than anything else. The whole experience just left a bad taste in my mouth, and made it something I don't care to repeat.
He and I probably won't play again as a result.
John put this out here at 9:02 AM
2 Comments:
I'm just DAMN jealous that you can play golf in the winter. DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN
Hope Jacksonville does good....my Chiefs are OUT. a
Golf on New Years Eve. It's the price we pay for the fun of Hurricane Season.
Thanks for the words of encouragement for the Jaguars. That post is coming. Tom Brady's saying if anyone is should feel like they aren't getting their due, it's the Patriots. I'm wondering, which part of the 7 1/2 point line (or that's what it was Monday) is he looking at?
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