“I try to design golf courses that are individual in character and individual in their own standing.”
Arnold Palmer, Athlete
Advantages & Disadvantages of Playing Golf
Golf is a quite popular sport that is practiced by many million people from all over the world.
Playing golf can help us to relax from our stressful daily life.
However, apart from many other advantages, there are also some problems related to golf.
In this article, the pros and cons of playing golf are examined in detail.
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Contents
Advantages of Playing Golf
- Golf can be a fun hobby
- Playing golf can reduce our stress levels
- You can spend your time in a natural environment
- Can improve your coordination skills
- Competitive character
- You learn how to focus
- Golf can increase your level of perseverance
- Can turn into a professional career
- You can earn good money by playing golf
- May give you a boost in confidence
- Business connections
Golf can be a fun hobby
One key advantage of playing golf is that it can be a lot of fun.
Even though it will take a bit of practice at the beginning, many people really enjoy playing golf since it gives them the opportunity to do something completely different.
Especially for people who are working in an office job, playing golf is a great way to unplug from their daily lives and to get some physical exercise in order to reload their batteries.
Playing golf can reduce our stress levels
Many people also suffer from excessive stress in their daily life.
Quite often, they have demanding corporate jobs and also have to take care of their family at the same time.
Additionally, we are all flooded with excessive amounts of information every day, which may further increase our stress levels.
Thus, if you currently suffer from excessive stress, you may want to try golf.
It is a great hobby to unplug from your stressful daily life and to recharge for demanding tasks that are still to come in the future.
You can spend your time in a natural environment
Another important benefit of playing golf is that you can spend your time in the middle of nature.
There are some golf courses out there which have been arranged in an entirely natural manner and you will be surrounded by many trees and lakes.
This is why many people love to play golf. It gives them the feeling to be surrounded by nature.
This is quite unique to golf since many other sports are practiced in sports halls and you will not have the feeling to be surrounded by nature at all when playing those other sports.
Hence, if you love nature, you should definitely check out playing golf since it might be the right hobby for you.
Can improve your coordination skills
Playing golf can also significantly help you to improve your coordination skills.
It is often quite hard to learn golf since it requires plenty of coordination.
However, you will significantly improve over time and your improved coordination skills will not only help you in golf, but also for various other parts of your daily life.
Competitive character
Golf also has a certain competitive character to it.
Some people often really become obsessed about getting the ball in the hole.
Even though a serious obsession is never a good thing, a certain amount of competition is healthy.
In fact, our whole life is one big competition and if you don’t learn how to compete, you will face serious problems in the long tun.
Therefore, thanks to playing golf, you can learn the level of competition that is needed to have success in our current state of the world.
You learn how to focus
By playing golf, you will also learn how to focus. In order to get the ball inside the hole, you will really have to figure out the right angle and the right speed to be successful.
Only small inaccuracies may lead you to fail your target in golf.
Therefore, you will really learn to focus on your goal, which is not only important in golf, but also in various other parts of our life since focusing is the key to success in many professions.
Golf can increase your level of perseverance
At the beginning of your golf career, you will also have a quite hard time since golf is not easy to learn and therefore, you will miss plenty of shots.
However, over time, you will learn how to deal with those failures and your overall level of perseverance may greatly increase over time.
In all parts of our life, we need perseverance to achieve our goals and therefore, playing golf can be quite valuable to learn this important skill.
Can turn into a professional career
If you are good enough, you may also be able to turn playing golf into a professional career.
However, please keep in mind that the chances for it are quite low since there are so many golf players out there and only a small minority will be able to make a living out of playing golf.
Therefore, make sure that you have alternatives in place in case you will not be able to make a living out of golf.
You can earn good money by playing golf
There are even people out there who earn millions of dollars by playing golf.
Thus, if you really want to be a millionaire and you have a quite high level of talent and perseverance, golf may even give you the opportunity to get really rich.
May give you a boost in confidence
Playing golf can also greatly help you to boost your overall level of confidence.
Although it might be hard at the beginning, you will become better over time and when you see some level of success, chances are that you will also become more confident since you see that you can actually accomplish things.
Confidence is key for success in all parts of life and if playing golf can boost your confidence, you should definitely go for it.
Business connections
Many people also play golf since they hope for new business connections. It is no secret that golf is a sport that is practiced by many wealthy people and if you want to connect to those people, golf may give you the opportunity to do so.
This is especially true if you join an exclusive golf club since you can meet many wealthy people there, which in turn may benefit your business in the long run.
