GolfStinks

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Are Kids Sports Becoming Too Demanding?

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It’s Saturday morning. I’m up early, I’m showered, I got my stuff together and I’m ready to go. I jump into my car and I’m off. Am I headed out for a round of 18? Nope…not even a round of 9. Instead, I’m headed to my kids soccer games.

That’s right…another season, another sport. In the winter, it’s basketball. For the spring and summer, it’s baseball. Now the fall comes…and it’s soccer.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that my kids want to participate in sports! It’s much better than them sitting around the house everyday playing video games or doing nothing at all. But I wonder to myself if some of these little league sports are going too far. Now I don’t wonder if the kids are going to far. They want to do different things and play different sports, which is great! What I wonder (and worry) about are the sports themselves. Specifically the schedules.

Last year I wondered whether I should get my kids involved in golf due to the opportunity for a college scholarship. But now I’m not so sure. I mean, maybe they can wait until high school before they start playing anything else competitively.

Did you play little league sports? I did. Baseball and basketball. When I got to high school I traded those in for football and track. But it wasn’t until high school that I remember my sports schedule ever being what it is for my kids! When I played little league baseball, I remember playing games on Saturdays and having, maybe, a practice a week…if that. Basketball was the same…a game on Saturday mornings with practice one night per week. But these days? These kids should be getting paid for the amount of time required to participate in these sports. Or maybe the parents should anyway.

The schedule can be bad enough with just one kid, but two or more? Insane. I’ll show you what I mean:

Lets start with basketball. Once again, when I played it was one game on Saturday mornings and practice one night a week. This stays pretty much the same, but with two kids. Therefore, we have practices two nights a week in two different locations and games are again every Saturday. However, the first game can fall anywhere between 8:30-11:30 am, while game two can fall anywhere between 1:30 and 4:30 pm. And of course, the times change every week.

Let’s move on to baseball. Luckily for my wife and I, this is not so bad because our boys played on the same team. But they won’t next year. So we have to enjoy the games on Sunday mornings or afternoons and practices at one location two days per week. Next year, who knows? Practices as much as four days a week and games on Saturdays and Sundays?

That brings me to soccer. Practices are every Monday and Wednesday originally scheduled “from 5:30 until it’s dark.” This has since been revised to end at 7:00. But games are every Saturday AND Sunday! Really? Is it really necessary to play games on Saturdays and Sundays? See, this is why Americans don’t like soccer. Right from the start, it’s just a pain in the rear. Well, that’s not really true. Americans don’t like soccer because it’s boring.

But far and away the worst was, of course, my favorite sport…football. For the entire month of August, practice is every night Monday-Friday. Every night. Once the school year starts, it’s down to three nights per week with games every Saturday morning. What’s worse is, while in all of the other sports the competition is entirely in town, the football games are played against other rival towns. This at times requires travelling up to an hour away to play the game.

Now, I have no idea what a golf schedule for kids is like. I never looked into it. I didn’t play myself when I was a kid. I didn’t even play in high school. But if it’s anything like these other sports, I’m not sure how we would be able to handle it!

But, it’s a fun sport. It’s a safe sport. And it’s a sport you can play for pretty much the rest of your life. So if adding this to the list of sports the kids choose to play is necessary, then my wife and I will do what good parents are supposed to do. We’ll suck it up for the kids and find a way to make it happen. But I gotta tell ya, these little league sports are getting a little bit out of control…

Swing ’til you’re happy…if you can find the time!

Why Is Everyone at the Driving Range Miserable?

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Do you dread the driving range? (photo by Greg D'Andrea)
Do you dread the driving range? (photo by Greg D’Andrea)

We’re in the midst of little league baseball season for my boys. And while one is excelling all-around, the other is struggling a bit with the bat. So yesterday afternoon, we took a trip to the batting cages.

We worked on some things and, next thing you know, he’s getting around on the ball and even putting a bit of a charge into a few. It was good work, and I’m hoping it carries over into his next game.

But one of the most fun things about going to the cages was getting in them myself. I don’t care how old you are, it’s always fun to get into the cage and see if you can still get around on some of those pitches in the fastball bay.

It wasn’t until I stepped out of the batting cage and looked over at the guys out on the accompanying golf driving range; That’s when I noticed something strange – I’m smiling and having a good time while they look miserable and pissed-off. But you know what, I understand that. I understand how they feel. I’m just going to come out and say it right now…practicing golf sucks.

