Is this a rich man’s game?

[deejaid]

Funny you said that exactly like you said it. Just got off the phone with one of my fellow drivers. They have cut our hours back due to the prices of scrap steel are down drastically. He is older than I am but he and his wife are in debt up to their wazoos. They have to have everything new the latest and greatest. He was raising pure hell. I have told him several times they are living above their means. My wife and I live in a 1987 Mobile home. We own the home but rent the lot. I drive the old raggedy Dakota and she has a 2001 Dodge Mini Van. We ain't got a lot of money but we are happy. At one time I was pretty well off but blew a lot of money foolishly. Had a little money when we moved here but ended up in 2 losing business deals. But still happy here in the Redneck Riviera or poor man's Hawaii. I am not sweating the reduced hours at all 

 

 

My wife’s friends are the same way. Every time we go visit them they have new toys. A new swimming pool. A new RV. This year it was a new Jeep to pull behind their RV. They have 5 vehicles in their driveway. And then they complain about how much they have to work and it takes away from time with their kids. Meanwhile as I listen to them complain I’m thinking the whole time “maybe if you didn’t buy all this stuff you don’t need, you could work less and spend more time with your kids”

 

I feel golf has gone the same way. All these companies pushing lasers, gps, $400 shaft upgrades etc and then we have people complaining about the cost of a round of golf.

 

Think about it. 25 years ago all you needed was a 1-3-5 wood and a set of irons, 3-PW, a SW, and a putter. Add in a bag, some tees, balls and a pair of spikes and you were all set.

 

Then suddenly we were told we needed to upgrade that driver from the matching wood set to an oversized Titanium driver. OK. But, then we needed a Gap Wedge because lofts started to get jacked.

 

Then suddenly we couldn’t hit long irons, or at least that’s what we were told, so we had to buy hybrids. And oh yeah, putting is suddenly so difficult we need a High MOI mallet putter.

 

Clothes? A pair of khaki pants and cotton polo won’t work anymore. We need specific golf attire that uses high performance textiles used by NASA to keep astronauts cool in outer space.

 

Oh, and by the way, we’ll need to buy a laser to tell how for that flag is because we can no longer pace off distances from the 200, 150, and 100 markers effectively.

 

And don’t forget your shot tracking app because we can no longer recall that on hole at we were 160 out but hit that 7-Iron a bit fat and ended up in the drink.

 

The game of golf is dying, what will big commerce do???!!!

 

 

 

I think we could all take a step back, look at the absurdity of our consumption-driven lifestyles, and say, I have all I need.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mr. 82]

1 hour ago, deejaid said:

 

I think we could all take a step back, look at the absurdity of our consumption-driven lifestyles, and say, I have all I need.

Man, you must be reading the constant thoughts in my head.  Dad worked, and Mom stayed home and took care of four kids.  We had one car, and somehow we managed to fit all 6 of us in a Chevy Impala, without seatbelts, or child car seats.  The remote control on the TV was Dad saying, "Phil, turn the knob to channel 3."  Oh, and I am pretty sure it was black and white until I was about 10 years old, as we couldn't afford a color TV.  Oh, and we had one TV in the house, and we all watched the same thing at the same time.  There was no cable TV, no VCR's, and if you missed the show that night it was gone forever and the best you could hope for was a write up in the newspaper, or word of mouth from friends.  We never called long distance, because we couldn't afford it.  We had one phone, and it was in the living room.  We were strictly instructed to never touch it or use it, because it was too expensive to make phone calls, especially if we made a mistake and dialed a wrong number.  Our Aunt lived about 2 hours from us, but the only time we ever saw her or her family was around Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It was too expensive to drive all that way with six of us in the car, and we didn't want to put her out by having to feed 10 people, even at Thanksgiving.  Money was tight.

