Golf is an incredibly fun game for people who practice it regularly, but outsiders often do not see the appeal of such a sport. This is especially true because of how uneventful golf TV broadcasts are and how hard it is to translate the ball trajectory to the television screens.
On the other hand, golfers all around the world will assure you that they love golf so much, and some will take every free hour they gave to go tee off on the golf course! Therefore, if you are more of an outsider to golf, you may wonder: what is fun about golf?
In this article, we will tell you exactly what makes golf fun, as well as the reasons golf is so fun for its players.
What Is Fun About Golf?
Golf is a very fun game people of all ages can play because it is challenging, with many highs & lows during the pursuit of mastery. Furthermore, golf is played around the world in beautiful & relaxing sceneries, resulting in great bonding experiences with people, through which you learn to know yourself better.
Golf is a great game and it has one superb advantage over many other sports: golf can be played by people of all ages, even beyond 80 years old in some cases.
This makes golf a game you can fall in love with and be in a relationship with for a very, very long time. Enjoyers of many other sports wish they could play their sport that until they’re 80-90, but they unfortunately have to quit a lot earlier.
Golf is a game that takes you out of the house, especially as people become more and more recluse and addicted to staying inside watching screens. Golf gives people a great excuse to be social and go outside like we are designed to be as humans.
Playing golf may require less athleticism as other sports (which can be a feature for some), but it still releases endorphins, feel good chemicals in our brain when we play. Some people love golf so much, they say they feel addicted to it, which is another story.
Playing golf allows you to be out with friends, meet new people, the occasional nutcase as well, which all create unique memories in your head, as well as relax. Golf is also a form of escapism to some people which lets them forget all about their worries and just smile and focus on golf for a few hours.
Golf is a game for almost everyone.
5 Reasons Golf Is Fun
Down below are 5 of the main reasons why golf is so fun for people who pick up the sport, no matter their age.
1. Bonding Experience With Others
One of the main driving factors that make golf fun is the social aspect of the game.
Whenever you play golf, you can either play with friends, or meet random new people you get paired off with when you go to a golf course.
Thanks to golf’s relatively slow pace compared to other sports, there is a lot of time to meet and get to know the new people you play with. You might hit it off with a stranger during a fun conversation and become their friend for life!
Hanging around with your friends feels nice and relaxing, but hanging around with your friends while playing golf is even better!
The competitive cheers and nags between good friends can increase the pleasure one feels when playing golf as well. There is nothing like the anticipation of who will win a round of golf to add spice & excitement to an evening!
Some people also love the fact that you can order alcoholic beverages on some golf course and “crack a cold one open with the boys” (drink a beer with friends). For some people, this can help them loosen up and really get in the flow of having a good time with friends.
2. Challenging Game With Highs & Lows
It is no secret that golf is a challenging game, with many highs & lows. Golf is known to be a difficult game, and that stems from its incredible complexity, from golf club selection, to weather conditions, to hill slope, to turf height, to swing technique, and so much more!
In the beginning, it is hard to get decent at golf, but you do get better and hit some good shots every now and then! Golf is the master sport when it comes to teasing you to play more. Golf will let you hit a good shot every now and then, just when you feel like quitting, pulling you back in for more.
Some golf lovers compare golf to a drug because of this feeling that whenever you want to quit, it gives you just enough satisfaction to want to keep going and break past your best score.
As you get better at golf over time, maybe even breaking 80, you will progressively have more and more highs and less and less lows, making golf an even funner game.
3. Relaxing Scenery
One of the reasons why golf is fun is because of its setting. Many golf courses offer picturesque views, or at the very least, very green areas full of trees and bodies of water. Some golf courses are absolutely fabulous, such as the Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort course, located in Bulgaria.
You can play golf all around the world, as almost every country has a golf course. Golf then becomes an international game where every country holds a different experience to offer you. Different temperatures, landscapes, sun or rain, views on the ocean or the mountains…
Every golf course is different, and they are all usually relaxing to some extent, making you forget about the world and the problems you have. These good-looking golf courses can bring you to a more serene place in your mind when you are feeling stressed.
Golf is relaxing in general with its slow pace of play, and the beautiful scenery makes it that much better…
4. Teaches You About Yourself
Golf is also a game that teaches you many lessons about yourself, your mood, and who you are or how you can become a better person.
This game of golf forces you to spend a lot of time alone sometimes, which can let you think clearly when you are surrounded by the beautiful landscape in the slow pace of play.
Whenever you miss a shot badly, you may feel a lot of anger, resentment, and frustration come up in you. This can teach you that you may need to work on that, and let frustration pass through you without resistance, so that it leaves you quicker.
Golf can be a frustrating game for sure, but it can also be a great place to work on becoming a less emotionally reactive and more stable person. You will feel more at peace by becoming less reactive, and will notice an improvement in how you react to bad performances.
On the other hand, golf can also teach you about what you are good at, how well you react to frustration. How resilient and focused you can remain after a series of bad shots.
How open and understanding you are when force to wait on a beginner golfer in front of you holding up your pace of play.
If you remember how slow you were when you started playing golf, it can help give you and connect with a human sense of compassion. Overall, golf can teach you to be a better person by giving you little challenges to overcome calmly, without overreacting.
5. Pursuit Of Mastery
Finally, golf is a lifelong game that not even Tiger Woods himself has mastered. It is just about impossible to score every golf hole with a hole-in-one, meaning even professionals can improve their game.
Furthermore, golf is a game in which achieving consistency is incredibly hard, further adding to the pursuit of elusive mastery of golf. Pursuing mastery in golf is a lifelong challenge that can be extremely compelling to many people.
How many strokes can you shave off your score this year? Can you break 90? Can you finally break 70 this year, the holy grail score of golf?
There are so many reasons why golf is difficult, complex, and hard to master; these reasons add an infinity of little challenges and improvements golfers can make to get closer to mastery!
For example, golfers need to be able to estimate distances between the ball and the hole to select the correct club. They also need to be able to read the topology of a putting green and know how hard they should hit the ball to one putt it. You need to be able to read the wind and swing your club accordingly.
You want to hit the perfect swing, the perfect ball, a birdie, an eagle, maybe even an albatross. Golf is so complex that when everything goes right, there is a poetic beauty about it all. Feeling one with the game of golf is an incredible rush that will leave you wanting more as early as tomorrow.
As you get closer to mastery in golf, everything seems to flow more easily, and you feel more like an artist expressing himself out on the picturesque golf course.
Conclusion
There you go! After reading this article, you have learned why exactly golf is such a fun game, even if it may not be immediately obvious to those who are not golfers.
Do you think golf is fun? Why? Let us know in the comments down below!
