This afternoon down the Gare with Ratboy as per usual…. and as I sat in the car after a yomp though the dunes with the little ratter, I looked at the sudden appearance of them in their uniform of obscure mismatched colours and their odd choice of gaudy footwear and watched them indulging in their hallowed routine of a round of golf….WHY l just never got it.

Its addictive, the heroin of sport. A stick,tiny ball,huge playing area and tiny hole.
I played very badly for a short time and enjoyed it but yep its mad.

I'm too impatient to play - Can't be waiting for the group in front, I would be heard to say, LOUDLY, a few expletives.

19th hole for some is why they play, I'm sure.

A good way of spoiling a nice walk I would stick to your jaunts with Ratboy, Snowy.

same here. that 19th hole is where a lot of business does go on and the game is just an excuse. do not know if it still happens but they used to have certain days foe women, they call em ladies, who can only play then.

it is probably the most frustrating sport to play - and one which i only ever play on Holiday for some reason.

for me its a fair weather sport (hence only playing abroad) - takes far too much time and like everything costs a fortune for the best gear in which it doesnt change your game 1 bit

A round of crazy golf with the kids on the Isle of Wight ended in a fight so we called it a day.

possibly one of the most expensive sports to get involved in. why do people feel they need more clubs than a sports shop have in stock and dress in a stupid sweater and cap if they are actually crap at playing it. just imagine having a kid who is golf crazy and is good at it and having to pay a fortune to allow them to play and improve. thats if you are allowed into the club after they see your battered old astra parking up.

I know a fella who was a beginner bought a few clubs but not the bag, he turned up with the clubs in an army kit bag, they wouldn’t let him on the course !

exactly, its always been a snob sport where certain people are more equal to others and not about their ability to play the game itself. hockey had a bit of ex public school about it when i started playing it in the early 60,s but your ability was the main thing and not the kit you turned up training in.

Certain sports in this country are nothing more than middle class country clubs where business is done and if you don’t fit the profile you’re not welcome regardless of you talent.
Thank God for football

I love to listen to conversations on golf and golfers. I started playing the game over fifty years ago as a member at Seaton Carew and, in all that time I have never witnessed most of the stories that get told about the game. Like the one by Jamie about his mate. I have never seen anyone carrying clubs in anything other than a golf bag.
Like in all walks of life you get a variety of people but I can honestly say I've met a lot of good folk and made good friends as well.
There are people who are up themselves but those people frequent pubs as well. You soon learn to swerve them.
I've stopped playing now but it is a great game, a game you can play at any age and I am aware of the description that the game is a good walk spoilt. I think the opposite. I think it is a good walk enhanced.
It can be very competitive but it is one of the last bastions of sportsmanship. Most of the time you are on your honour and trusted to play the game in a fair and honest fashion. You get the odd bad apple but they usually get outed.
The game is not everybody's cup of tea but it is a good game and teaches you a lot about yourself whilst giving great enjoyment.
I have no regrets whatsoever about taking up golf.
For your interest, Seaton Carew is widely recognised as one of the most testing courses around, especially when you are tested by the wind as well as the subtleties of the venue.
I would do it all over again.

can imagine though seaton carew golf club and the smaller ones in old mill towns are quite different to the high profile ones where big tournaments are played with some having that royal word in their title. unless things have changed even if you have the money you can be voted out of gaining membership. surely the actual ability to play any sport is the main factor and not the type of person some commitee member thinks you are in wider society. this is not a story as i can name one person from school this happened too who loved the game but to play it he had to travel a few miles to be accepted at a small club when the one more or less across the road didn,t fancy his money. his money was gained from scrap and had a bloody lot of both.

Yes that happens but it is not like it used to be. Generally you had to have a proposer, seconder and then your application would live on the club's notice board in order to give members a chance to oppose your application. It then went before the membership committee and ended up with an interview with the club captain and others before membership was approved. I know of instances where membership was denied.
The procedure is not so strict nowadays as clubs are struggling to recruit members. There used to be up to ten year waiting lists. A lot of people are now members of a golf society and would rather travel around, playing different courses, than join an individual club. That situation means the outlay can be spread out but some clubs allow you to pay monthly. There were stigmas attached to refusals and scrap merchants weren't at the top of club's desirable lists. There have been lots of changes over the years. People in the public eye found refuge in golf clubs and were foremost in deciding who was allowed to join. It stopped them being pestered or so they argued. Funnily enough footballers were sometimes victims as sportsmanship was over taken by gamesmanship as it was assumed that having spent a career cheating, bending the rules and trying to get away with it was a tag given to them and golf in general assumed they would infiltrate those elements into golf. I played with Mick Bates (ex Leeds ) on a weekly basis for years and he was a perfect gentleman and a bloody good golfer. Sadly Mick passed away a couple of years ago.

I go down the Gare on a daily basis and need three exercises a day for Ratboy’s scenting ability ……and the path a cross the green to the dunes annoys the life out of me as ignorant dog owners allow their dogs off the lead to basically crap on the greens. I have mine on a lead permanently as the breed can’t be let off their lead in public spaces, not because they’ll attack anybody or their dogs but because they’ll go hunting for vermin independently…an old woman in Clitheroe told me they’ll bring you back something dead if you have a bit of patience. Never had the patience.

well ratboy needs loaning out to a few 4 star hotels if thats the case.