Yes, I am overly self-conscious and should not get pissed when some fat football fan tells me from his supine position on the couch that “people who play golf are not athletes.” Especially when the most athletic thing Joe Football Fan has done in the last 20 years is throw an empty beer can at the TV screen after Rex Grossman throws another interception.

I should feel sorry for him huh? Nope, it just makes me mad, galls me if you will. I can’t help it.

Here is what this is rooted in; when I was a junior in high school, a defensive back on the Findlay (OH) Trojans football team made fun of me for getting a varsity letter in golf. I don’t think he meant to make me feel bad, he just really felt it was a joke that someone on the golf team could receive the same varsity letter that he received as a football player.

Now, when I’m engaged in a fierce 18 hole match in the searing heat of summer on a difficult golf course…and that bag feels like a blocking sled on my back…and I’m driving up the price of Gatorade because I’m drinking so much…I think about that defensive back. I wonder if he gets to feel the same rush of athletic competition that I do. Maybe that is the payback. His competitive days are over because he won’t engage in a sport that he once perceived as non-athletic.

You didn’t play golf in high school so you will never know the shame I felt that day. I was going to take this story to my grave but you pulled it out of me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go take my anti-depressants.

I think the bigger question here, for all golf enthusiasts, is why golf needs constant justification. Frankly, I could’nt care less whether golf was enjoyed/played by any other athletes of other professional sports. Besides, the correlative argument is weak and ridden with holes in the logic advanced to support it’s conclusion. Let’s get the list together of athletes who drink beer. Does that make beer drinking a sport? Okay, bad example. But you get the point.

Still love ya Golf Caster!

I am going to be more attentive to this, but I think some level of sponsorship creeping into our golf experience is inevitable so part of me just wants to learn to deal with it. The question will be where do you draw the line? Painting something that is naturally occurring (like grass), is unconscionable and I would revolt. But tee markers, fine with me. The flag, that’s starting to intrude a little.

I will hopefully get to Rockford for a round of golf and I will let talk more about it.

On a related note, some predict real commercial advertising opportunities by spray painting the grass on the fairway in billboard sized banners. Woe to those who pooh pooh the slippery slope!

Sorry I am so fired up about this, I am just tired of seeing public golf courses that are managed poorly because the person running the show is very good at hiting 3 irons and not so good from a business sense!!

Golf courses have a plethra of money making opportunities available to them through consessions and merchandising that most squander away because they are too lazy to do market research and come up with unique idea’s to increase the golfers overall spend at the course.

Stop selling Pro-V’s for $60/dozen when I can get them at Dicks for $39 and you may actually make a couple of bucks in that completely under utilized and mismanaged retail space called the ProShop.

Come up with a unique food like a “Bearclaw Burger” and make your course known for more than the golf holes. How about customer appreciation day for loyal and regular patrons (geez you have their contact info from tee-times and credit card swipes)!!

Sorry - Not ready to turn my local daily fee course to a freaking NASCAR speedway just yet!!!!!!!