Nutty Golfers Find Sanity

Finally, my faith in male humanity has been restored -- by the National Golf Foundation.

Over the years I've known many a smart, likable man who golfed with excessive passion. Friends from business school and my 10 years at Johnson & Johnson hit the links every weekend and often on weekdays before work. I golfed exactly once, on a Leo Burnett client outing. That was enough for me (and the three colleagues in my foursome).

Men's golf obsession puzzled me at first. But once my acquaintances had kids, their continued pursuit of breaking 90 gradually undermined my faith in men's collective sanity. They were away from their families for 60 hours during the week, then they'd get up early on Saturdays and Sundays and disappear into the black -- um, green -- hole for another four or more hours? Where were their priorities? I know three men who came within minutes of missing the births of their children because they were on the golf course faithfully abiding the no-cell-phone club rule. (To be fair, I need to disclaim that 25 percent of American golfers are women, but I know only one mom who golfed excessively -- my 70-year-old grandmother whose kids had long left home and was looking for ways to fill her time.)

I don't know a solitary mom with young children who golfs on a regular basis unless it is her paid profession. It's always seemed peculiar that dads with young children could find a half-day on a weekend to skip out on their kids and partners. I don't know any moms who would choose golf (or any other massively time-consuming hobby) over children.

So, imagine my relief when I opened The New York Times last Thursday. Splashed across the front page, right under a huge picture of Obama to herald its significance, blared the words Pressed for Time and Money, Americans Are Giving Up Golf. The National Golf Foundation released the news that the total number of people golfing has dropped from 30 million in 2000 to 26 million these days, with the number of heavy users (people who play 25 times a year or more) dropping by one third. "The problem is time," the piece reported. "Men won't spend a whole day way from their family anymore."

The angels sang above my head at the breakfast table. I turned to the The Wall Street Journal, our bible for businessmen, and found the same findings in John Paul Newport's Golf Journal, which ran a follow-up a week later with a helpful suggestion: shorter tees to reduce the time spent on the course (and to increase the challenge and excitement of the game).

Do you share my excitement that this is on par (tee-hee) with pay equity for single moms or tax incentives for companies offering flextime work schedules for parents? Do you play golf or have other hobbies that interfere with family time? How have you resolved (or avoided) leisure time/family time conflicts?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  February 25, 2008; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Conflicts
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