Gold gets more attention than golf, but they share an important characteristic. You see gold offers the ultimate safe haven of value. The value of gold has not changed since the Roman Empire. Today you can buy the same amount of bread for the same amount of gold as you could in 30 A.D. You put your money in gold so that you neither lose nor gain. This makes it a terrible investment if you want to get rich, but a wonderful investment if you want to avoid being poor.
Just so, golf. However, instead of being a store of value, golf offers a storing of time.
Some say golf constitutes a terrible waste of time. Those same people might say purchasing gold constitutes a waste of resources. In truth, it depends.
Based on my own golfing experiences, some terrible, angry people play golf. In doing so, I am convinced they’ve found an outlet for their violence and hatred. Instead of committing some vile act against family, friends, or complete strangers, they play golf. In such circumstances, golf saves lives. It may be the greatest game ever invented for that reason. All of us should glory in the nature of golf.
On the other hand, if golf prevents you from feeding the poor, nurturing your children, or earning a living, it wastes your precious time on earth. It constitutes a curse on humanity.
So you see that golf, like gold, may prove either help or hindrance, depending on the alternative uses of your time. It holds the time in a neutral space, like gold.
Recently, I read where a young woman was abducted off a bike. Searchers discovered her lifeless body three days later. They arrested the villain responsible within 24 hours, based on excellent police work and a trail of evidence which included an arrest and conviction for attempting to kidnap a young woman twenty years ago. The barn on his farm had a secret room suggesting other victims suffered a similar fate.
I fervently wish the gentleman had played golf, loved it, and spent all his free time trying to improve his game.
Copyright 2016–David J. Carr