JJ's Blog

I’d like to talk about an activity (a vice) that must be at least as destructive as gambling. It’s just as addictive. It controls your mind as much as drugs or alcohol. It causes you to spend money that you should not really be spending. It causes you to miss time from the family that you should not be missing. It is an insidious, destructive, horrible vice.

I’m talking golf.

Think about it. How much money do you spend on golf with absolutely no expectation of a return, ever, on this investment? Then, there’s the fleeting moments where you play a little better than normal. Golf makes you start believing you may actually have the potential to be a good player. It messes with your mind, man! Then the guy at the golf store says something like, “yea, this new $399 driver will make you a better golfer” - and you know what, you believe him. Golf has the ability to make you start dreaming that you can actually post a decent score, beat your friends, and enjoy the game….you can’t. Trust me when I tell you. You can’t.

Ya know how they run those commercials before and during televised poker where the head honcho from Harrah’s Gaming warns the viewers to “keep gambling what it was meant to be….” I think they need to start running commercials before/during/after major televised golf events where Johnny Miller can warn us golfer wannabes, “and remember, you’re not really very good at golf. You’re not really ever going to be any good at it. Don’t fantasize about being anything other than a bad player….and keep golf what it was meant to be – a real bitch of a game”