I remember getting our first microwave in 1977, about the time I turned 10.  Mom decided to nuke fish for the first meal in that thing, and it stunk for 5 years.  There was no revolving turntable in it, so Mom had to stop it every 2 minutes to turn the plate around.  I spent every hour of daylight after school on the golf course in my back yard.  If I wasn't playing 3, 5 or 7 holes with a hand me down set of clubs my Dad had given me, I was playing football with buddies in the 6th fairway, that was a perfect size for a football field.  We could get 6 to 10 of us together for a game of tackle football, and amazingly none of us ever got hurt.  Mom was busy at home preparing dinner so we all were left alone outside to play, and no one ever mentioned that we should be concerned about being kidnapped or taken or disappearing forever.  Mom didn't need a cellphone to have us come in, because she would just yell out the back door and we'd come running.

We didn't need iPads and iPhones, and YouTube and 200 channels of crap on TV and a zillion options on the internet to bore ourselves to death with.  We had our minds, and our imagination, and we came up with a thousand games to play outside with our buddies.  I do remember when Atari came out with a video game system and I spent a lot of time at my buddies house playing that, but Dad wouldn't let us have one, because he said it would "ruin the TV."  Maybe what my Dad knew, and that I heartily agree with now is that the video game system would ruin my mind, and consume all of my time and attention and that I'd never get out of the house and actually play outside like I had been doing all my life.

We kept score in our little league games, and only the winning team of the league got trophies.  When I was on the losing team I didn't lose self-confidence.  It actually motivated me to get better at whatever sport I was playing.  I wanted to win not necessarily for the trophy, but to know I accomplished something and could say that I could beat my buddies.  Mom & Dad didn't attend many of my games, as they had other things to do.  Somehow I survived and played the games anyway, and was just fine with that.  When Dad did happen to show up for a game it was special, but I didn't hate him because he was actually busy working and couldn't make my games.  Boo freaking hoo, I wanted to play baseball, soccer and golf.  I wasn't honestly worried if either of my parents were there for any of it.  I just wanted to play the games.  I was on the swim team in high school and I don't recall either of my parents being there for any of my swim meets or practices, probably because the meets were at 4:00 in the afternoon, and they were busy with other things.  Do I need therapy or am I traumatized because my parents weren't there for most of my sporting events and games, etc?  Hell no.  I didn't care about that as a kid.  I just wanted to play the game, or swim, or play golf.  I was with my buddies and teammates.  That's all that mattered to me.

We've abandoned all sense of reality in all of this honestly.  I know as my kids were growing up I was guilted into going to ever practice, every game, and every anything either of my kids participated in.  I was shamed into thinking I was a bad parent if I couldn't make it for whatever reason.  This honestly confused me because my parents never came to my stuff and again, I don't remember caring that they weren't there as a kid.  Why all of a sudden was I a bad parent for not being at every single thing my kids did growing up?

All this to say that all of these toys we have now have actually separated us from what really matters, and that is the human relationship.  We've got the latest and greatest of everything, but we're texting each other in the same room because we're too lazy to get out of our chairs to actually speak to each other.  We have "friends" on the internet that we've never physically met.  We've got thousands of dollars worth of electronic gadgets that can tell us what the capitol of Kuala Lumpur us, but we don't even know who are representative is in Congress, or even what the reason we celebrate the Fourth of July for in America.  We used to eat every meal at home as a family every night, mostly because we couldn't afford to eat out.  Now, parents are running back and forth between 15 activities for their 1 or maybe 2 kids, and we grab McDonalds through the drive thru because we don't have time to cook a meal, let alone go home to eat.  Mom has her job, and Dad is working 60 hours a week at his.  Our cars now cost as much as our houses used to, and our houses cost as much as what the clubhouse of the country club used to cost.  We've got twice as much space in the house now, and half as many people in it. And don't get me started on the quick and easy divorce culture we've created that makes a mockery of the nuclear family.

Wow, how did I get here.  I honestly don't know.  I think I was triggered by the excellent comments from others that hit the nail on the head.  Heck, there isn't even a neighborhood bar anymore where we can meet like they did in Cheers and share a common bond.  Sure, you can find a place to get a drink, but it's a nameless, faceless national chain that sells overpriced toilet water, marketed on a thousand channels to convince you it's your neighborhood bar.

Well, I surely do digress.  Not intending to offend anyone with this.  Just reminiscing about the way things were and how certain aspects of what I remember are treasured memories of a simpler time with a lot simpler means.

