A Golfer: Its Tough to Be One

Raise your hand if you have played or tried to play golf anytime in your life. Go on, raise your hand, and wave it around, wiggle your fingers, make a shadow puppet bunny, the point is many of you have probably tried at least once. As a result, there is that mutated blob of a rabbit on your wall. Now, raise your hand if you play golf now. Anyone? No-one? Okay, well, it’s probably just me. So here is where I slide into my question: why is golf so unpopular with the youth compared to other sports, like basketball?

Well APPEAR THE THESIS to make my OCPD (correct term, not OCD, research it) satisfied. Don’t worry, it’ll include media Mr. Starace.

So the reason is media influencing our perception of sports as a young person, especially sports like golf. Media also degrades golf as a sport through advertising the hipster image. (Patience will tell you my friend.)

FIRST there is media influencing the image of sports. Here is the image you see when you think of golf.

 

Here is what golf actually looks like.

 

Haha, silly Geico. No, it’s more like this.

 

See that face, that’s the face of an athlete. So, why do you get the image of the old cigar-smoking grandpa when golf comes up? Because MEDIA.

Most media presented to the average person related to golf almost always includes the old man. This reality assumption made that only old men play golf is absolutely false. But why do some people buy it? They probably relate to golf’s subtitle, or that famous line in that golf movie with Shia Laebouf. “Golf is a game played by gentlemen” the word “Gentlemen” has that connotative meaning of an old, high class man.

No, not that one.

Yeah, that’s the one. Monocle and everything. This assumption has remained in our minds for so long, you can probably no longer get rid of it. So this assumption ingrained in our minds is used by companies using golf.

The hipster ideology now sold to the younger population markets the “cool” sports. You probably know it is the basketball that reigns supreme in America. Other places, it is soccer (or futbol) that is the popular thing. These sports advertise the ideal peak physical condition of what we have learned to see as an “athlete”. Golf is seen as left to the aging people who can’t play the strenuous sports anymore. Truth is, golf is just as strenuous and demanding as soccer or basketball. (sorry, baloncesto y futbol)

The movie “Seven days in Utopia” is a great example of this.

(*God, another movie, Tristan watches way too many movies*)

Well deal with it! I don’t need glasses yet, so I’m still okay staring at a screen for two hours. Here’s the trailer.

Summary: guy breaks down, snaps chipping wedge, runs to isolated town, learns golf from a wise old man, comes back, POSSIBLY wins PGA Texas tour.

Media like this is kind of rare, outlining the difficulty of golf. Its not all physical, but you do have to walk a lot with a 50 Lb weight on your back for almost a mile up and down hills. And you keep your elbows tucked in. always keep your elbows tucked in. Don’t look like a chicken. Oh, there's also injuries. damages lower spine, torn arm muscles, wrists. hand cramps, blisters. There's also getting hit by a golf ball. Whatever you do, don't get hit by a golf ball. Its like the rain god had kidney stones. The difficult part shown in movies like “Seven days in Utopia” is the mental aspect. Golf is rated as one of the most strenuous and taking mental sports because your are slowly wearing yourself down as well as having to focus every second. And if you make a bad shot, you have to forget about it. “(Easier said than done)

CONCLUSION TIME BECAUSE I'M STARTING TO RAMBLE.

To sum it up, gold is misrepresented in media as a lazy sport meant for old people. The reality is it is much more difficult, one of the most difficult sports out there. Golfers never get the recognition they deserve going through pretty much hell keeping that elbow tucked in. Don’t look like a chicken.