Are You Embarrassed To Play Golf?
April 18, 2009 by Mike Nally
Filed under Spice
Golf is a luxury pass-time except for those lucky enough to have the skills to make it their profession. No matter how many ways we try to save a little here and there we cannot deny that playing golf is a rather expensive way to spend four to five hours of our lives.
Oh, sure, it could be worse. We aren’t boaters or aviation enthusiasts, but $40 to $100+ for 18 holes of golf on a Saturday afternoon adds up pretty quick once you factor in equipment and transportation to and from the course.
Is golf becoming an evil luxury in these difficult economic times?
I figured out that last year it cost me just about $4 per hole to play golf. That works out in my case to right around 80-cents per stroke. And I’m not playing that many fancy courses mind you. Those are public courses where I receive a discount because they are owned by the county in which I live.
Can we do better than that? Sure we can. Bargain rates on bargain courses can be found but it seems with golf as with so many other things you do end up getting what you pay for. Bad golf courses are like bad chocolate. Sometimes it’s just better to go without.
Golf is a great game and I value every experience I’ve ever had on a golf course in one way or another. It all feels like money well spent to me. However, in this economy, with so many struggling to get by, including myself, at what point am I going to start feeling guilty about my $50 round of golf that could have instead gone to help a needy family, or, heck, could have gone into a rainy day fund to protect my own family?
True relaxation is at its best when you don’t even think about what else you could be doing at the moment that is more productive or financially sound. A day on the golf course, to my mind, is a self-investment that allows me to recharge my batteries and thus better attack my next week in the office with a fresh and more productive mind.
$50 to play a round of golf might seem frivolous to some but to me, it is an investment in myself. I may not play as often as I once did but I’m not going to feel guilty about playing with I do.
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Cover photo provided by fotographix.ca
Article photo provided by Krikit