You can argue with me, but let’s be honest with ourselves. For most golfers, it’s just not fun. As a matter of fact, it’s almost like work, if not worse. Why is that? I mean, I can have a good time at the range (either indoor or outdoor), so why does everyone else at the range look so miserable? The only thing I can think of is that these guys take it too serious.

I can see these guys getting angry with themselves on poor shots…and that makes me laugh. Why? Well, it’s simple really. If you aren’t that great to begin with, then how can you get so angry at yourself when you hit a poor shot…especially at the range? Out on the course, you hit them pretty often. You’re not a PGA pro, so what’s the issue? I understand I’m not Albert Pujols, so I don’t flip out when I swing and miss in the cage or hit a weak ground-out in softball. Same with golf – why would I get so angry about screwing up at the range when I stink out on the course? For the record, I don’t get angry on the course either.

And that, as we have said many times here at GolfStinks, is the problem with so many golfers. They take the game way too serious. Serious to the point where they’re taking all of the fun out of it. Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t all try to get better. Rather I’m saying we should all remember that it is just a game. You should have fun playing it.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Are all Golf Courses Basically the Same?

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To all you non-golfers; It may appear on TV that all golf courses are the same. And, believe it or not, I once thought that too…at least for a period of time.

As some of you may know, I’ve played many, many different golf courses in my 20+ years on the links (including my quest to play all the public 18-holers in my state). But after you play so many, they tend to mesh together in your mind like a hodgepodge of flag sticks, sand traps, ponds and grass.

When you’re new to the game of golf, typically you frequent one course that you feel comfortable on. And that level of comfort pretty much keeps you loyal until the day a golfing buddy invites you to play somewhere else. Going to that “new” course can be exciting and it will seem like everything is different – the scenery, the layout, all of it.

And in reality, it was all different. But then you play a another course and another and before you know it, they all start to look similar. Well, after playing at all these different places, I developed a problem:

If a person mentioned a particular course to me, I would quickly tell them, “Oh, I’ve played there and it was decent.” When they’d follow-up with, “What did you like about it?” I would hesitate. I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember any details of said course! I would try to remember – I’d think of a particular par 3 with a pond and 30 par 3’s with ponds rushed into my mind.

So what did I do? Were all those courses I experienced – that I spent my hard-earned money on – lost somewhere in that vast (and mostly empty) noggin of mine? I prayed not. The solution? I began writing reviews for each course – complete with my own rating system – which seemed to jog the old memory!

Much of that system is still intact and can be found on golfstinks.com – except now I’ve gotten your input too. If you took the survey (see the results HERE), you had a say in how the rating system should work. I know there are more of you out there – golfers that love playing at different courses. Well, you’ll never have to forget the details again – just rate and post a review for any of the thousands of courses in our database.

But, shameless plug aside, I think I’ve come full-circle. When I first started golfing, every course I played was unique. Then, eventually, one track bled into another. And now, I’ve learned to take notice, appreciate and file-away the idiosyncrasies of each place I visit.

I once penned an entire post on why golf is unique compared to the other sports – and one of the biggest reasons is no two courses are exactly alike. Think about that for a second. Football fields (both American and European) conform to exact specifications; baseball diamonds and hockey rinks do too. But not golf – every single course is unique to itself.

Of course, I knew this all along. But it sure is fun remembering it all over again! So don’t just play golf…experience it. Travel, discover and enjoy – even if it’s just to the course in the next county over.

Off-Season? Golf Has An Off-Season?

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Can someone please help me out with a few things here? Is the golf season officially underway right now? Are there actual tournaments going on? Didn’t the 2010 season just end? I swear I just saw something about Steve Stricker tied for the lead in a tournament.

How is this possible? Why would this be happening right now? I think what I’m saying is, it’s no wonder there are fewer and fewer people golfing or taking up the game of golf every year. Golf has just about everything going against it right now.

The first problem is; I had no idea there were any tournaments even happening! I’m sure many of you who are reading this were well-aware that golf was underway. But not me. I’m sure I’ve made it clear by now I am a very casual golf fan. Playing golf…sure! Watching golf…ehh….not so much. But when a golf tournament is competing with the NFL playoffs? I’m sorry, but out of 100 times, the golf tournament will lose 101. How can the PGA golf season kick-off during the most important time of the largest spectator sport (TV-viewer wise) in the country?! Seriously now…there is no possible way they are gaining any new viewers. Next thing you know, they’ll have a final round going on during the Super Bowl!

