There was an interesting and well written documentary on golf on TV this evening that got me wondering why people golf. Some will simply state that it is for power, but in that case, what power? For the purse? I’m sure that rewards hard effort, but it seems to me that it is the goal is not the money. It’s like Plato’s teaching that the art of your occupation is different from the art of making money. Plus, many people do golf with little hope of profiting monetarily by it. Then maybe it is becoming more powerful in an art. But there seems to be little power to be gained by this either. What power is there in knocking about a ball in a park? No, this needs a more subtle explanation, it seemed to me.
One thing that seems fundamental to this game, is to seek to outdo oneself. In a way, this is like Hegel’s doctrine on the Lordship and Bondservant – only here, the golfer is his own lord and his own bondservant. He disciplines himself, not requiring another to do so – although he may be guided by community with fellow golfers. What does the Bondservant get out of this but extending his spirit.
And if this is the driving force behind the many people who play golf, then it seems a marvelous thing. They golf because they are drawn to Spirit; it is a spiritual exercise. But the author of all Spirit is God. People golf because they are drawn to God.
Firstly I am not a golfer myself (my Dad is though so I see plenty Golf TV). I think the answer lies in a shift in balance between the state of nature and reason imposed social restraints.
In Roman times the males of our species would fight to the death in a huge arena and this would be a means of proving one’s worth. Although this practice is obviously brutal, there was a certain value to it, the sort of value that competition has exclusively and intrinsically.
Our days it isn’t really socially acceptable to be hurting each other for pleasure, and even when consenting adults undertake this pastime it is still socially required that safety is taken into account. (Boxing gloves)
Yet we still have the natural desire to compete, (by no means just men either), and so we invent new socially acceptable, safer, ways to compete.
Golf is one of those sports that aren’t about hurting anyone; it is about bettering yourself, practicing self-control to high degrees and refining your control over your own body. The two main benefits of such a sport seem in my eyes to be:
To practice the intrinsically valuable skill of self-control.
First, the gladiators in ancient Rome were mostly slaves, so I’m not sure how much they killed out of competition – I think rather it was more likely to save themselves another day. But it occurs to me, this is what Hegel (to whom I refered) says the basic encounter between people is: determination of the stronger person.
But as to self-control and competition, I was trying to take a step back on the ladder of reason to ask why we do those things; and it seemed to be that free men do these for spiritual reasons. I wished to suggest that the reason for doing this sport might be a motive in other areas of life as well.