The original game as invented by bored semi-drunk Scots was, I’m sure, a good laugh several hundred years ago with wee sticks and a random round thing.

The modern game and all its hideous capitalist/ classist cultural connotations is fucked.

Wait until you hear about the laws in place that guarantee them access to water their fields no matter the drought. Nobody has heard of an unkempt golf course.

Not just that, but I found a few golf courses in my city where natural habitats used to be. These place could have easily been changed into nature parks for the local residents to go wind down a bit, but noooOOOooo. Some rich assholes had to buy the land and destroy the ecosystem so they could whack a ball around some fucking grass into a little hole.

IMHO sport is a misnomer. "Game" seems more fitting to me.

The golf course near me has spent the last month about a foot underwater.

I have never been so smug. I hope it's ruined.

every golf course could be a lovely botanical garden/park or arboretum, with little paths every which way and carefully crafted scenery to make you feel like you're inside a disney movie

Las Vegas has something like 70 golf courses wasting inordinate amounts of water. Of course most houses also have outside private swimming pools tool.

I just don't understand the need for so many courses, I played golf as a kid on the same one for 10 years, the local environment allowed it to maintain itself for the most part.

Devil's advocate, in a dense suburban setting it keeps that land from being paved over and turned into a commercial zone. But when it is in a rural setting, absolutely.

Two golf courses nearby have closed down and are being rehabilitated by the National Park that claimed the land or however they got it. IIRC one of them was family-owned for four generations, but the last owner was in his mid-twenties and got in way over his head, and committed suicide on one of the greens.

Sucks about the circumstances, but otherwise I love to see it

Golfers play baseball?

A good walk spoiled and they won't even let you walk on a number of courses. Have to use the little electric cars.

It would be more challenging if they left the trees in place anyway.

So... I actually really like golf. I think it's fun. Haven't played in over a decade, but I look back on my memories playing pretty fondly.

That said, I have zero issue recovering a lot of that lost land and water usage to put them to better use.

I'd be very interested to see a version of golf that is less ecologically destructive and less water intensive.

They dont level tho, I saw some of them playing with pond in between💀

There's other sports that are just as bad. the NFL is terrible for the environment and for the players' neurology.

IMO, rectangle sports are the most boring sports in existence. It's literally a rectangle and always a rectangle every time... And everyone stands around watching the exact same shit happening inside the perfectly constructed rectangle. It's the same thing, over and over. Not only that but millions of people say they love sports, but they don't even play, just stare at a glowy rectangle and watch people in a rectangle run around. You can't define a more boring sport than that. At the very bare minimum, to spice things up, how about introducing some goddamn obstacles randomly placed in the rectangle. Add some actual dynamic scenarios that keep the players on their toes and trying to come up with new strategies.

Motocross and enduro racing are sports and so is golf. Golf courses are all different, they unique, dynamic change depending on temperature, weather, grass length, wind, dew point, hole location.

But I do agree in general, golf courses are very big waste. Especially when placed in the middle of deserts or places that require significant resources to maintain.

It's a sport?

Well, I recently learned of the existence of Excel competitions, so I’m not sure about the ‘most boring’ part.

https://youtu.be/Z4w7H48tBS8

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/28/golf-good-walk/

I know this thread is a bit old, but I used to be an irrigation tech at a 27 hole golf course. Just wanted to throw some numbers out there for anyone interested. This was in a hot climate for reference. During the wet season, we would pump out anywhere from 200,000 gallons to 600,000 of water per night. During the summer or droughts, we would pump 750,000-1,500,000 gallons of water PER NIGHT. During the day, especially during droughts, I had to go around spot watering everything all day. I could easily pump 150,000 gallons during the day on top of what we pumped at night. During a hot week with no rain, our average was around 10.5 million gallons of water. Our course used "reclaimed water" but the majority of the water was supplemented by the city supply. We only got the reclaim license because of some favors and shady deals to lower our taxes.

I don't care for golf and wish golf courses were better used spaces, but the thing about golf that makes it interesting is the meditative practice of being able to swing the club in just the right way to make the ball go where it needs to.

I like archery and you have the same sort of thing going on there. You have to have your positioning, movements, focus, and smoothness of action to hit the target. You can tell how you failed before the arrow hits the target. Working on fine tuning your actions is enjoyable.