Golf is one of the toughest sports there is!
Try playing 5 hours of golf at Alberta - it is much harder than 2 hours of tennis. Compare the intensity of the activities and calories and you will see how golf athletes are much better than guys like iniesta who barely run in the game. Athletes? LOOL
Sports like golf, pool and snooker are much tougher than what some of you guys are thinking. Two hours at the Crucible in the world snooker championship is tougher than an Iron Man. And they are taller too.
I get what you are saying now I never golfed in Alberta but I golfed in Mammoth CA and the cold didn't bother me but the the high altltude did. Try playing golf for four hours in an 18 course hole, when you are having a difficult time breathing like you normally do at sea level. To me I do tough sports like mixed martial arts and I played American football so I can understand why some people think sports like golf and snookers are easy but it is a humbling gmae.
Now even if you play in normal circumstances, golf is a game OF SKILL. They say drive for show, put for doe (money) in golf. My problem is right now I need to improve on my putting game but to be fair, I only started golfing like a few years ago and that is maybe once or twice a month. I would like to get on the course at least once a week, worst case twice a month. I need to wait though until my job turns into full time management in three months. As you know golf is an expensive sport but you don't need to spend $500 on the driver alone or more.
I got a set of clubs at Cost Co for under $400 and grented a top of the line driver vs a regular driver might give you a 10% boost in your distance but it's really not worth the money. Usually people who do that are either
1-Rich and trying to show off or
2-They are good they can drive the ball like over 270 yards(I'm currently hovering at 250 and that 10% will make you drive the ball 300 yards every time. Over the course of an 18 hole game, think about it, if you get about 30 yards on average more per swing, don't you think your score is going to be much lower at the end? I am not a golf expert but I respect the game and it is in america a great way for Americans to network and that is how most big time business translations are met in the 19th hole(golf term referred to the bar after you are done playing your 18 holes)
I live in Arcadia and we have some good public golf courses in Arcadia and Pasadena. You can pay $7 and get a large bucket of balls. I usually take about two hours and pay about $15 and get two buckets to work on my long game. To play a full 18 course game it's only like $50 last time I checked and you can play 8 holes at $25. Now where my mom lives, in Glendale, there is Oakmont Country Club, which is one of the most exclusive country clubs in LA. Forget about the money that you have the pay up front every month your dues hover around $500 a month. That is the payment for a very nice Mercedes Benz, if you think about it. What he said is true and I agree he said.
1- First work on both your putting and driving game for a few years before you think about going to a CC, otherwise you can pay and be a member but people will tallk shit and say things like, "He doesn't belong here, he needs to practice on a public course," behind your back.
2-The up front money and your dues are not that bad if you sign up for a country club before you turn 40 because usually they try to get the younger crowd and to intice them they will offer "Junior Membership" so you can use the facilities and network and when you are older you get "full membership" and your dues stay the same. If I was to go to the same country club as my step-dad, my dues would only come out to $250 a month with probably only $1,000 to sign up vs $20,000 if you are an older dude.
Still you need to live within your means and if you are only working 20 hours and you are making less than $20 an hr, you should probably wait until you get promoted into a management position and you can afford it. The problem with Americans is we don't know how to live within our means. Fortunately, despite being born as an American my parents are Iranian Azeri and they taught me the value of living within your means. People who have kids from the old country think like this. Anyways I encourage EVERYONE HERE to try golf because for me it is a great way to relieve some stress and golf helped me with my depression a few years back, along with martial arts and piano plus meditating. Golf is very relaxing, WHEN YOU GET GOOD AT IT. The beauty of golf is one day I could kill it on the course and golf almost pro golfer status and the next day i will look like a total chump who never golfed or putted in his life. Golf has a way of humbling you like that.
The reason why I say everything and be honest is because before I would lie about everything because I was insecure about myself but now things are different so I'll give you my opinions and mistakes I made and hopefully someone younger than me can avoid those. To you cats younger than me (33) pick up golf, ESPECIALLY if you work for a company like you are a mohandes/engineer or a business man it is great for NETWORKING. Remember my stchick about the 19th hole.