[robertson153]

Man, you must be reading the constant thoughts in my head.  Dad worked, and Mom stayed home and took care of four kids.  We had one car, and somehow we managed to fit all 6 of us in a Chevy Impala, without seatbelts, or child car seats.  The remote control on the TV was Dad saying, "Phil, turn the knob to channel 3."  Oh, and I am pretty sure it was black and white until I was about 10 years old, as we couldn't afford a color TV.  Oh, and we had one TV in the house, and we all watched the same thing at the same time.  There was no cable TV, no VCR's, and if you missed the show that night it was gone forever and the best you could hope for was a write up in the newspaper, or word of mouth from friends.  We never called long distance, because we couldn't afford it.  We had one phone, and it was in the living room.  We were strictly instructed to never touch it or use it, because it was too expensive to make phone calls, especially if we made a mistake and dialed a wrong number.  Our Aunt lived about 2 hours from us, but the only time we ever saw her or her family was around Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It was too expensive to drive all that way with six of us in the car, and we didn't want to put her out by having to feed 10 people, even at Thanksgiving.  Money was tight.
I remember getting our first microwave in 1977, about the time I turned 10.  Mom decided to nuke fish for the first meal in that thing, and it stunk for 5 years.  There was no revolving turntable in it, so Mom had to stop it every 2 minutes to turn the plate around.  I spent every hour of daylight after school on the golf course in my back yard.  If I wasn't playing 3, 5 or 7 holes with a hand me down set of clubs my Dad had given me, I was playing football with buddies in the 6th fairway, that was a perfect size for a football field.  We could get 6 to 10 of us together for a game of tackle football, and amazingly none of us ever got hurt.  Mom was busy at home preparing dinner so we all were left alone outside to play, and no one ever mentioned that we should be concerned about being kidnapped or taken or disappearing forever.  Mom didn't need a cellphone to have us come in, because she would just yell out the back door and we'd come running.
We didn't need iPads and iPhones, and YouTube and 200 channels of crap on TV and a zillion options on the internet to bore ourselves to death with.  We had our minds, and our imagination, and we came up with a thousand games to play outside with our buddies.  I do remember when Atari came out with a video game system and I spent a lot of time at my buddies house playing that, but Dad wouldn't let us have one, because he said it would "ruin the TV."  Maybe what my Dad knew, and that I heartily agree with now is that the video game system would ruin my mind, and consume all of my time and attention and that I'd never get out of the house and actually play outside like I had been doing all my life.
We kept score in our little league games, and only the winning team of the league got trophies.  When I was on the losing team I didn't lose self-confidence.  It actually motivated me to get better at whatever sport I was playing.  I wanted to win not necessarily for the trophy, but to know I accomplished something and could say that I could beat my buddies.  Mom & Dad didn't attend many of my games, as they had other things to do.  Somehow I survived and played the games anyway, and was just fine with that.  When Dad did happen to show up for a game it was special, but I didn't hate him because he was actually busy working and couldn't make my games.  Boo freaking hoo, I wanted to play baseball, soccer and golf.  I wasn't honestly worried if either of my parents were there for any of it.  I just wanted to play the games.  I was on the swim team in high school and I don't recall either of my parents being there for any of my swim meets or practices, probably because the meets were at 4:00 in the afternoon, and they were busy with other things.  Do I need therapy or am I traumatized because my parents weren't there for most of my sporting events and games, etc?  Hell no.  I didn't care about that as a kid.  I just wanted to play the game, or swim, or play golf.  I was with my buddies and teammates.  That's all that mattered to me.
We've abandoned all sense of reality in all of this honestly.  I know as my kids were growing up I was guilted into going to ever practice, every game, and every anything either of my kids participated in.  I was shamed into thinking I was a bad parent if I couldn't make it for whatever reason.  This honestly confused me because my parents never came to my stuff and again, I don't remember caring that they weren't there as a kid.  Why all of a sudden was I a bad parent for not being at every single thing my kids did growing up?
All this to say that all of these toys we have now have actually separated us from what really matters, and that is the human relationship.  We've got the latest and greatest of everything, but we're texting each other in the same room because we're too lazy to get out of our chairs to actually speak to each other.  We have "friends" on the internet that we've never physically met.  We've got thousands of dollars worth of electronic gadgets that can tell us what the capitol of Kuala Lumpur us, but we don't even know who are representative is in Congress, or even what the reason we celebrate the Fourth of July for in America.  We used to eat every meal at home as a family every night, mostly because we couldn't afford to eat out.  Now, parents are running back and forth between 15 activities for their 1 or maybe 2 kids, and we grab McDonalds through the drive thru because we don't have time to cook a meal, let alone go home to eat.  Mom has her job, and Dad is working 60 hours a week at his.  Our cars now cost as much as our houses used to, and our houses cost as much as what the clubhouse of the country club used to cost.  We've got twice as much space in the house now, and half as many people in it. And don't get me started on the quick and easy divorce culture we've created that makes a mockery of the nuclear family.
Wow, how did I get here.  I honestly don't know.  I think I was triggered by the excellent comments from others that hit the nail on the head.  Heck, there isn't even a neighborhood bar anymore where we can meet like they did in Cheers and share a common bond.  Sure, you can find a place to get a drink, but it's a nameless, faceless national chain that sells overpriced toilet water, marketed on a thousand channels to convince you it's your neighborhood bar.
Well, I surely do digress.  Not intending to offend anyone with this.  Just reminiscing about the way things were and how certain aspects of what I remember are treasured memories of a simpler time with a lot simpler means.