Second; When exactly did last season end? And when did this season begin? Was there really even an off-season? If so, how long was it…a month? See? This is another problem. The season is just too damn long and filled with too many meaningless tournaments that don’t get promoted properly. It’s like baseball season: Is it really necessary to play for six months then have another month of playoffs? Does it really take 162 games to figure out who belongs in the playoffs? Couldn’t the same be determined in, say, 100 games? You get kind of psyched up for baseball at the beginning of the year, then it’s blah for four months before you get excited again for the pennant race. And even though the season is too long, the off-season is long enough to give you a break. In golf…there almost is no off-season! I’m sorry but, there has to be a break or you simply get golfed out.

Let’s look at football again; This is my favorite sport and I watch the NFL at every opportunity. However, I don’t want the season to be any longer than it is for the simple fact that I don’t want to be footballed out! We’ve all heard the expression “Too much of a good thing.” Well, golf is a good thing. But too much golf is not. Fewer tournaments make each one matter more. When the tournaments matter, they attract more attention. Therefore, more viewers and more fans.

So what could be done differently? Well, probably a few things. For starters, and I know it’s not going to sound like a good idea to most but, having fewer tournaments could help. As mentioned earlier – fewer tournaments equals more meaning.

But what do you do with the down time? We’ve touched on this a bit before. Things that are fun and keep the fans interested are always a sure bet. Why not set-up some things such as long-drive tournaments and the like? It’s not an actual tournament, but it’s fun and certainly fan-friendly! And just a small exhibition here and there during an off-season of a decent length could do wonders to attract new fans, while still keeping the interest of current ones.

OK, so these are just a couple of silly ideas for the most part, but they are ideas nonetheless. And let’s face it, with fewer and fewer rounds of golf being played each year, a change is becoming increasingly necessary.

Get Some Wings & Beer, The Final Round Is On!

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Why don’t more folks gather for wings and beer while watching golf? (Photo via Pixabay)

It’s Sunday afternoon and Stinky Golfer Tom and I have just finished watching the Giants blow a huge lead and lose. To that I say…YAY!!!! Tom, a typical fair-weather Giants fan, does not agree with my sentiments.

But as we’re watching the games, I start to realize it’s almost every Sunday that either I have a buddy or two over to watch the football games, or I’m invited somewhere to watch them. Sunday afternoons watching the games by myself are few and far between.

But it’s not like this for other sports. I’ll get together with some friends to watch basketball once in a while. Some of the bigger rivalry baseball games will also call for the occasional gathering. But do you know what sport my buddies and I have never gathered for? Yup, you guessed it…golf. Not the Masters. Not any of the Opens. Not the Championship. Nothing. Why? Well, for me anyway, the answer is simple…because it’s boring!

For non-golfers, it’s easy to say the sport itself is boring and that’s why they don’t play. But we golfers know differently. Once we’re out there on the course, it’s far from boring. But that doesn’t mean it’s not boring on TV. I’m sorry, but it is. Golf as a spectator sport just doesn’t satisfy my appetite for competition. Watching golf live is not bad, but on TV? It’s like gathering your friends around the backyard to watch the grass grow. But what I haven’t quite figured out is, why is it like that?

I enjoy the sport. I participate in the sport. We’re watching the best of the best on the pro tour. So why do I have no interest? Why don’t I call up the guys and say “Where are we watching the final round on Sunday?” I try to think of reasons, but I haven’t come up with many:

Firstly, there’s the commentary. It’s dull. It’s too quiet and reserved. It’s….well…boring! Now I’m not saying I want early 80’s John Madden style commentary. That’s certainly not necessary for golf. But it couldn’t hurt to spice it up a bit. Change up the tone on a great shot. I don’t want to hear words like “useful” and stuff like that. That’s just become more of a joke now. If you want to draw in a younger audience (and lets face it, the current core audience isn’t getting any younger) then you have to make the sport more exciting to watch. Livening up the commentary couldn’t hurt.

Second, and we’ve touched on this before, who the hell are these guys that we’re watching? Most of the players in these tournaments are unknowns to the casual golf fan. If I don’t have a vested interest in the players or a reason to follow them, then why would I care to watch? I’d much rather just go out and play myself!

But that’s about all I can come up with. I don’t get excited to watch a golf tournament on television, whether Tiger is playing or not. At most, I check in just to see what’s going on and who’s leading. I’ll stick around for a few shots, but not much more. Apparently, my golfing buddies all feel the same.

So if I’m a participant in the sport, and my buddies are also, but collectively we just don’t care all that much about watching it, the PGA may have a potential problem on their hands in the future. Because if that’s the situation for me and my buddies, I’m sure there are all too many more like us out there.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

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