Every year we here at GolfStinks conduct a series of polls to garner the average golfer’s opinion of specific golf-related topics. And, every year around this time, we provide the results of those polls from the previous year. In 2014, we conducted seven polls throughout the year and will highlight five of them below…

Let’s begin in September, when we asked when your golf season ends. Our theory was that before the cold weather could set in, many recreational golfers would be summoned away from the course due to the start of college and pro football. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, only 6 percent of you end your golf season because of live football on TV. And to our surprise, many of you (24%) keep playing until it snows. But something has to explain why the course seems more empty after Labor Day? Perhaps we can blame our sample, as many that read golf blogs are probably a bit more dedicated to golf than those who don’t.

In April, Stinky Golfer Greg announced he wasn’t playing in his college alumni tournament after learning it was $400. This led him to ask what golfers typically pay to play in a local charity tournament. More than half (53%) of you said you pay between $100 and $200, which was not surprising to us – $175 seems to be the norm for these types of tournaments. It was surprising though that nearly the other half of you (47%) claimed to pay less than $100 per tournament – where are these tournaments so we can sign up! Not one of you said you would pay more than $200, which makes us wonder how Greg’s alma mater can get away with charging twice that amount. One theory is many who play in these expensive tournaments are infrequent golfers who play for business- or political-related purposes. Or in the case of a college alumni tourney, perhaps the school is purposely setting the price high to woo the wealthy who attend into donating additional funds to the university.

In July we held a double poll – first we wanted to know how often you play par 3 and/or executive golf courses. And then we wanted to know if you’d consider playing those types of “short” courses more frequently. Well, 41 percent of you admitted to playing par 3 and/or executive courses “sometimes” while 36 percent of you claimed to “rarely” or “never” play them. And, a somewhat surprising number of you (16%) play them “frequently” or “all the time.” When asked if you would consider playing them more frequently, 65 percent of you answered “yes.” Perhaps this reflects the slow play and/or economic concerns of today?

In June, we wanted to know between par 3’s; par 4’s; and par 5’s, which hole-type was your favorite. We figured many would like the scenic quaintness of a par 3, or the ability to grip-it-and-rip-it on a par 5. We saw par 4’s as rather ho-hum. But much to our surprise, 43 percent of you said par 4 holes are your favorite! Meanwhile, 29 percent of you voted for par 3’s while 19 percent went with par 5’s. There were 9 percent of you who said you liked them all equally (cop-outs).

Finally, in March, we asked what your favorite major tournament in golf was. Nearly half of you (49%) said The Masters. Perhaps it’s due to the legendary beauty of Augusta National, or the fact that we held this poll just a week or so before the actual tourney – either way, we weren’t surprised at the results (maybe y’all should read this post). For what it’s worth, the British Open was second with 26 percent of the votes; the U.S. Open third with 14 percent; while the PGA Championship placed last with 11 percent.

That’s it for 2014 – but don’t worry, we plan on asking a bunch more questions in 2015…stay tuned!

Every year, GolfStinks conducts a variety of polls intended on getting the average golfer’s opinion. Well, 2013 was no different – we held several polls and got very interesting responses for all of them – in particular, we have chosen to highlight the results from a few of those polls below…

Let’s begin in May of 2013, when Stinky Golfer Pete announced he was disappointed with the beer selection from the MOFOBETE (aka Cart Girl) on most golf courses. Pete complained the available beverages reminded him of the selection at a frat house and asked our readers if they felt the same. Well, overwhelmingly they did – 92% of you felt the beer selection on most golf courses was a bit…well, flat.  Courses – take note: we golfers want more beer choices! (See poll HERE).

Back in September, Stinky Golfer Greg wanted to know if you prefer playing 9 or 18 holes. Though he believed most would favor the longer round, he made some compelling arguments for only 9 holes – from time constraints to the original number of holes in ancient Scotland. Alas, his plea was in vain as the majority would indeed rather play 18 holes. Though not all was lost – we were surprised 32% of you favored the shorter round – which is more than we thought! (See poll HERE).

In August, we wanted to know how many of you bet on your golf game. And we weren’t content on this being a simple yes or no answer – we wondered if you’ve ever bet in your life and if so, how often. Somewhat surprisingly, the majority of you (33%) said you seldom bet. Of course, that implies you have indeed bet at some point in your life, just not too often. While 29% of you said you’ve never made a wager on your golf game, 19% say they do frequently. Perhaps most surprisingly, 10% of you claim to always make your round more interesting and 9% claim to do so about half of the time! (See poll HERE).

