Finally.
Some things are getting back to normal.
These weekend’s televised professional golf tournament was minus the spectators, but at least you were able to sit and watch some athletes again. The long weeks without any sports has been a challenge, and while you are a family that has taken the necessary precautions and limited your exposure, the long stretches of time without anything to watch other than the news and binge worthy shows has taken its toll. This weekend’s televised golf tournament was just what you needed.
At first when your family was staying at home you were excited to spend a couple of hours a week on the home golf simulator that you have set up in the basement. By week three, your son had helped you connect with other friends who had home golf simulators as well and you were able to enjoy the spirit of some friendly indoor competition. And then the relaxed rules allowed you to get out on the course as long as everyone had their own cart and was socially distanced was an early step toward normalcy. The chance to avoid the heat of the weekend and watch the professionals, however, was key to helping you prepare for what will surely be a long battle as the nation prepares to return to a healthier time, in the hopes of some day getting the economy back on track.
How Is Your Golf Game?
As golfers, there are many people who are glad that their outdoor activity choice is finding a way to exist in these most challenging of times. Fortunately, the outdoor space and the solitude of the game lends itself to an easier opening and transition than many other sports. For while there are some great home golf simulators out there, few things can compete with an early morning round of golf.
Golf, by nature, is a sport that allows individuals to focus on their progress, so it should come as no surprise that simply being allowed out on the course, even with restrictions, has been a welcome relief for many people. And as leagues are starting in many parts of the country, health officials continue to say that this outdoor activity is one of the safest options that many people have.
Consider some of these facts and figures about one of the world’s oldest and most popular sports:
- Golf began in Scotland over 500 years ago, and has since become a popular sport around the world.
- As an indication of just how much practice some people are getting, in the last 25 years, the average USGA handicap for a man has improved nearly two full strokes. The men’s move from 16.3 to 14.4 compares to the the women’s handicaps which have also dropped, from 29.7 in 1991 to 26.1 in 2016.
- The highest golf course in the world is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, sitting 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point, but most golfers are just happy to get out on courses in easier to reach destinations.
- As an indication of the growing popularity of the sport, a total of 2.2 million people took up the game of golf in the year 2015 alone.
- A typical 18-hole golf course covers approximately 125 to 150 acres of land, but the variety of landscapes, from mountains to deserts, of the courses in this country alone is diverse.
- The average driving distance for 2017 was 220.0 yards, according to a study from Arccos, but many people use home golf simulators and private lessons from professionals to hit even further.
- The chance of two holes in one in a single round are approximately 67 million to 1, but many people still hit the course every day in an effort to at least have their first hole in one.
- Golf, as a whole, generates more than $3.9 billion in charitable giving a year, so in addition to providing a great opportunity to exercise, it also funds some very important research and causes.
Given that fewer than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day and only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week, golf provides a perfect solution to get people up and moving.