Blake

[Canucklehead]

Man, you must be reading the constant thoughts in my head.  Dad worked, and Mom stayed home and took care of four kids.  We had one car, and somehow we managed to fit all 6 of us in a Chevy Impala, without seatbelts, or child car seats.  The remote control on the TV was Dad saying, "Phil, turn the knob to channel 3."  Oh, and I am pretty sure it was black and white until I was about 10 years old, as we couldn't afford a color TV.  Oh, and we had one TV in the house, and we all watched the same thing at the same time.  There was no cable TV, no VCR's, and if you missed the show that night it was gone forever and the best you could hope for was a write up in the newspaper, or word of mouth from friends.  We never called long distance, because we couldn't afford it.  We had one phone, and it was in the living room.  We were strictly instructed to never touch it or use it, because it was too expensive to make phone calls, especially if we made a mistake and dialed a wrong number.  Our Aunt lived about 2 hours from us, but the only time we ever saw her or her family was around Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It was too expensive to drive all that way with six of us in the car, and we didn't want to put her out by having to feed 10 people, even at Thanksgiving.  Money was tight.
I remember getting our first microwave in 1977, about the time I turned 10.  Mom decided to nuke fish for the first meal in that thing, and it stunk for 5 years.  There was no revolving turntable in it, so Mom had to stop it every 2 minutes to turn the plate around.  I spent every hour of daylight after school on the golf course in my back yard.  If I wasn't playing 3, 5 or 7 holes with a hand me down set of clubs my Dad had given me, I was playing football with buddies in the 6th fairway, that was a perfect size for a football field.  We could get 6 to 10 of us together for a game of tackle football, and amazingly none of us ever got hurt.  Mom was busy at home preparing dinner so we all were left alone outside to play, and no one ever mentioned that we should be concerned about being kidnapped or taken or disappearing forever.  Mom didn't need a cellphone to have us come in, because she would just yell out the back door and we'd come running.
We didn't need iPads and iPhones, and YouTube and 200 channels of crap on TV and a zillion options on the internet to bore ourselves to death with.  We had our minds, and our imagination, and we came up with a thousand games to play outside with our buddies.  I do remember when Atari came out with a video game system and I spent a lot of time at my buddies house playing that, but Dad wouldn't let us have one, because he said it would "ruin the TV."  Maybe what my Dad knew, and that I heartily agree with now is that the video game system would ruin my mind, and consume all of my time and attention and that I'd never get out of the house and actually play outside like I had been doing all my life.
We kept score in our little league games, and only the winning team of the league got trophies.  When I was on the losing team I didn't lose self-confidence.  It actually motivated me to get better at whatever sport I was playing.  I wanted to win not necessarily for the trophy, but to know I accomplished something and could say that I could beat my buddies.  Mom & Dad didn't attend many of my games, as they had other things to do.  Somehow I survived and played the games anyway, and was just fine with that.  When Dad did happen to show up for a game it was special, but I didn't hate him because he was actually busy working and couldn't make my games.  Boo freaking hoo, I wanted to play baseball, soccer and golf.  I wasn't honestly worried if either of my parents were there for any of it.  I just wanted to play the games.  I was on the swim team in high school and I don't recall either of my parents being there for any of my swim meets or practices, probably because the meets were at 4:00 in the afternoon, and they were busy with other things.  Do I need therapy or am I traumatized because my parents weren't there for most of my sporting events and games, etc?  Hell no.  I didn't care about that as a kid.  I just wanted to play the game, or swim, or play golf.  I was with my buddies and teammates.  That's all that mattered to me.
