Has golf taken over as Americas pastime?

 Every athlete at some point in their athletic career has to hang up the cleats. In retirement, it seems like every former athlete buys golf clubs and starts hacking away, but is golf the optimal retirement sport?

As a former college athlete, I have tried many different athletic avenues since hanging up my football cleats. From frequenting the tennis courts (I also used to play competitive tennis), to playing pickup flag football with friends, to trying my hand at the oldest modern sport played (golf), I have tried it all. Of all of these sports I would say that golf is the one sport that everyone plays, but, it is easy to play golf, much harder to be good at.

I have been playing golf regularly for four years now and still have trouble breaking 95, it is crazy to me that some golfers who are not pros can shoot in the 70s. I saw this first hand in October 2023, when one of my golf buddies hooked me up with another friend from college who is a very polished golfer. The three of us played a round at Old Oaks Country club in Purchase, NY. I was shooting fine (finished between 95 and 100), my buddy who I had been playing frequently with over the summer shot in the low 90s, but our other friend must have broken par. He could do nothing incorrectly on the course, driving the ball into the fairway each tee shot, hitting each green from the fairway, missing scarcely. When he did miss a green, he would chip an up and down each time. The crazy thing was this was a normal round for him, averaging scores in the low 70s. I love playing with good players, but was worried if I would slow down his pace. When you shoot a 95 each time out, you hit a lot of great shots, but you do have some clunkers. The weather was a little chilly but it was a great day for golf and the course did not disappoint.

There are 66.6 million golfers in the world, making it the most played sport in the world and 24 million of those players in the United States. About 50% of these golfers break 100 and a whopping 2% break 80. This makes my friend and I just about average but our friend from college in the top 2% of golfers worldwide. To conclude, if you can break 80 as a golfer you should be playing regular golf and stick to it because there may be a spot on the tour for you. If you're anything like me, an average golfer looking for a fun four hours on a Sunday, stick to your day job.