Only a Club-Breaking Cheater calls Golf a Sport!

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!

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You Beer-Drinking, Cigar-Smoking, Club-Throwing, Late-Arriving, Sorry Excuse for a Golfer!

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10 Things Golf Courses Get Wrong

I enjoy nearly all the golf courses I play...truly, I do. But there are some annoyances that make even a great course lose some of its luster. Here are a few of those annoyances:

When There's no Yardage Markers
Ever play a course with those 150-yardage polls in the middle of the fairways? I wish all golf courses used those. I don't mind the red, white and blue discs either - they're old school, but they do the trick. But when a course has no yardage markers, that just gets my goat. What am I supposed to do, count-out my paces to the center of the green and then walk back to my ball? Some courses use an ambiguous shrub as the 150 marker - which sort of works, until that one hole where you can't tell which little shrub is the marker: "I thought the little boxwood was the 150 but it was really the little pine tree - oh well, I only overshot the green by 30 yards."

When There's Not Enough Water Jugs
It's hot and it's humid. You arrive at the 3rd hole and there's a water jug waiting for you. You think; "Cool, this course has a water jug every few holes." But then you don't come to another one till the 16th. WTF? On like 11, you begin seeing water jug mirages. By the 16th, you can spot the water jug 50 yards away - calling to you like an oasis in the Sahara. Come on courses - get with the program! There needs to be at least 2 jugs per 9-holes - that's just common human kindness.

When You Need a Hammer to Get the Tee in the Ground
I've actually broken tees before trying to force them into the ground. Why is this even an issue? Water the freaking tee-box for crying out loud! There used to be this 9-hole track in my neighborhood that all the old timers would play. I kid you not - almost every one of them carried a rubber mallet in their bag to bang the tee into the ground on various holes. It got so bad they actually convinced management to replace some of the tee-box turf with driving range mats. Pathetic.

When it's Cart Paths Only
Why am I even taking a cart? Look, I understand the course wants to keep it's fairways nice, but cart path only is ridiculous. At least make it 90 degrees! Enough said.

When it's Carts Only
I know, I know - it helps speed up play on the weekends. But to force people to ride is a bit greedy, no? Most courses already charge more to play on the weekend anyway. But when they mandate carts on the weekend too, it just gives them the justification to jack the price up even further. If some golfers want to walk, they should be able to. If someone starts slowing up foursomes behind them, then have a ranger tell them to speed it up. Ah, but having a ranger out on the course costs money, whereas having a mandatory cart rule makes money...it all makes sense to me now.

When You Can't Call Ahead to Order Food at the Turn
Every course should do this. Is it too hard to put a menu on the 9th-tee (perhaps taped to the water jug) with the phone number of the 19th-Hole? It would help keep the pace of play moving if your food is ready for you when you make the turn.

When there's no 19th-Hole
Believe it or not, there are 19th-holeless courses out there. No beer, no wings, no hot dogs. Some of these courses will point you in the direction of the vending machines when you're hungry or thirsty. This is just unAmerican.

When Holes are Too Close Together
Either they didn't have enough room to build the course in the first place, or it's just poorly designed. But there's no reason to be ducking on the tee from balls headed to a green 10 yards to your left. I actually hit a guy with my tee-shot at a local mortar range some years ago because the holes were so close to each other. See my story HERE.

When There are Too Many Signs
Some courses have gotten so fed up with people getting hit (probably due to the holes being too close together); misusing carts; or trying to get golfers to follow the local rules; that they end up plastering signs all over the course. Not only is this an eyesore (see photo at top), but it's the last thing you want to see when you're just trying to have a nice day on the course. It's almost like they're yelling at you before you even tee-off. You know, this kind of stuff wouldn't happen if these courses accepted tee-times, paced them 7 minutes apart and had a ranger making sure things go smoothly out on the course. Ah, but having a ranger out on the course costs money, whereas plastering signs up everywhere is far cheaper...(why does this sound familiar?)

When the Customer Service is Poor
If I'm forking over my hard-earned cash to play 18, the last thing I want is some pro shop punk with an attitude or a grouchy starter. Sometimes it seems the staff's whole mission is to get you through 18-holes as fast as humanly possible so they can squeeze more groups in. Whatever happened to golf being a gentlemen's game? I'm not saying a bag boy needs to clean your clubs after the round, but a little hospitality would be nice.

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POLL: How Often Do You Visit the 19th Hole?

A golf course just isn't complete without a 19th-Hole. Whether you take advantage of it or not, you can rest assured that it's there somewhere if you need it...either connected to the pro shop, or in a separate building on the course, or at least somewhere on the premises.

When I was on my quest to play every public 18-hole golf course in my state, part of my experience would be to grab a bite and a beer in the 19th-hole after my round. But there we're some exceptions: Like when the course had no 19th-hole. Yep, a full-sized, 18-hole course with no restaurant or bar - that always threw me for a loop.

Or sometimes I'd have dinner plans with the wife afterwards - which would quash any chance of me shoving some good tavern fare down my gullet. And sometimes I was the only one from my foursome who had time to stop in the 19th-hole. Not wanting to belly-up to the bar solo, I'd bypass it altogether and just head home.

I surmise the 19th-hole has a whole different meaning to players who belong to a private club. I mean, that group probably feels obligated to spend a decent amount of time at the course after each round (don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a good time with good friends). But what I want to know is how many public course players still spend time in the 19th-hole these days?

A good chunk of a course's income stems from food and drink sales in the 19th-hole (and merchandise sales in the pro shop). But in this tough economic climate, are we still spending our hard-earned cash in the bar after the round?

Take the poll below and let us know...

How Often Do You Visit the 19-Hole?

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