...if cyling is the new golf?

[RickH]

The BBC suggests that there is evidence that it may be.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/30422698



Rick.

[Sooper8]

I see it more as the new tropical fish keeping...

[gplhl]

How dare they most of the guys I cycle with wouldn't have been seen dead on a golf course... Lycra/golf sweater... No contest... Plus you can't hurt your mates playing golf by raising your game

Gary
www.longbikeride.co.uk

[pete75]

Well there certainly seems to be a big increase in people who drive to cycle....

[Elizabethsdad]

Never really seen the point of golf as an activity and even less so as a spectator sport - but then I am not really that sporty either. I don't see though why someone has to give up golf in order to take up cycling. Surely the two can be combined getting a recumbent trike and using it as a golf buggy. Probably have to make it the new ICE fat trike. Of course the quote from Churchill (?) would then have to be re-phrased 'Golf is nothing but a good cycle ride spoiled'.

[Edwards]

Do not know about the GOLF maybe they should go UP to POLO.

[Neilo]

Of course the quote from Churchill (?) would then have to be re-phrased 'Golf is nothing but a good cycle ride spoiled'.

Thought it was Mark Twain.
Golf = cross country snooker

Neil

[Brucey]

IRC the 'golf is a good walk, spoiled' quote may have first been said by Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain).

Speaking as someone who has played golf longer than I've cycled seriously, (and counting about 40 years for either) it is difficult to do both, timewise and in terms of how your body is. [Playing golf hardly feels like exercise in terms of effort expended vs cycling, but needs fine motor control. Trying to swing a golf a golf club properly after strenuous cycling is a bit like trying to play the piano after weight training some fingers etc and not others.] So I can quite see how one way or another it is a choice for some folk.

They do have similarities; both require a degree of obsession and long hours training if you compete and take it seriously, both can be an 'all day event' in the wintertime, both can be 'social activities' rather than a sporting competition. Both suffer/benefit from the influx of cheap equipment from the far east. Oddly enough historically speaking, golf and cycling have mutually benefitted from (or been distracted by) common production technologies, in steel tube, titanium, and carbon fibre. Both sports can be addictive in slightly different ways, and can attract slightly obsessive personalities. Both have their own sets of clichés and outsider's preconceptions and when you get into it you find that these can be wrong in about equal measure, too. Both sports are equally divided by the speed at which they are carried out; fast and slow golfers are as unlikely to be happy on the same golf course as fast and slow riders on the same clubrun.

The BBC article raises some interesting points, notably that golf takes up too much time. Well, if you play 18 holes it does, sure. There are reasons why golfers are pushed into this, but it is as daft as some convention that says that you may only ever ride your bike in increments of 50 miles. If you have access to the right facilities you can nip out and play 9 holes matchplay with a chum in an hour and a half; this is the exact parallel of going out for a 25 mile ride with a good friend, tapping along and having a natter.

Because I've seen both activities from the inside since I was a child, I'm always surprised at how/why newcomers into either activity carry on, and what their expectations are.

cheers

[skicat]

Cycling through Perth on my JOGLE a couple of months ago, I mis-navigated a tricky bend on the cycle path and ended up heading across the North Inch golf course. A couple of chaps in weird trousers soon put me straight. So for me, golf was almost the new cycling

[morzov]

Looks like my Cyclo -Golf idea might take off after all

[al_yrpal]

Golf? ! When I am asked if I play golf I always answer "No, I haven‘ t reached that stage yet! I used to play, not for the golf, it was just for a social occasion, but I realised I didnt really enjoy it and packed it in. This reminds me, must dispose of those clubs and all the gear…

There does seem to be a lot of new leisure cyclists around. I am continually sorting out their punctures and bike adjustments.

Al

[hamster]

Cycling through Perth on my JOGLE a couple of months ago, I mis-navigated a tricky bend on the cycle path and ended up heading across the North Inch golf course. A couple of chaps in weird trousers soon put me straight. So for me, golf was almost the new cycling

Hilariously this plays back almost perfectly the other way round:
Playing the North Inch golf course a couple of months ago, I mis-navigated a tricky bend on the 16th and ended up looking for my ball next to a cycle path. A couple of chaps in weird trousers soon put me straight, they said they were cycling through Perth on JOGLE. So for me, cycling was almost the new golf

[pete75]

Maybe some misjudge the difficulty of golf though. I thought it was a relatively easy game but the only time I played it took me 98 strokes to get round a par 72 course ie 26 more than it should have done. After that decided golf wasn't the game for me.

[Mick F]

But so what?
Surely, the aim of golf is to get the ball in the hole in as few a stokes as you can. There's no rule about minimums. Enjoy it!
Cycling is about transport maybe ............. or racing. You can race yourself and try to beat a time per distance.
You can play golf yourself and try to beat your score.

You can cycle with a friend, and you can play golf with a friend. These friends can be opponents, or just company for the sake of it.

[[XAP]Bob]

There is a measure of accuracy which would be hard to obtain on the first round out. I suspect that a mere 50% increase is actually quite a good starting point.

But then I've never played golf (outside of mini golf with the kids), because I really can't see the attraction.