Of Course...

...this was the most disturbing story of yesterday.

My own theory is that, like any sport, there has always been a core group of golfers who will always find the time and the money to play... that the game had a huge explosion of interest and indeed, people wanting to take up the game, due to new and expanded television coverage and the revenue and curiosity that that entailed is undoubted, but when reality set in for those who rushed to their nearest or newly built links, that the commitment of time and money was above and beyond their initial enthusiasm and that their game would never improve beyond that of your average 'hacker' and that they would not be finding themselves on the PGA tour any time soon, their interest waned. Those people have slid away, leaving a glut of newly built white elephants. But it was always a false reading for the popularity of the game as a whole, the core is still substantial and should receive more encouragement and incentive from golf club owners to stay in thrall with the game we love.

The core, deal doing, cigar smoking, beer drinking, male bonding hackers remain, content with their games, their friends and the idea of walking around a perfectly manicured simulation of mother nature for four hours, chewing the fat and ceaselessly taking the piss out of each other. It remains a past time not for the feint of heart.