Disadvantages of Golf
- Playing golf can be expensive
- Not easy to learn
- Takes a lot of practice
- Golf is not a team sport
- Playing golf can be time-consuming
- You may give up early
- Plenty of equipment is needed
- Playing golf requires some talent
- May conflict with your corporate job
- You may need a personal coach
- Other sports may fit you better
Playing golf can be expensive
Apart from the many advantages of golf, there are also some issues related to it.
One problem with playing golf is that it can be quite expensive.
You will need plenty of golf equipment and also the membership fee to use golf courses can be quite high.
Therefore, if you search for a rather cheap hobby, golf is definitely not for you and you should go for other hobbies instead.
Not easy to learn
Golf is also not easy to learn at all.
In fact, it requires high levels of coordination to get the ball where you want it to be and it takes time to really learn those coordination skills.
Hence, many people get quite frustrated with golf since they don’t see too much progress at the start.
Thus, if you want to save yourself plenty of nerves, you may want to try other sports that are much easier to learn instead.
Takes a lot of practice
If you really want to get good at golf, there is no way other than to practice really hard.
Similar to many other things in life, you will only get better if you put in the work.
Yet, many people are not willing to do so and if you don’t want to put in the work, especially at the beginning, you will likely never become a good golf player.
Golf is not a team sport
Another issue with golf is that it is not a team sport. Even though you can meet up with other golfers at the golf course, you will not require their participation in order to play the game.
In turn, you might be golfing alone most of the time and if you are a guy who loves to be surrounded by other people, golf may be too lonely for you.
Playing golf can be time-consuming
Another downside of golf is that it is a rather time-consuming hobby.
Especially if you want to become really good at it, you may have to practice several times a week for a few hours and not many people will be willing to put in this kind of effort.
You may give up early
Many people who start to play golf also quit rather soon after.
Many people get frustrated since they don’t see any progress at the beginning and do not want to play golf anymore for that reason.
Thus, if you are one of those people who become frustrated quite easily, golf may not be the right sport for you.
Plenty of equipment is needed
You will also have to get plenty of equipment in order to be able to play golf.
Many different golf clubs are needed in order to play this sport in a proper manner.
In turn, this not only implies serious costs, but you also have to carry around plenty of equipment with you.
Playing golf requires some talent
As in many other sports, golf also requires some level of talent.
Especially if you want to play it on a professional level, a certain level of talent is crucial since you will never get to the top otherwise.
Yet, hard work is important but if you don’t have talent at all, all the hard work will most likely not enough for making a living from playing golf.
May conflict with your corporate job
Since it is a quite time-consuming hobby, golf may also conflict with your corporate job.
Especially if you really have the ambition to play golf on a high level, you will have to practice on a regular basis and sooner or later, you will have to decide whether you want to pursue a professional golf or a professional corporate career.
You may need a personal coach
In order to get to the next level, you will likely also need a professional golf coach who can show you how to improve your skills.
Sure, there are some good training videos on the internet which you should also watch, yet those videos may not be able to replace a really good golf coach and if you want to go for a professional career, factor in that you will have to spend plenty of money for golf lessons.
Other sports may fit you better
Although golf is a quite pleasant hobby for millions of people around the world, this doesn’t mean that you will actually like it.
People are different and if you feel that golf is not the right hobby for you, go for other sports that fit you better instead.
Top 10 Golf Pros & Cons – Summary List
| Golf Pros | Golf Cons |
|---|---|
| Playing golf can be a nice hobby | Playing golf can be expensive |
| You can unplug from your daily life | Not an easy sport |
| Some golf courses are in the middle of nature | Requires to put in work |
| Golf can reduce stress levels | Can be time-consuming |
| Can increase your level of perseverance | You may need a personal trainer |
| Boost in confidence | Golf requires some talent |
| Good to find new business connections | May conflict with your corporate career |
| You can learn to be competitive | Plenty of equipment needed |
| Playing golf as professional career | Many people give up |
| May improve your coordination skills | You may simply not like it |
Should You Play Golf?
As we can see from the previous analysis, there are many pros and cons to playing golf.
However, whether you should play golf or not depends on your individual preferences.
If you think playing golf is for you, make sure to get your golf starter kit now!
If you come to the conclusion that golf is not the right hobby for you, you might go for soccer, basketball, hockey or tennis instead.
Sources
https://free-online-golf-tips.com/beginner-golf-tips/top-10-golf-tips-for-beginners/
https://www.firstteeseattle.org/2019/03/11/is-golf-a-sport/
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
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