Sporting vacation!

[trdsf]

So, next week I am taking my first actual paid vacation in probably a decade.  Gonna go see the Senior Open in person, since it's being played here in town, and watch guys my age do what I can't with a golf ball, to wit: have it go where it's supposed to.

Any other golf fans here?

(waits for the crickets to stop chirping)

[aitm]

Well have fun! Watching golf is so exciting…..er….and the thrill of the chase….er……..and … hot women fully dressed and…er……golf….and……hell yeah!

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Golf fan? That's kind of like having a huge collection of different toilet paper embossing patterns..
Wanna see my toilet paper embossing pattern collection?
I lived in Irving Texas when the Byron Nelson 'classic' took place.. It turned into a car parking scalping event. The church behind the house I was staying at decided that it was more important to sell parking spaces than it was to look after the elderly people who lived on the adjacent properties to the point where they wanted to build a wall to hide their back yards from view of the people parking their cars on church property..  Real classy shit.. 

Have fun snoring through that fun and don't forget to whisper when you talk..

[SGOS]

So, next week I am taking my first actual paid vacation in probably a decade.  Gonna go see the Senior Open in person, since it's being played here in town, and watch guys my age do what I can't with a golf ball, to wit: have it go where it's supposed to.

Any other golf fans here?

(waits for the crickets to stop chirping)

I'm not a fan of golf, but I'm taken with beauty of golf courses so much that I attempted golf.  I bought a used set of clubs and spent a lot of time on the driving range, which was great fun.  Whacking the balls with the club, and watching them take on a life of their own, was a extremely satisfying experience.  I hated putting, however.  Consequently, my attempt at golf didn't last long, maybe a month at most.  I hung out with some great guys that I didn't ordinarily run with, and they mostly laughed at me and would beat my score mercilessly.  I didn't care so much about the ribbing, although it wasn't my first choice.

Years before I attempted the sport, when I was in my early 20s, I did a lot of hiking with a friend who was a golfer, and even then I was enamored with golf courses, so I offered to be his caddy, just to get on the course and take it all in.  Of course, he accepted my proposal, because who wouldn't want his own private caddy (it wasn't until later that I learned the caddies are often good golfers themselves and provide services which go way beyond lugging golf clubs around).

I was actually relishing the idea of carrying my friend's clubs, and I think he kind of liked it too, but on the day I was to caddy, he came over to get me, and we drove to the golf course, where it turns out his father had just bought a shiny new electric golf cart, so we spent the afternoon driving around the course from tee to fairway to green, and on to the next tee.  I can't tell you how disappointed I was.  I didn't get to carry a single club once.  It wasn't until years later when I took up the sport for a brief time.

I still love golf courses, the care that goes into them, and the loveliness of the whole atmosphere.  I came close to buying a house on a golf course, but backed out of the deal because of some miscommunication with the bank about my loan, which sounded good until they told me it was something called a teaser loan, which was basically like the loans people got into financial trouble with 10 years ago.  But that teaser loan was 25 years ago, and I had never heard of such a thing before.

[trdsf]

I'm not a fan of golf, but I'm taken with beauty of golf courses so much that I attempted golf.  I bought a used set of clubs and spent a lot of time on the driving range, which was great fun.  Whacking the balls with the club, and watching them take on a life of their own, was a extremely satisfying experience.  I hated putting, however.  Consequently, my attempt at golf didn't last long, maybe a month at most.  I hung out with some great guys that I didn't ordinarily run with, and they mostly laughed at me and would beat my score mercilessly.  I didn't care so much about the ribbing, although it wasn't my first choice.

Years before I attempted the sport, when I was in my early 20s, I did a lot of hiking with a friend who was a golfer, and even then I was enamored with golf courses, so I offered to be his caddy, just to get on the course and take it all in.  Of course, he accepted my proposal, because who wouldn't want his own private caddy (it wasn't until later that I learned the caddies are often good golfers themselves and provide services which go way beyond lugging golf clubs around).

I was actually relishing the idea of carrying my friend's clubs, and I think he kind of liked it too, but on the day I was to caddy, he came over to get me, and we drove to the golf course, where it turns out his father had just bought a shiny new electric golf cart, so we spent the afternoon driving around the course from tee to fairway to green, and on to the next tee.  I can't tell you how disappointed I was.  I didn't get to carry a single club once.  It wasn't until years later when I took up the sport for a brief time.

I still love golf courses, the care that goes into them, and the loveliness of the whole atmosphere.  I came close to buying a house on a golf course, but backed out of the deal because of some miscommunication with the bank about my loan, which sounded good until they told me it was something called a teaser loan, which was basically like the loans people got into financial trouble with 10 years ago.  But that teaser loan was 25 years ago, and I had never heard of such a thing before.

That's part of the reason I like golf -- the playing field varies from week to week more than any other sport, and it's generally gorgeous.  Definitely more than (rest of world) football or (American) football or tennis or hockey or basketball or baseball.  Playing Augusta National is entirely different from playing the R&A St Andrews; playing (American) football at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland is not appreciably different from playing at the Shoe at Ohio State, even though one is professional and one is collegiate.

Also, players don't sign on for a five year multi zillion dollar contract and then piss off the whole time -- they're the top of the game by consistently outplaying everyone else.

Also, and mainly, it's the only sport I can think of where not only are the players expected to call fouls on themselves, they actually do.

It's also the only sport I know where you don't have to be any good at it to enjoy playing it.

[gayle]

Best sporting vacation was when I went to thailand.