We've abandoned all sense of reality in all of this honestly.  I know as my kids were growing up I was guilted into going to ever practice, every game, and every anything either of my kids participated in.  I was shamed into thinking I was a bad parent if I couldn't make it for whatever reason.  This honestly confused me because my parents never came to my stuff and again, I don't remember caring that they weren't there as a kid.  Why all of a sudden was I a bad parent for not being at every single thing my kids did growing up?
All this to say that all of these toys we have now have actually separated us from what really matters, and that is the human relationship.  We've got the latest and greatest of everything, but we're texting each other in the same room because we're too lazy to get out of our chairs to actually speak to each other.  We have "friends" on the internet that we've never physically met.  We've got thousands of dollars worth of electronic gadgets that can tell us what the capitol of Kuala Lumpur us, but we don't even know who are representative is in Congress, or even what the reason we celebrate the Fourth of July for in America.  We used to eat every meal at home as a family every night, mostly because we couldn't afford to eat out.  Now, parents are running back and forth between 15 activities for their 1 or maybe 2 kids, and we grab McDonalds through the drive thru because we don't have time to cook a meal, let alone go home to eat.  Mom has her job, and Dad is working 60 hours a week at his.  Our cars now cost as much as our houses used to, and our houses cost as much as what the clubhouse of the country club used to cost.  We've got twice as much space in the house now, and half as many people in it. And don't get me started on the quick and easy divorce culture we've created that makes a mockery of the nuclear family.
Wow, how did I get here.  I honestly don't know.  I think I was triggered by the excellent comments from others that hit the nail on the head.  Heck, there isn't even a neighborhood bar anymore where we can meet like they did in Cheers and share a common bond.  Sure, you can find a place to get a drink, but it's a nameless, faceless national chain that sells overpriced toilet water, marketed on a thousand channels to convince you it's your neighborhood bar.
Well, I surely do digress.  Not intending to offend anyone with this.  Just reminiscing about the way things were and how certain aspects of what I remember are treasured memories of a simpler time with a lot simpler means.

Dropping some truth up in here!!

Sent from my E6853 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[kardboard.kid]

I agree with those that say if you genuinely love the game, if the game is an important pastime, then one will find a way to do so within their means.   However,  I find that golf can be a reminder that it can sometimes be tough when you are born handsome instead of rich.  

My wife tells me I've got a face only she can love

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[kardboard.kid]

Golf is a expensive hobby if you are serious about it, but what hobby is not if you take it seriously. It can be played on the cheap if you choose to go that route. Some people’s hobbies are photography, sure you can buy a camera for $50 when you are starting out, but eventually as your skills improve you want the $3000 camera and the latest editing software to be your best, same in golf. I started years ago with my fathers hand me down set and as my game improved I’d buy a little better clubs and play nicer courses. Then you get to where I am now spending $2800 on clubs and playing nice courses. I play in a Saturday league when we have payouts for winning your flight, CTPs, low putts, skins, deuces, so I usually win enough to pay for the next weeks event, went a month without paying in the league. There are plenty of ways to play on a budget and it is all relevant to what your priorities are. I am far from rich and have a stay at home wife with 2 kids, just cut out other unnecessary things for my life to
cover golf expenses. Golf is a priority in my life so I make it work for me.


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I would say that you have graduated from hobby to second job, only you spend money not make it there.

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