Wait until you hear about the laws in place that guarantee them access to water their fields no matter the drought. Nobody has heard of an unkempt golf course.
Not just that, but I found a few golf courses in my city where natural habitats used to be. These place could have easily been changed into nature parks for the local residents to go wind down a bit, but noooOOOooo. Some rich assholes had to buy the land and destroy the ecosystem so they could whack a ball around some fucking grass into a little hole.
The golf course near me has spent the last month about a foot underwater.
I have never been so smug. I hope it's ruined.
IMO, rectangle sports are the most boring sports in existence. It's literally a rectangle and always a rectangle every time... And everyone stands around watching the exact same shit happening inside the perfectly constructed rectangle. It's the same thing, over and over. Not only that but millions of people say they love sports, but they don't even play, just stare at a glowy rectangle and watch people in a rectangle run around. You can't define a more boring sport than that. At the very bare minimum, to spice things up, how about introducing some goddamn obstacles randomly placed in the rectangle. Add some actual dynamic scenarios that keep the players on their toes and trying to come up with new strategies.
Motocross and enduro racing are sports and so is golf. Golf courses are all different, they unique, dynamic change depending on temperature, weather, grass length, wind, dew point, hole location.
But I do agree in general, golf courses are very big waste. Especially when placed in the middle of deserts or places that require significant resources to maintain.
Golf is boring to watch. But for most players it is a social game. It's like going to a bar with a few friends, but getting a little exercise. And they don't do a ton of leveling. Costs too much, and using the land the way it is, is what makes a course unique and interesting.
That said, it would be easy to find a sport that destroys more natural land. Ever see a football, baseball or soccer stadium... including all the parking. Then realize how many baseball fields their are in america (or soccer fields in other countries). They are several times the number of golf courses, and they all need more parking each than one golf course.
I don't care for golf and wish golf courses were better used spaces, but the thing about golf that makes it interesting is the meditative practice of being able to swing the club in just the right way to make the ball go where it needs to.
I like archery and you have the same sort of thing going on there. You have to have your positioning, movements, focus, and smoothness of action to hit the target. You can tell how you failed before the arrow hits the target. Working on fine tuning your actions is enjoyable.
I live in upstate New York, just about every town has a golf course. I personally love the game, but I honestly don't think their that bad for the environment up here. For many people it's their third place.
Like we get plenty of rain, and most I've been to are nestled near the edge of the forests. The APA regulates the shit out of what you can do. And it's really not much of a waste of land. If I want to go for a hike or trail run, I have dozens within biking distance and maybe even 100 within 30 minutes of driving.
It's farms and their cow shit fertilizer releasing gass and it's runoff polluting the watershed that's doing the most damage around here. But like I say, the APA does a pretty good job most of the time.
Two golf courses nearby have closed down and are being rehabilitated by the National Park that claimed the land or however they got it. IIRC one of them was family-owned for four generations, but the last owner was in his mid-twenties and got in way over his head, and committed suicide on one of the greens.
Sucks about the circumstances, but otherwise I love to see it
The only benefit to society I can see for golf is that it provides a reliable source of consistent standardized ammunition for my golf ball cannon.
A good walk spoiled and they won't even let you walk on a number of courses. Have to use the little electric cars.
Great places to pitch tents.
So... I actually really like golf. I think it's fun. Haven't played in over a decade, but I look back on my memories playing pretty fondly.
That said, I have zero issue recovering a lot of that lost land and water usage to put them to better use.
I'd be very interested to see a version of golf that is less ecologically destructive and less water intensive.
I MUST KEEP BIGGERING I'M TINKERING ON BIGGERING AND BIGGERING IS TRIGGERING MORE BIGGERING
I thought cricket was the most boring sport in existence.
It sucks because it's such a big sport here in Scotland, it's strange that people use the defense other things are worse to make it seem like it's not a problem. It's mainly stupid since there are plenty of other spots that have the similar qualities, without the masses of land lost and wasted water.
I also think it's funny just how much it costs to go golfing, some courses here in Scotland have a membership system with like silver, gold and platinum.
It feels like a very elitist way to price a sport, and no I would rather not spend a months wage per year to hit a ball down a field for a year, mini golf is much cheaper, more enjoyable and environment friendly, and I'll be just as shit as I would be at golf.
HOW BAD CAN I POSSIBLY BEEEEEEEE????!!!!????
I know this thread is a bit old, but I used to be an irrigation tech at a 27 hole golf course. Just wanted to throw some numbers out there for anyone interested. This was in a hot climate for reference. During the wet season, we would pump out anywhere from 200,000 gallons to 600,000 of water per night. During the summer or droughts, we would pump 750,000-1,500,000 gallons of water PER NIGHT. During the day, especially during droughts, I had to go around spot watering everything all day. I could easily pump 150,000 gallons during the day on top of what we pumped at night. During a hot week with no rain, our average was around 10.5 million gallons of water. Our course used "reclaimed water" but the majority of the water was supplemented by the city supply. We only got the reclaim license because of some favors and shady deals to lower our taxes.
It's green space conservation. Always nice to see in the urban jungle.
