• Lophostemon@aussie.zone
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    11 months ago

    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.

  • Krotz@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

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

  • Fraylor@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      I’m always interested in this take. By definition,.it’s clearly a sport.

      How do you define sport and how does it not meet the definition? It’s a game of physical skill, mental concentration, and competition.

      • Kalothar@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        I have always viewed it as a sport involves and active defensive player and an overall greater level of physical movement

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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    11 months ago

    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

    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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      11 months ago

      wpid-dgladeau_0113_0748

      You see this?

      I used to hike along the coast there quite regularly but someone decided it was much better to turn the whole thing into a gulf course and to illegally block access to locals.

      Edit: Of course they also chose the driest part of the island.

      • Faresh@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        Maybe they should be on the lookout for people pouring cement into the golf holes.

      • v_krishna@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        Where is this? California has strict regulations about the actual beach access. So e.g. Pebble Beach is in one of the most beautiful locations in all of Northern California, ridiculously expensive and nearly impossible to play as a mortal, but you can still go drive around 17 mile drive through the course and walk along the coastal trails for free.

        • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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          11 months ago

          It’s in st Lucia in the Caribbean.

          There is regulations for beach access too here where all the coastline need to be accessible to the public.

          So far with this particular resort they are doing everything they can to discourage people from coming in and showed a strong disdain for the local community.

    • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON EACH SIDE. Seattle estimated they could solve the housing crisis by closing a handful of their muni courses (leaving multiple municipal and a dozen private courses in the area) and building medium density housing there. Solving a critical need by getting rid of a few locations for a dying sport:

      https://www.theurbanist.org/2019/06/12/unlike-seattle-golf-really-is-dying/

      It’s a waste of space otherwise.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    11 months ago

    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.

  • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      archery

      archery doesn’t carry a racist history and waste giant tracts of land. they can putt-putt or get fucked.

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        It isn’t the same sort of thing though. Yes, you can pick a target and go for that, but having the topography and hazards makes for a different experience.

        Driving ranges also don’t have the same sort of socialization and competition aspect.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          11 months ago

          I agree with the first thing you said, but there’s no reason why you can’t socialize or compete at a driving range. It would be the same sort of competition as an archery or shooting competition- how accurately can you hit your target? And driving ranges have all the people doing it parallel to each other, so there’s no reason why you can’t talk to the person next to you. Yes, it is not exactly the same as golf, but it’s more environmentally friendly and less of a barrier to people with lower income because you don’t have to pay country club fees.

          • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            11 months ago

            Fwiw golfers talk while they walk/cart around and such, and specifically are mad if anyone talks during their swing, the swing which is “the only thing you do at a driving range,” so talking is a little less accepted there.

  • Ghost33313@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    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.

  • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    As someone that lives in the second flattest state and is surrounded by corn and soy field, and doesn’t play golf, this doesn’t affect me one bit. Bye.

  • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The problem is its not worth the fight. Its an issue that’s for sure pushed by fossil fuel industry because how many people you will piss off. It’s devastating but if you want action on this you need to actually ignore it for now and instead get golfers to see it themselves in other ways. Its a good game and its most peoples thing they do to fuck off from lifes bullshit. Coming at people and saying you’ll take that away is something fossil fuel industry would love for people to do

    • lady_maria@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      its most peoples thing they do to fuck off from lifes bullshit.

      No… not most.

      According to the National Golf Foundation, 41.1 million Americans played golf – BOTH on-course and off-course – in 2022.

      This record-setting total includes 25.6 million people who played on a golf course and another 15.5 million who participated exclusively in off-course golf activities at places like driving ranges, indoor golf simulators, or golf entertainment venues like Topgolf and Drive Shack.

      So only about 8%… or 12%, if you include those who participate in “off-course golf activities” alone.

      • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Those numbers seem off. Everybody in my entire life I’m probably 1/2 of the people I’ve met are golfers. Every city IVs lived has been able to support multiple golf courses.

        • lady_maria@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Your anecdotal evidence says a lot more about the kind of people you surround yourself with than anything else. 60% of people in the US are still living paycheck to paycheck; many don’t have the time or the money for even the cheaper entry fees, especially when you consider having to buy/rent clubs.

          Plus… why would an organization like the NGF downplay the number of golfers when their goal is literally to research and promote golfing?

  • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    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.