All the way back in January, Stinky Golfer Greg went into a rant about having to get up at the crack of dawn to play a round of golf. The relaying of this story prompted him to ask what time of day most golfers like to play. The choices were aplenty: from the crack of dawn (5-7am) to twilight (after 5pm) and several in between. The majority of you (33%) chose Late Morning (9-11am), while 29% of you chose Mid-Morning (7-9am). Golfing in the afternoon is less common – just 4% each for Early Afternoon (1-3pm) and Late Afternoon (3-5pm). Meanwhile, golfers tend to avoid Midday (11-1pm) and the Crack of Dawn. One surprise though was Twilight (after 5pm). This was the only option with 0% of the responses. We felt golfers would like to take advantage of twilight rates and/or an empty course. One thing’s for sure from this poll – the course will definitely be empty at that time! (See poll HERE).

Our final poll comes from the hot, sticky, summer month of July. We wanted to know how hot was too hot to play golf – and to that end, we decided to poll you about the temperatures you’d be willing to play in. Much to our surprise, the majority of you (36%) said it’s never too hot to play golf – not even when temps rise above 100 degrees (37.8C)! Meanwhile, 25% say it’s time to quit when the temperature reaches 95F/35C and 18% throw in the towel at 100F/37.8C. Eleven percent won’t play above 90F/32.2C, while a few golfers (10%) simply don’t like it warm at all and won’t step foot on a course if the temps are over 85F/29.4C. (See poll HERE).

So what have we learned from our 2013 polls? Well, that we’re all a bunch of ungrateful, money-hungry, fair-weather, lazy golfers, of course! Don’t worry, we’re planning on conducting many more polls this year – perhaps our reputations will be saved!

Well, in 2012 we posed a whole new set of golf-related questions and the results from five of those polls are below. See how golfers voted:

In November of 2012, Stinky Golfer Greg announced his irons were getting on in age…8 seasons on to be exact. Was that too long? He wanted to know how often you get new clubs. Well, 30% of you get new sticks every 4-5 years, while 23% get them every 2-3 years. No one said they got new clubs every year, but 45% wait at least 6 years or longer (in fact, 15% hang on to the same set for 10 years or more)! I guess Greg has a couple more years to go!

Around the same time the golfing world was debating the new belly putter rule, we wanted to know if the type of putter really matters from a technical stand point, or is putter style a matter of personal taste? Well, 40% of you said the type of putter one uses doesn’t matter – if you practice, you can putt with any of them! On the other hand, 31% said the technology and design of putters does make a difference in putting ability. Meanwhile, 28% claimed that while all putters are basically the same, the look and feel of a putter can make a mental difference while putting. Hmm, very interesting.

Back in June, we wanted to know how much you spend on a set of irons. This was a tight race, but edging all the others was the price range of $300-$600 (32%). Nearly as many of you (29%) are frugal and spend less than $300 on your clubs. But almost as many (27%) have deeper pockets and spend between $601-$900! Finally, while only 2% of you spend between $901-$1,200, 8% spend over $1,200! Anyway, it looks like $600 or less is the happy zone for most golfers.

More recently, we asked you how many rounds of golf you play in a season. Well, 35% said they play between 26-50 rounds annually, while 27% play between 10-25 times a year. Meanwhile, 10% play between 51-75 times and 16% play between 76-100 times annually. Just 8% play less than 10 times a year but only 2% play over 100 rounds in a season. On a side note, the number of rounds per year in the U.S. has actually been going up.

Our final poll was from last May and asked golfers how many balls they lose (on average) per round. The majority of you (51%) admit to losing 1 sleeve or 3 balls per round! Twelve percent of you are good enough (or are good enough liars) to not lose any! How about 2 sleeves (6 balls)? That would be 28% of you! Three sleeves (9 balls)??? Yep – 6% of you! One entire box of 12 balls???? Just 1% of you. No wonder golf balls are the number one thing left behind at the golf course!

We at GolfStinks sure are looking forward to the 2013 polls! Stay tuned…

Throughout the year, we bloggers at Golfstinks like to poll our valued readers on all things golf. In 2010, we received some interesting poll results and this past year was no different.

We conducted several polls in 2011, and below we highlight the results of five of them. What have we learned? Well, that golfers are drinkers and club-breakers and cheaters, of course!

Let’s begin in October, when we asked how you cheat at golf. Mind you, we already knew you were a cheater…we just wanted to know how. Are you a rule-bender or a rule-breaker? Turns out 78% of the 37 respondents are rule-benders (golfers who will take the occasional Mulligan or gimmie putt, etc.). Just 8% of you were rule-breakers (golfers who will kick their ball to a better lie or conveniently forget to take a stroke when the situation warrants it). Which leaves 13% of you as liars – or those who claim to neither bend nor break the rules.

Back in February, we wanted to know if you’ve ever broken a club in anger. Well, the majority (62%) of you haven’t. But of the 48 golfers who took this poll, 29% said they’ve broken a club in anger once. Interestingly, 8% admit to being an “occasional” club-breaker. We wish we were a little more specific in this poll answer (e.g. what does “occasional” mean)? Either way, golfers beware: Club-breakers are out there, so don’t let them get their hands on your new Callaway!

