Let's leave aside all the bumper-sticker jokes for a second and look at the question of time. My favourite mountain bike route (the wall at Afan Argoed) takes about two hours. Add post-ride food/chat (30 mins), the commute (45 mins) and clean-up time (30 mins) and the whole thing takes the thick end of 4 hours. With work and family commitments I can usually manage to squeeze this in about once or twice a month.
A good friend of mine runs a busy and successful business with his father. He has two stores, a wife and two little girls to look after. When asked ‘How’s the golf going?’ he either talks up or down his game and his handicap, but rarely the lack of activity. He manages to play nearly every week. And there’s mid week tournament games. And practicing. And inter-club competitions around the UK.
A round of golf takes, on average, 4 hours. By the time you’ve added transport and bar time, the sport has eaten 5 – 6 hours from a weekend. Overall it must be one of the most time-consuming sports/hobbies you could take up. Perhaps I should tell the wife I’m going for a round of golf. I could leave and get changed into cycling gear ride my two favourite loops and then shower change back with my extra time?
Just how on earth do most golfers manage to play so often and for so damn long? Answers on a post card to…
