Is Golf the Best Sport to be Pony (and trap) at?

It's a long held thought of mine that the answer to the above is yes.

I know I'm not going to curry any favour with this but every time I play round behind some bunch of hackers who I know haven't improved in ten years I always wonder how are they getting any enjoyment from this.

Then I start thinking why do they persist when they must have realised they're not getting any better and have probably been pony at sport for life. The only conclusion I can come up with is that golf is clearly the best sport to be pony at.

I mean, if you're pony at football or rugby you either don't get picked or are stuffed out on the wing and never see the ball. If you're pony at cricket you bat at eleven, don't bowl and field at third man. Rubbish at squash or tennis and there's no point in playing. Bad at darts and you might as well throw a few at double one before going nearest the middle wins and sitting down to a pint.

But........bad at golf and you get more than your fair turn and the opportunity given the handicap system to claim astounding victories over all and sundry. In fact I've heard a quote, and one with which I'm inclined to agree, which leads me to believe the bad golfer gets more enjoyment than the good golfer.

"A bad golfer hits one good shot and is happy for the whole round, whereas a good golfer hits one bad shot and the whole round is ruined"

Just a thought.

I don't know what you mean by pony, but get the idea

What you also need to take into account is that in golf is an incredibly sociable sport at all levels.

So you are spending 3.5 hours with your friends having a good time, chatting between shots no matter what your golf standard is, a giggle at the bad shots, the glory, as you said, of your friends seeing that one awesome shot.

Really great article and a very true saying. Being able to enjoy the game and compete regardless of your level does make golf the most enjoyable sport for everybody. Another great thing is that most sports have a fitness shelf life whereas golf is a sport that can be enjoyed your whole life.

A few of my non golfing friends ask why I have always played golf and I explain that I look at the average guy's sporting life like this:

-Until the age of 10 you just run around in circles and play aimlessly
-10-20 Gives you the best chance of excelling in a sport - if it doesn't happen in this time it probably won't
-20-25 Education and a career take precedence. You'll probably get fat.
-25-35 5-a-side football, the gym, racket sports etc in an effort to get ahead in your career and find a woman.
-At 35-40 you realise that you really never will be a premier league footballer, your knees won't take impact sports and that the 19 year old that used to check you out at the gym is now chatting to boys with more hair, a better tan and clothes that you don't understand. At this point you get addicted to golf and that lasts til the day you die.

I then explain to my friends how that in a few years they will take up the game that I have been playing since I was 13 and in those 16 years I have developed the skills for hitting a golf ball that they will spend the next 40+ trying to find, with little success...

I think it's a brilliant sport to be "pony" at. If you are a good player, you only get 70-75 shots per round but if you are a total hacker you get 100+ shots, much better VFM than the good players.

Result!!

I also find that I get as much enjoyment out of playing with someone that is learning the game as I do out of playing with someone better than me. I don't think that you get that in many other sports because the racket sports would be frustrating after a while if a good player had to reign in their game and be patient with their opponent while they wait for them to get a return right and weaker players in team sports are always exploited by the other team so there is a guilt element there. In golf, a better player can help a weaker player without any infringement on their own game and this works so well.

YES!!!!!!!!

I excel at being pony at it.

Golf and sex = the only things in life you can be bad at but still enjoy!