In September, we asked the age-old question; Is golf a sport? We received some interesting comments both for and against it being a sport (many see it as just a “game”). But the poll results were not as split. Of the 51 respondents, 62% said yes, golf is indeed a sport; while 37% said no it wasn’t. There’s still time to vote is this poll – so feel free to add your 2 cents!

In another February poll, we wanted to know how often you visited the 19-hole after your round. Well, according this this poll (and its 59 respondents), it seems about a third of the golfers out there typically belly-up to the bar after nearly every round. What’s interesting is that another third typically skip the 19th-hole altogether and head home. And what about the final third? Well, for them it depends – about half the time they’ll head in for a drink or some food, while the other half of the time they’ll just hit the road. Ah the lonely life of a 19th-hole bar tender…

Our final 2011 poll is from June, when we wanted to know if golf daily deal sites were putting traditional golf merchants out of business. Well, 47% (out of the 69 respondents) answered in the negative, while just 26% said “yes” – golf daily deal sites were indeed killing traditional golf businesses. What made this poll interesting though was that 26% also said it was “too early to tell” if golf deal sites were bad for traditional establishments. Thus there seems to be some concern about these daily deal sites and their potential impact within the golf world – which may not bode too well for an already struggling industry.

So, all you club-breaking cheaters who call golf a sport – Keep an eye out for more interesting golf polls from Golfstinks in 2012!

From time to time, the Golf Stinks blog will attempt to take the pulse of our readers. We’ll post about a golf-related topic and include a poll to get every one else’s opinion.

Below, we’ll examine the results of 6 different polls we conducted during 2010; and some of these findings may (or may not) surprise you!

In September, we reported on what nutritionists recommend eating during a round of golf. After reviewing what the experts said, we still wanted to know what ya’ll were eating at the turn. While only 34 people took the poll, 44% of you said (in direct defiance of the nutritionists we should add) that hot dogs and beer are the way to go! Meanwhile, 17% said they ate some sort of energy/granola bar yet only 5% ate the recommended fruits and veggies. What may be even more surprising, 20% actually said they ate nothing at the turn. This just proves we play golf for fun more than anything else (and why we’re overweight)!

In a post about how starters hate the Golfstinks foursome because we usually arrive for our tee-time with barely a minute to spare, we wanted to know when other people typically arrive at the course. Of the poll’s 37 respondents, 72% arrive with enough time to take a few practice putts, while 37% have time to hit range balls to boot. Surprisingly however, 24% get there just in time to tee-off. So while in the minority, clearly we here at Golfstinks are not alone in making the starters sweat!

With all the fake grass mats and electronic ball returns out there, we decided to poke a little fun at the practice of indoor putting. After ranting a bit on the subject, we wanted to know your thoughts on playing putt-putt in your living room. Of the 51 respondents, only 17% said they do it to actually improve their putting. Instead, the most common answer (50%) was they putt indoors just to kill time! What’s more, 13% said the practice was a complete waste of time! It should be noted that subsequent studies we’ve read do say putting indoors can produce a more consistent stroke, which can then lead to sinking more putts out on the links…of course, that’s all predicated on the fact that your consistent stroke is a good one to begin with!

In July, Stinky Golfer Greg confessed that par 3 and executive courses didn’t feel like “real” courses to him. Because he realized this was a rather pompous attitude, he asked our readers what they thought of these short tracks. Seventy people responded and the majority (38%) said par 3/executive courses are good for a quick round once in a while. Just 28% play them all the time, while 30% rarely play them – giving Stinky Golfer Greg the comfort of knowing he’s not alone.

Smoking is a touchy subject these days. Everyone knows it’s bad for you, but cigars and golfing go together like peanut butter and jelly. So when we learned about cities and towns attempting to ban smoking on public golf courses, enough alarm bells went off at Golfstinks headquarters to warrant a new post…and another poll! To date, 98 people have voiced their opinion about banning smoking on public golf courses, and an overwhelming majority (89%) said NO to the ban! Think town council meetings across the country would be swayed by this lowly Golf Stinks blog poll? Yeah, you’re probably right.

Finally (and most recently), we posted about how someone’s frequent club throwing can be annoying to others in the foursome. Since throwing clubs after a bad shot seems like a pretty common occurrence, we decided to ask y’all how often you through your sticks around on the links. Nearly 130 folks have taken the poll thus far and 41% of them say they would never throw a club in anger! Meanwhile, 34% say they rarely throw clubs. But, there are club throwers out there – 18% said they are occasional club tossers, while 4% said they fire their clubs around all the freaking time! Wow! Be careful out there!

I’m sure in 2011, we here at Golfstinks will offer-up more golf polls to voice your opinion on. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to the results!