Clubbing On The Green by Chua Kee Peow
At the mention of the word golf, many would envision a middle-aged, well-dressed businessman and his caddie playing the game at a country club near you. It seems the envy of many, to be a successful and rich person who plays this game for leisure. So is golfing a game for the rich, unreachable to the non-elites?
The sports TV channel claims that there has been a lot of support for the golfing programs that were shown recently, hence the reason for airing more golf programs on Sundays now.
Is the support really there for the game?
I have friends who lament the fact that watching golf on television is such a bore it drives them to bed earlier than usual. I was unconvinced, so I decided to take some time from my busy schedule as an armchair to watch the "live" telecast of the Singapore Caltex Masters over the weekend.
All was going on fine, with lots of green on the screen and a couple of men pacing around a teeny-weeny ball, sizing up the birdie putts, including big names like Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie. However, if anyone of you were under the impression that the play was like a "Tiger Woods" show, you would be very much mistaken. I am not saying that those players are not professional. But perhaps some of them are just not as good as the man himself.
Are
they boring sports personalities?
Then, just as play was starting to get interesting, the rain came down heavily and play was stopped. And the next 2 hours or so became footage of previous rounds of the game. It was then that the boredom set in and I decided to stop watching.
To cut the long story short, golf has its appeal in many aspects but I would like to offer a word of caution to all fellow armchair sports fans: This is not a sport for couch potatoes like us! Gotta play the game to enjoy it to the fullest.
Note: This article was published on Aspire website between 2001-2002.