It has always been a mystery to me why someone does not like anything based upon what they hear or see about something and not based upon experience.
It is one thing to have done something and put a lot of effort into doing it to find out it is not something to like, but to hate something based on only looking up the definition in the dictionary or seeing on TV, is very strange to me.
OK, I hated Math when I was in the 4th grade..I saw no need for it then since my life was based around how high I could climb on the jungle gym on the play ground..and I wanted to keep it that way. However, once I got use to the change school forces you to make I found that Algebra was just as much a challenge as being able to stand on top of the jungle gym in the playground for the entire recess period and I started liking the complexities of math problems.
When I move on through higher education I found Geometry, Trigonometry and some of the basic physics and calculus entertaining. The advance stuff require wearing a pocket protector so I drew the line there. Of course, the product of all this early hating of math and then embracing it as something I enjoyed to do fanatically, taught me also to enjoy dealing with CHANGE.
But what does all of this have to do with non-golfers not liking golf?
Since venturing into the Beyond of the Internet I have started going to offline gatherings of people who are into the internet, online social networking and such as much as I am into golf and the business golf applications. What I am finding from discussing what I do with these people is strange to me….
I have from my early days found out that CHANGE is something everyone has to deal with and that avoiding it just makes making the change that much harder. So early on when there was something I was told that was changing I was part of the first or second group that jumped into finding out what it is all about. As a result, I found a lot of stuff I now hate, like football: played it from junior high until my senior year in high school, was OK at it but that algebraic thing kept coming up every time I found myself laying on the ground coming out of unconsciousness after being knocked out by a doubled teamed from the front and a linebackers helmet to the back or on the doctors table getting a thumb relocated or a knee or an ankle. I kept asking myself..
Why am I playing this game? This does not adding up to being fun anymore. I am not sure I like this game anymore if it is going to be so painful to play.
Then when I looked to the professional football players (back then Dallas Cowboys were owned by a Texan and real football was played and not this Saturday night wrestling you are seeing on TV now), and my hero’s, who were just in their early 40’s, could hardly walk without some sort of drug… that equation kept coming up that x = y…and y = 0. That is when I started hating football. But my hate was based on actual years of experience and logical reasoning.
But back to the point, which is trying something for a long period of time before declaring it something to hate.
This is not the case in today’s internet driven, game boy playing youth of today. Hating something comes easy to them..I hate broccoli, or I hate Mexican food and all those food hates are based on something that happened when they were kids..probably when they were still in their high chairs. Unfortunately, since they were not forced to deal with change then, they carry the ease of hating something on into their adult years.
Well, now it seems Golf is one of their hates..why? Well that is what I am out in these groups to find out. I want to know why I am hearing the H word used about golf so much from these people in these groups as well as on Twitter and Facebook.
I realize that everyone can’t and will not like to play golf and that is EXTREMELY cool. But why am I hearing the hate of golf and then in a few cases even groups and sites forming for people who say they hate golf to that extreme they put energy into putting a group together.
What I have found is that these groups’ hate for golf just substantiates others thinking of also needing to hate golf. My thought is, if it is true and there is an issue with there being an actual reason for hating golf then my reaction is there must of been a change in golf that I need to jump into to so I can get ready for embracing that change.
So I went out and started asking these people in these groups I gather with the questions I have in hopes I could get to the root cause so I could (again) offer a solution or change to hating golf with them.
This is where I found what was odd..these people hate golf without even ever played the game and in most cases never even picked up a golf club or know which end of the club to swing…but they hate golf. Doesn’t that sound strange to you?
Here are some of the statements I am hearing form people when I ask why they hate golf..
- Too oppressive.
- Lacks intellect
- Too social
- Not into the ‘Jock’ stuff.
Yaw, very valid concerns..right?!? NOT! After hearing a even larger list of these same remarks I ask..Have you played golf?
I am sure you will not be surprised that 99% of them had not. Here are the reasons I am told why they have Not Played Golf..
- Just don’t like it
- Why play it when I hate it?
- People who play golf are fools, by would I want to be considered a fool?
- Just don’t want to talk about it since golf is so repulsive.
- I am allergic to anything I hate (Yes, that was an actual reply made to me)
Since that question did not get to the real reasons they hated golf, I asked the question again but more direct..I asked
So you have not played golf but you hate it? How did you come to hate something you never played? How did you come to hating golf?
In about 60% of the person felt foolish and walked off to keep from admitting they were looking pretty stupid for taking a stand on hating something when they have no solid reason why, but those who did stand up to me did open the conversation to attempt to debate their hatred for golf. However, the common denominator of their defense was in their opening statement that started off with one of these phrases..
- I heard..
- I was told…
- When I see people playing golf..
- My brother plays and I hate my brother..
OK, you can see I was not going to get anywhere with these people and maybe that is good.
But not all has been lost. I have run into a few who actually said they attempted to play golf before they determined they hated it… But even then, their hatred was based on the way they went about attempting to play or golf..or just hit the golf ball. Here are some of the ways people are introduced to golf..
My friend and I were hanging out are his parents house and we got his dad’s clubs out in the backyard and hit a few balls…I broke out the neighbors window and since then hated even being around a golf ball.
My boyfriend tool me to a driving range for a date and the guys at the end of the driving range kept laughing at me trying to hit the ball..what a bunch of jerks..I hate golf.
I could never get anyone to teach me to play golf. he golf instructors at the golf course I went to were too busy dealing with problems on the golf course to take the time to show me how. Looks like a waste of time to me.
The list went on and on and some of the reasons as you see allude to other problems golf is having, that caused them to have a bad experience..and I will conclude, a bad experience in the beginning or when someone is exposed to golf would make a person hate the game.
However, everyone I know fell off their bike when they started to learn to ride a bike. Very few people have not had an accident or near accident when they were learning to drive a car. The same thing happens when someone is exposed to golf. If I had run from learning to ride a bike after seeing my friend run into a tree and break his arm or if I had hated driving a car after being in an auto accident when I was five, where would I have been today?
Probably starving to death while walking down the highway since I would hate broccoli and anyone who rides a bike or drives a car.
Golf has problems and hating golf for one of its problems would be substantiating the need for golf to solve that problem..which if I can have anything to do with it solving golf’s problems I will. However, to hate golf for whatever reason that is not based on actually playing golf for more than a trip to the driving range is not helping golf. I look forward to challenging the groups and individuals who find it fun to hate something and I don’t mind those who hate something for a REAL reason. I hope you will join me in helping golf improve so more people will play..it is in the best interest of golfers who love golf to do whatever they can to keep golf going into the future.
Let me know how I can help.