Golf – A Good Walk Spoiled

Golf is taken very seriously by many of its enthusiasts - certainly a more important matter than life or death! In spite of that, golf-related humour is popular, even among the game’s most fanatical supporters and participants - and even when it is mildly mocking in tone. Golfers, unlike many other people, do seem to be able to laugh confidently at themselves; an admirable trait.

It was Mark Twain who once described golf as “a good walk spoiled” and he has been far from alone as a writer in commenting on the game. Many sayings have come down in golfing folklore, from a wide range of famous men and women. These supply both humourists and the game’s afficionados with plenty of fuel for laughter. The laughter may incorporate a bit of “leg-pulling” but always of the good natured variety, with no offence taken.

Golf has often been described as a gentleman’s game. It needs a generous supply of time, and in years gone by that was something that few of the “lower classes” could aspire to. Golf clubs also tended to be populated by professional people rather than artisans, although this has changed enormously in more recent years. (And the idea that upper class morality is any better than that of the rest of the people most certainly no longer holds much credence).

This game, in a somewhat similar manner to English cricket, has been thought of as reflecting certain values and attitudes. As the American journalist Art Spander once said: “Golf is a game not just of manners, but of morals.” And to give a little more detail on the gentlemanly rules we can refer once again to Mark Twain: “It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.”

Arnold Palmer, looking from a slightly different angle, expanded on this theme with “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening and it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.” Another has said, “Golf can be described as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle.”

Alluding further to the difficulties and frustrations of golf an oft-repeated quip is: “Many a golfer prefers a golf cart to a caddy because the car cannot count, criticize or laugh.” More darkly, a “golf-widow” is said to have remarked that “When I die, I want to be buried on a golf course because at least my husband might visit then.”