Have you ever thought about golf and what it is that draws us like moths to a flame? Really, if you think about it, it’s a pretty tough question to answer.

What makes golf so addicting?

It’s certainly not the insane amounts of money you’ll invest in greens fees, golf equipment you’ll replace annually, gloves that will wear out, golf balls that you’ll dunk into the drink and lessons you’ll never remember, all resulting in virtually no ROI.

Nor is it the countless frustrating moments you’ll encounter during a round due to slices, hooks, pushes, pulls, thins, fats, chunks, blades, shorts, longs, and worst of all, three putts.

Lets not forget the numerous hours logged on the range, putting greens, reading golf publications, golf websites, swing tips, youtube golf videos, rounds of golf, and researching the next big thing guaranteed to fix your game.

Nor the many sleepless nights where you lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, reflecting on your most recent round of golf, breaking your swing down into individual frames, and then in your mind, comparing those frames to the other individual frames you have of a certain #1 golfer in the world with questionable morals..

We do all this for a sport where 90% of all the players will never achieve anything greater than below average.

Why? Why do we dedicate our lives to this entity who seems to delight in our misery and who by all accounts appears to be a very cruel spirit.

I don’t have the answer, but I have a theory.

Golf gives us hope.

I came across a brilliant quote in this book I’m reading called, “The Golf Book: 101 Great Stories from the Course and the Clubhouse.”

Golf at its core might be a vile game, but it is not without its charms, among them the shelf life of hope. It has no expiration date. – John Strege

We’ve all experienced it, that one round where everything was falling apart, and those flaws in your swing that you thought were LONG gone, resurface with a vengeance. Just when you’re about ready to call it quits and donate your clubs to charity, you have that perfect hole, where you crank it down the fairway 300 yards off the tee and you knock your second shot to within two feet for a birdie putt (which of course lips out, golf isn’t that generous 🙂 ). You walk off the green with your head held high thinking “you know, I think I’m getting the hang of this game.”

Or better yet, you have that amazing round where you shoot well outside of your handicap zone (and it’s usually with strangers who end up labeling you a sandbagger…) and you feel like all that hard work has started paying off.

These moments give us hope for our game and I like to think that we take that with us after we leave the course and at least for a bit, we can look at the world with slightly rose colored lenses.

Or, if nothing else, have something to brag about for a while.. 🙂

Why do you play golf?